The WLU men’s and women’s track and field teams saw their season opener last weekend. It was a successful outing for the Toppers with the women’s team placing second overall behind Wheeling University and the men’s team earning a sixth-place finish.

The meet was hosted by Glenville State College and featured a number of schools that compete in the MEC as well as some out of conference competitors such as Point Park University, Hagerstown Community College and WVU Institute of Technology. More than a dozen schools competed on the day.

As well as team success, the day was littered with individual triumphs for the Hilltopper roster. Multi-event senior, Adam O’Donnell pulled off a record-breaking performance in the decathlon breaking the current top score in WLU history with 6,062 points earning a first-place award after dominating almost every event. Junior, Jhett Slusser placed fourth in the same event.

Tavian Richardson, a sophomore distance runner for West Liberty, won the 800-meter event with a time of 1 minute 57 seconds – an impressive time.

Junior distance runner, Danah Phillips, who has also put in impressive performances for the cross-country team this semester, earned a second-place finish in the 1500-meter event narrowly missing out on first place by just a few milliseconds.

Overall, the men’s team placed in nine different events over the course of the two days with making it a hopeful start to the season.

The ladies team also saw significant success collectively earning a second-place finish in the competition. Kelsi Hulit, a junior from Malvern, Ohio, had an impressive two days coming away with a win in discuss (42.03 meters) second in shot-put (11.54 meters) and javelin (30.69 meters), and a sixth-place finish in the hammer-throw (39.81).

Freshman thrower Kennedy Martin had first college athletics success coming first in javelin (33.92 meters) and earning sixth place in shot-put (10.39 meters) a good start to her WLU career.
Four different hilltoppers placed in the 800-meter event with Emily Louk coming in second, followed by Nichole Groseclose (fifth), Shania Keene (sixth), and Ryan Wilson (eighth).

Aubree Story, a junior jumper from New Richmond, Ohio placed second in the high jump event with a height of 1.52 meters while Hailey Carreon, a West Virginian sophomore placed in three separate events earning herself recognition in hurdles, the 100 meters and long jump.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams see action again on Saturday March 20 when they travel down to West Virginia University in Morgantown for a meet. Updates on the topper teams can be found on Hilltoppersports.com..