For Immediate Release February 24, 2001
Smith Named Athlete of Meet at Indoor ODACs
Rc Women Take Second, Men Place Fith
LEXINGTON, VA--The Roanoke College women placed second, the men fifth, and Casey Smith (Mechanicsville, VA/Atlee) was named the women’s Athlete of the Meet at the 2001 Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s indoor track & field championships on Saturday. The RC’s women’s finish was its best since winning the conference title in 1998. The previous two seasons the Maroons placed third.Smith was the individual highlight for the meet, which saw Lynchburg College win both the men’s and the women’s titles. In the 1,500 meters, Smith ran a time of 4:51.20, breaking the old conference record by just over three seconds. The 1,500 meter championship was Smith’s second in as many years. She also claimed the conference championship in the 3,000 meter run, setting new conference record with a time of 10:10.61, over 13 seconds better than the old record which was set in 1993. In addition, both are also new school standards. In the triple jump, sophomore Christie Lieber (Salem, VA/Salem) captured her first ever conference title, with a leap of 34’ 11.75” which was almost five inches longer than teammate Emily Hollett (Roanoke, VA/Northside) who was second in the event. Jenny Cook (Broadway, VA/Broadway) sealed third place in the event with a distance of 34’ 3.75”. Hollett went on to take the title in the long jump and second in the high jump. Cook provided Roanoke’s ‘ironman’ performance of the meet, participating in seven events, placing in four of those. The women’s distance medley team, consisting of Smith, Alli McVey (Bowdoinham, ME/Mt. Ararat), Adrienne Lee (Hampstead, MD), and Frances Kouyoumdjian (Santiago, Chile) set a new school record with a time of 13:34.78 and taking first in the meet. On the men’s side Robert Welch (Seekonk, MA/Seekonk) was third in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:18.89, while Jeremy Burcher (Lynchburg, VA/Heritage) was second in the 800 meters. Run by Richard Egger (Beacon, NY/Beacon), Ryan Nunley (Charlotte, NC/Providence Day), Burcher, and Stephen Wheatley (Cockeysville, MD/Dulaney), the men’s 4x400 relay team picked up a fourth place finish, running the race in 3:44.61. Wheatley then joined Jason Belt (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster), Laurence Loesel (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) and Jacob Pack (Roanoke, VA/Patrick Henry) in the distance medley where the Maroons posted a time of 11:24.29 and took home third.
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