Liezl Theron set a Lee record in the 400-Meter Hurdles at the Don McGarey Invitational
The Lee University track & field teams had a split squad weekend with a handful of athletes traveling to North Carolina State University’s Raleigh Relays and the rest competing at the Don McGarey Invitational hosted by Kennesaw State University. Overall, the squads collected five Lee records over the weekend and both teams finished third at the Don McGarey Invitational.
Lee sent four Flames and two Lady Flames to the Raleigh Relays and came away with one event win, one facility record and three Lee records.
Christian Noble set the Lee record in the 5000-Meter Run.
He finished first out of a field of 223 finishers with a time of 13:24.78. His time was also quick enough to set the Paul Derr Track & Field Facility record.
Will Stone and Casey Guthery joined Noble in the 5000. Stone crossed the finish line in 87th position at 14:26.06 and Guthery was 136th (14:38.12).
Caleb Eagleson added another Lee record in the 10000-Meter Run. He completed the distance in 29:56.40 to finish 64th.
Celine Ritter covered the 10000-Meter Run in 33:42.90 to claim an 11th-place finish in a field full of NCAA Division I and professional runners. Her time set a new Lee standard. Toni Moore placed 42nd in the 5000-Meter Run with a time of 16:36.00.
At the Don McGarey Invitational, the Flames’ 89 points were good for third place. Kennesaw State was first with 254.5 points and Indiana Tech finished second with 95 points. Western Carolina was a distant fourth with 45 points.
Camden Williams placed fifth in the Discus Throw with a Lee record measurement of 42.72 meters. Matthew Black finished 13th with a toss of 36.28 meters. Black added a sixth-place mark of 43.86 meters in the Hammer Throw.
Hayden Judge led three other Flames over the finish line of the 1500-Meter Run. Judge won the event with a time of 3:58.63 and Jacob Hatcher was right behind in second (4:00.06). Adan Rodriguez posted a time of 4:01.72 for fifth place and Thomas Kelton was 13th (4:11.39).
Aaron Himes recorded a time of 14:34.92 to win the 5000-Meter Run by almost 10 seconds. Caleb Guthery finished fourth (15:27.27).
Silusapho Dingiswayo posted a third-place time of 10.92 seconds in the 100-Meter Dash. He also finished second (21.15) in the 200-Meter Dash. Joining him in the 200 were Jeremiah McCain, Ian Thomas and Stacen Cunningham. McCain finished 16th (22.01), Thomas was 18th (22.12) and Cunningham placed 40th (22.92).
McCain and Cunningham gave Lee two more top-10 finishes with their performances in the 110-Meter Hurdles. McCain was fourth (14.61) and Cunningham stopped the clock at 15.88 for 10th. In the 400-Meter Hurdles, McCain claimed a first-place finish with a time of 51.95 seconds. Cunningham was 12th at 57.76.
Ezekiel Harless and Evan Moore were Lee’s two finishers in the 3000-Meter Steeplechase. Harless finished second (9:44.27) and Moore was third (9:56.71).
At the Don McGarey Invitational, Lee’s 81 points were good for third place. Kennesaw State tallied 307 points for first and Indiana Tech was second with 98 points. Olivet Nazarene was close behind Lee in fourth with 73 points.
Liezl Theron supplied the second Lee record of the weekend in the 400-Meter Hurdles. Theron’s time of 1:02.42 put her in third place. Hannah Wright was seventh (1:05.70) and Madlyn Mayo finished 14th (1:11.92). Wright and Mayo also participated in the 100-Meter Hurdles where Wright placed fifth (14.70) and Mayo was 15th (16.88).
Theron cleared 1.65 meters to win the High Jump. Devon Jackett finished 12th with a jump of 1.50 meters and Sydney White was 22nd with a clearance of 1.40 meters. Theron added a sixth-place finish in the Long Jump with a leap of 5.57 meters.
Olivia McLain’s first-place time of 17:24.53 was over 35 seconds faster than her nearest competitor in the 5000-Meter Run.
Kristen Blevins was second in both the 100-Meter Dash and the 200-Meter Dash with times of 12.07 seconds and 24.77 seconds, respectively. Carissa Hall was 10th (25.30) and Wright 11th (25.38) in the 200. Janay Ryan, Mikayla Beeler, Theron and White rounded out the Lee contingent in the 200. Ryan finished 18th (25.70), Beeler was 30th (26.04), Theron placed 50th (26.76) and White recorded a time of 27.22 (59th).
Beeler and Ryan were part of the 400-Meter Dash. Beeler crossed the finish line at 58.34 seconds for eighth and Ryan was 14th (59.27). The Lady Flames had four runners in the 800-Meter Run. Aria Hawkins was fourth (2:16.02) and Lily Hare finished sixth at 2:19.39. Liza Kellerman placed ninth with a time of 2:19.39, while Ashlyn Iliff was 19th (2:29.95).
Danielle Horter was Lee’s top finisher in the 1500-Meter Run with a fifth-place time of 4:45.68. Iliff was eighth (4:57.97) with Elizabeth Beckham right behind in ninth (4:58.37). Katie Krueger placed 11th at 5:01.29, Kaitlyn Sesler was 14th (5:08.33) and Elizabeth Heckman finished 15th (5:08.56).
Grace Adams was fourth in the 3000-Meter Steeplechase. She finished the event in 11:33.17 to be the top non-DI finisher.
Hall finished the Triple Jump with a measurement of 11.74 meters to claim fourth place. Theron was 18th in the Shot Put with a throw of 10.30 meters, while White finished 29thwith a mark of 9.43 meters.
Austyn Durham and Deborah Rubin were Lee’s representatives in the Discus Throw and Hammer Throw. In the discus, Durham placed 12th with a throw of 32.54 meters and Rubin was 14th at 32.09 meters. Rubin recorded a third-place throw of 46.59 meters and Durham threw the hammer 29.69 meters to finish 22nd.
Lee returns to action in the Flames Invitational that will be held at the Ray Conn Sports Complex April 7-9.