LYNCHBURG, Va. – Jordan Davis led a strong effort on the women's side at the 2015 Liberty Quad Meet Friday, winning the 200m dash and helping the 4x400m relay team to top honors.
Davis crossed the line in 26.18 seconds to win the 200m dash, just ahead of teammate Sarah Perkins – who finished fourth in 26.76 seconds.
The pair teamed up with Kristen Hurley and Ivy Harris on the women's 4x400m relay team, finishing first in a time of 4:07.00 – more than three seconds in front of second-place VMI and two different Liberty relay squads.
Freshman Gabby Cortese captured another top-5 finish for the GWU women, finishing fourth in the mile (5:24.95). Claire Cates registered a new PR for the second week in a row, this time running a 5:30.58 time to finish sixth in the women's mile.
The field events also proved fruitful for Gardner-Webb, with Kayin Mujahid taking third in the high jump (1.60m), Elise Moffatt capturing fourth in the pole vault (3.60m) and Megan Melton finishing fifth in the pole vault with a cleared height of 3.45 meters.
Sarah Mitchell and Diamond Reese continued to finish near the top in the weight throw, with Mitchell taking second with a distance of 15.84 meters and Reese recording a new PR with a throw of 15.38 meters. Natasha Akbarizadeh also had a top-5 finish in the event, taking fifth with a distance of 14.88 meters.
Mitchell took third in the shot put, finishing with a 13.29-meter measurement.
Gardner-Webb's men posted 10 top-5 finishes themselves, with six coming on the track and four in the field events.
Malik Crawford and Joseph Martin finished third and fourth, respectively, in the men's 200m dash, with Martin posting a season-best time of 23.49 seconds. Crawford, who qualified for the finals in the 60m dash Friday, finished third in the 200m event with a time of 23.27 seconds.
Marcquel Woodard had his second consecutive top-5 effort on Friday, this time taking third in the 400m dash (50.96), his first time running the event this indoor season.
Aaron Cronk and Matthew Cook took second and third in the men's 1,000m run and Josh Wembolua had the third-best time in the 60m hurdles preliminaries – and finished fifth in the finals (8.58).
Gardner-Webb's corps of throwers were solid once again, led by Nathan Padfield's second-place finish in the weight throw. Padfield's best throw on Friday went 16.62 meters.
A.J. White had a season-best effort in the shot put, finishing fourth with an effort of 15.66 meters and Jordan Smith took fourth in the weight throw (15.54m).
Jumper Seaver Wait cleared 6'2.25" on Friday to finish second in the men's high jump, his sixth consecutive meet clearing at least 1.89 meters.
Other teams competing Friday included host Liberty, James Madison, UNC Greensboro and VMI.
Gardner-Webb's teams will be in action again next weekend, participating in the Big South Preview Meet in Boone, N.C., on Friday, February 20.
The 2015 Big South Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships are set for Thursday, February 26 and Friday February 27 at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.
