Posted: Mar 01, 2008
LYNCHBURG, Va. --- Lynchburg College won the men's title and Roanoke College claimed the women's crown at the ODAC Indoor Track & Field Championship meet held Friday at Liberty University.
Lynchburg finished the men's meet with 186.5 points to finish ahead of Bridgewater with 154.5. Washington & Lee placed third with 52 points followed by Roanoke with 37, Virginia Wesleyan with 18 and Eastern Mennonite with 16 points. The championship was the 11th consecutive title for the Hornets.
Roanoke finished the women's meet with 190 points to outdistance Washington & Lee with 110.5 points. Lynchburg placed third with 59 points followed by Bridgewater with 50.5, Eastern Mennonite with 42 and Virginia Wesleyan with 12. The title was the third in a row for the Roanoke women's team
Lynchburg College's Chris Word took home the Men's Athlete of the Meet honor. Word won the 200 with a time of 22.49 seconds and then took first in the 400 with a 49.41 time.
Washington & Lee sprinter Jeff Giordano was named the Rookie of the Year and Lynchburg College pole vaulter Scott Decker was named the ODAC Men's Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Decker won the pole vault at Friday's championship meet. Bridgewater's Shane Stevens was named Coach of the Year.
In the women's meet, Roanoke's Robin Yerkes was earned the Athlete of the Meet honor. The Maroons' standout won three events, taking the 55 meters with a time of 7.27 seconds, the 200 in 25.31 seconds and the 400 with a time of 58.20 seconds. She also placed third in the 55 meter hurdles.
Roanoke's Tiffany France was named the conference Rookie of the Year and Finn Pincus received Coach of the Year honors. Roanoke also took home the 2008 ODAC Sportsmanship Award.
The women broke their own ODAC-Record of points in the meet with 190, breaking the old mark of 174 last year. The margin of victory (80) was also the largest in ODAC Championship history.
Yerkes three victories were all ODAC meet records in the 55m, 200m, and 400m. She also anchored (ran the last leg) of the winning 4 X 400 relay team. France placed third in the long jump, second in the triple jump, third in the 55-meter dash and fourth in the 200-meters. Her time of 7.32 in the trials of the 55m puts her on the national qualifying list.
Dominique McCoy won the long jump and the triple jump while Meredith Withers was sixth in the long jump, second in the 55m, and was on the 4x400 relay team. Nicole Rose placed sixth in the triple jump.
Kate Mason placed second on the 55m, 200m and in the 400m. Wava Doyle (2nd) and Emma Wilson (3rd) did well in the 800-meter run while Jazmine Stallings finished sixth in the 55m. Katie Suehs (2nd), Whitney Fitzwater (4th) and Amiee Szumiesz (6th) represented the Maroons well in the weight throw.
On the men's side, Andy Nagel had a personal-best (7.91) in the 55-meter hurdles and placed second. Kevin Harrison was the biggest scorer, as he placed third in the triple jump and second in the long jump events. Bobby Hoffert was fifth in both the shot put and the weight throw.
Ian Robinson, Andrew DeCoster, Jamison Monahan, and Alex Knutsen was third in the distance medley with a time of 10:54. Knutsen's 4:32 mile on the last leg that was the best effort of the relay.
Both teams will compete in this week's last chance meet on March 3 at Virginia Tech before heading to the NCAA Indoor Championships at Ohio Northern on March 15.
