T&F's Heptathletes Excel at Liberty Collegiate Invitational

Friday, April 4

Williamsburg, Va.

All Day

James Madison University

Colonial Relays

T&F's Heptathletes Excel at Liberty Collegiate Invitational

4/6/2014 1:22:00 AM | Track & Field

Liberty Collegiate Invitational Results
Colonial Relays Results

LYNCHBURG, Va., April 5, 2014 – The James Madison track & field heptathletes didn't disappoint in their first competition of the outdoor season, as both freshman Summer Walter (Warren, Pa./Bayside (Va.)) and junior Nicole Gilbert (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) moved into the program's record book with their performances Saturday at the Liberty Collegiate Invitational.

Walter took second out of nine athletes with 4,517 points, while Gilbert was fifth with a score of 4,229. Walter's total is good enough for fourth in program history, while Gilbert's ranks seventh. Walter's big weekend was fueled by runner-up finishes in three events and third-place showings in two events.

Freshman Ebony Owusu-Sampah (Woodbridge, Va./C.D Hylton) paced JMU in the horizontal jumps with a pair of top-10 finishes. She was second out of 33 in the long jump with a leap of 5.57 meters and sixth out of 25 in the triple jump with a jump of 11.35 meters. Freshman Kennedy King (Hampton, Va./Phoebus) was third in the long jump, while freshman Nia Jones (Heathsville, Va./Northumberland) was eighth in the triple jump.

Senior Kristen Greene (Colonial Heights, Va./Thomas Dale) continued her success in the throws, including a new personal-best toss of 13.29 meters in the shot put. That distance was good enough for seventh out of 38 competitors and ranks third all-time at JMU. Greene was also ninth out of 38 in the discus.

Rounding out JMU's top finishers at Liberty were freshman King and Owusu-Sampah, who finished 12^th and 13^th, respectively, in the 200-meter dash, and sophomore Caroline Morris (Fredericksburg, Va./James Monroe), who was 17^th out of 41 in the 800-meter run.

JMU Relay Teams Excel at William & Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., April 5, 2014 – The James Madison track & field team qualified another relay for the ECAC Championships as the Dukes' 4x100 team ran to a fourth-place finish out of 20 teams Saturday at William & Mary's Colonial Relays.

Sophomore Rachel Watkins (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) and freshmen Annie Johnson (Medford, N.J./Shawnee), Abby Duncan (Keedsville, Md./Boonsboro) and Deana Forbes (Danville, Va./George Washington) each ran a leg on the 4x100 relay that qualified for the ECACs with a time of 47.69. The Dukes have qualified two of their three relays for the postseason event. Johnson, Duncan and Forbes also combined with junior Destiny Simmons (Staunton, Va./Robert E. Lee) to take fourth out of 25 teams in the 4x200 relay.

JMU's 4x800 relay team, which already qualified for ECACs last weekend at the Raleigh Relays, had another great showing Saturday, as freshman Carol Strock (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and juniors Morgan Sheaffer (New Bloomfield, Pa./West Perry), Tiel Westbrook (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) and Kelsey Langton (Hamilton Square, N.J./Notre Dame H.S) took second out of 24 teams with a time of 8:58.65.

The Dukes&r