Women 2nd, Men 6th At ODAC Championships

action photo of RC sprinter in race
Roanoke men 6th at ODAC Championships

The Basics:

Event: ODAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships Day Two

Location: University of Lynchburg

The Lead: The Women's team would finish 2nd and the Men's team would finish 6th overall.  The University of Lynchburg would go on to win both men's and women's titles.

Women's Highlights:

  • Hannah Koepfinger leads the Women's team as she won the 400MH, setting a new school record with a blazing time of 1:03.96. The previous record of 1:04.13 was set in 2013 by Carmen Graves. Koepfinger' s time currently puts her 10 in the nation as she is poised to earn a berth in this year's NCAA Championships. She would also earn All ODAC honors with a third-place finish in the Women's 100MH with a personal best time of 15.36 seconds. In her last event of the day, she would finish fifth in the Javelin with a distance of 30.24m.
  • The event that scored the most points for the lady Maroons was in the 400m dash. Freshmen Mikayla Hefferon won the event with a personal best time of 58.74 seconds. Also, in the final, Emily Ball would finish third by crossing the line at 59.52 seconds, Haylee Gamble would finish fourth (1:00.26), and Lily Lippert finished eighth (1:01.33). Gamble would come back to place in the 200m dash with a sixth-place finish crossing the line at 26.13 seconds. In the Women's 100m dash, Taylor Poole would finish fourth overall with a blazing time of 12.71 seconds, while Savannah Gheen placed seventh with a time of 12.90 seconds. Both times are personal best. Poole would also place eighth in the 200m dash with a time of 26.43 seconds. The Women's 4X100m relay team of Poole, Gheen, Hefferon, and Lippert finished third with a time of 49.61 seconds earning All ODAC accolades.  
  • In the Jumps, Alison Moreau would lead the maroons with a fourth-place finish in the high jump clearing 1.53m. Cammi Winston would finish sixth based on missed attempts at 1.48m, and Kaitlyn Nguyen finished eighth with a clearance of 1.48m. Winston would set a personal best in the Triple jump with a distance of 10.99m. That distance was best for fifth overall. Katelyn Wiley would also set a personal best in the event finishing 10th overall with a distance of 10.61. Both Winston and Wiley would come back on the track to set personal best times and finish fifth (15.56 seconds) and seventh (16.84 seconds) in the 100mh.  
  • In the throws, Suzanne Jackson lead the way in the Javelin throw with a fourth-place finish and personal best distance of 31.04m. In the Discus, Abbey Gajtkowski would finish 6th with a personal best throw of 30.70m, and Grace Fowler would come right behind her with a distance of 29.39m finishing eighth. 
  • Allison Barthol would finish her career with a personal best performance in the 800m. Her time of 2:26.38 would earn her a fifth-place finish in the event. 
  • In the evening's final event, the Women's 4x400m relay team of Ball, Lippert, Gamble, and Hefferon would finish second overall with a season-best time of 4:00.33.  

 Men's Highlights:

  • The Men's 4x100m relay team of Troy Crawley, Grant Williams, Blake Morin, and Sam Crawford would go on and set a new school record in the event. Their time of 42.11 seconds earns them second team all ODAC accolades. 
  • Crawford would earn his second All-ODAC accolade in the 400m dash. His time of 48.16 seconds is a personal best and currently has him seventh in the nation as he looks for a bid in the NCAA Championships. Crawford would finish fourth in the 200m dash with a time of 22.09 seconds.
  • Morin would post a personal best time in the Men's 100m dash with a time of 10.93 seconds. That time was good enough for sixth place overall. He would later come back and finish fifth in the Men's 200m dash with a time of 22.15 seconds.
  • Greyson Cornett would finish fifth with a personal best time of 15.79 seconds in the 110MH.  
  • Jared McIntyre would post a top-eight finish in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.73m.
  • In the Men's 4X400m relay, Cameron Harris, Crawley, Brandon Justice, and Aaron Rogers crossed the line fifth with a season-best time of 3:28.03.

 Up Next: Roanoke travels to Mount Olive last chance qualifier on May 14-15th and NC A&T University on May 16th.