LYNCHBURG, Va. – Terrence Green and Ademola Titcombe paced the VMI Track and Field teams on Thursday, as the Keydets competed at the final day of the Liberty Kickoff meet, hosted by Liberty University at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center in Lynchburg.
Green opened his evening with a second-place finish in the long jump, posting a distance of 6.89 M (22'7 ¼”), trailing only Liberty's Anthony Bryant, last year's conference champion in the outdoor long jump. The VMI junior followed up his long jump efforts with a 13.76 M (45'1 ¾”) leap in the triple jump, placing him fourth overall in that event.
One of the three finishers in front of Green's triple jump was Titcombe, who earned a runner-up finish in his best event. The sophomore started his second collegiate campaign with an IC4A qualifying 14.42 M (47'3 ¾”) effort to notch that placing, and in addition, was one of only two runners to break the seven-second barrier in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash (6.95). That time also qualified Titcombe for IC4A's.
Titcombe and Green's results were not the only strong Keydet performances in the jumps, as Nate Gant made his collegiate debut by placing sixth in the long jump (6.60 M, 21'8”), while Dennis James cleared 2.04 M (6'8 ¼”) to earn a runner-up finish in the high jump and qualify for IC4A's.
In other events, Cody Davis had a strong day as the junior earned a fifth-place finish in the weight throw (15.38 M, 50'5 ½”), while also notching a third-place result in the shot put (14.10 M, 46'3 ¼”). Chad Lawson was third in the weight, as the defending Big South champion opened his season with a 16.53 M toss (54'2 ¾”). On the women's side, Aquisi Harris was seventh in the weight, as she hurled the implement 13.05 M (42'9 ¾”).
The women's pole vault found the Keydets sending out three competitors. Freshman Kate Collins, who ranked second in the state in the indoor pole vault during her final two high school seasons, placed fifth Thursday with a clearance of 3.35 M (10'11 ¾”). Sophomores Carrie Wortham and Jennifer Sing both posted personal bests in the event, as Wortham was 10th at a height of 2.90 M (9'6 ¼”), while Sing tied for 11th (2.75 M, 9'0 ¼”).
On the track, Big South Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year Hannah Granger competed in her first mile since Dec. 2007, earning a fifth-place finish. However, she was bested by teammate Jenna Moye, who placed fourth in a time of 5:09.77, just half a second behind the third-place finisher.
In the women's 400-meter run, team tri-captain and school record holder Chandale Williams notched a third-place result, coming home in 58.51. She also was eighth in the 200, traversing that distance in 26.72. On the men's side of the running events, James Alexander sped through 200-meters in 22.88 seconds to post a second-place finish, just .02 off the winning time. The junior was seventh in the 60-meters as well, completing that race in 7.09.
The men's mile found Marshall Dalessandro completing the distance with a time of 4:45.99, good enough for a fifth-place result and a personal best, while the 400-meters had Kyle Fuller finishing sixth in 51.72. Fuller was joined by teammate Jonathon Jackson, making his VMI debut with a seventh-place effort and a time of 52.27.
Finally, the multi events saw Michael Munson post a third-place finish in the heptathlon, notching 4,319 points to finish just 35 points ahead of his teammate, fifth-place freshman Antonio Wood. In addition, Zipporah McCann, who was competing in just her second career multi event, finished fourth in the women's pentathlon.
VMI Track and Field will return to action on Jan. 16, as the Keydets travel to Kent, Ohio to take part in the Doug Raymond Invitational, hosted by Kent State.
A gallery of photos from the meet will be available Friday on VMIKeydets.com.
