Caitlin Dorsch ~ Copy Desk Chief
On Saturday, April 20, 2019, the women’s track and field program won their second-straight Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) outdoor title. The team scored a total of 222 points, which was 76 points ahead of the second-place team, Bridgewater College. This ODAC title is also following their ODAC title for indoor track and field on Sunday, Feb. 24, of this year. There, the team ended with an overall score of 176 points, which was 44 points ahead of the second-place team, Bridgewater College.
In the meet, senior Endasia Mitchell won her second-straight 400-meter conference title with a season-best time of 58.57 seconds, according to the Lynchburg Sports Website. Mitchell and freshmen Lizzie Davis, Faith Francis, and Jessica Cammarata won the 4X400-meter relay with a recorded and official time of 4:06:86. Senior Madeline Van Aken won the triple jump with 36-9 ¾, junior Sammi Woods won shot put at 40-4 ½, and senior Rachel Murray won javelin with 126-7 ¼.
Additional honors went to Cammarata who was named the ODAC Rookie of the Meet, senior Samantha Schreiber won the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, and our own Hornets director of the track and field program, Jim Sprecher, won ODAC women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
Sophomore Angela Ramsedan noted, “Winning the outdoor ODAC is something that the team has been working towards all year. The work began in the fall at the captains’ practices, and it continued through winter during the indoor season. Even though we were seeded to win coming into this ODAC, we still had to work together as a team. Where one person’s performance faltered, someone else stepped up and rose to the challenge. Our team has so much depth and talent and it is amazing to see all the hard practices pay off when it counts most. We do not simply win because we are talented, we win because we train hard and push ourselves at practice.”
“The team has always been there to support me. They have helped me grow so much here as both a runner and as a person. I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish next,” said sophomore Kaitlyn Johnson.
Up next for the program is reaching the national qualifiers. Their next meet is used as a qualifying round of the track and field program in Liberty University’s Twilight Qualifier, which starts on Wednesday, May 1. Please come out and support your Hornets!