IUP track athletes finish first in six events

IUP was back in action over the weekend at Wheeling Jesuit, which hosted the Bill Van Horne Invitational.

With yet another strong showing for both the men's and women's teams, the track and field team walked away with six titles.

Along with two relay titles won this weekend, notables Brianna Liebold, Brooke McDaniel, Jared Long and Lauren Bauer finished first in individual events.

Liebold, the NCAA Atlantic Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, placed first in the long jump with a recorded jump of 17 feet, seven inches.

Placing second behind Liebold was fellow IUP athlete Laurie Ajavon, who recorded a jump of 17 feet, one and one-fourth inches.

Along with Liebold and Ajavon placing one-two respectively, Brooke McDaniel took home first place in the women's 400 meter dash with a time of 57.71 seconds.

McDaniel was also a part of the 4x100 meter relay team that included Liebold, Ajavon and Laurie Niencamp, taking first place in 49.30 seconds.

Lauren Bauer flew around the track, crossing the line first in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:48.40. Jared Long beat the rest of the field in the 400 meter hurdles, recording a time of 54.11, finishing first bu just missing qualifying for the NCAA provisional by just .21 tenths of a second.

The men's 4x100 team of Hopeton Bailey, Elijah Williams, Anthony Flowers and Alex Patterson took first place with a time 43.01 seconds.

Other notable performances from the weekend include Chelsea O'Hanlon placing fourth in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 1 inch as well as Krista Matsko placing second in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.95.

On the men's side, Brandon Ford placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 11 and one-half inches, and Victor Costello placed third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:05.94.

The Crimson Hawks Track and Field team will be in action again April 9 at the University of Maryland Invitational. April 17, IUP will host the Ed Fry Invitational.