LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Gardner-Webb men's and women's indoor track and field teams combined to set eleven new personal records while recording seven top-ten finishes at the 2018 Liberty Open, hosted by Liberty University at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.
 
Jordan Smith, the reigning Big South Conference Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week, set a new personal record in the men's shot put with a toss of 17.10 meters, besting his previous PR of 16.79 meters set last weekend at the Appalachian Open.  His distance ranks second in Gardner-Webb history and sixth in Big South history.  Smith took home a second-place finish in the event.
 
Smith also took home a second-place finish in the men's weight throw with a mark of 18.53 meters.  Ross Lucia placed eighth in the event at 15.79 meters.
 
Sarah Coleman earned an eighth-place finish in the women's pole vault with a personal-best mark of 3.50 meters.  Karin Sastre followed in twelfth-place at 3.35 meters.
 
Sarah Mitchell had a pair of top-tens, placing sixth in the women's shot put with a toss of 13.94 meters and a ninth-best mark of 16.48 meters in the women's weight throw.   She was followed in the weight throw by Natasha Akbarizadeh in eleventh at 15.73 meters and Petra Jakeljic at 15.62 meters, a thirteenth place finish.
 
Ashleigh Cleveland finished in tenth in the women's indoor pentathlon, finishing with a total of 2,759 points.  She set a new PR in the shot put with a distance of 9.51 meters, finishing fifth in that event.  Taylor Hotchkiss placed thirteenth in the pentathlon with 2,663 points, followed by Amanda Hall in fourteenth with 2,282 points.
 
In the men's 200-meter dash, Carlos Williams clocked in with a new personal best time of 22.53 seconds, finishing in thirty-sixth place, while Mason Marshall had a new PR of 24.49 seconds to finish in eightieth.  
 
Jenika Hrushka set a new personal best in the women's mile run, clocking in at 5:33.73 to finish in thirty-second place.
 
Chase Thornhill set a new PR in the men's 400-meter dash, timing in at 50.05 seconds to finish fifteenth in the event.
 
Two personal records were set in the men's 800-meter run, as Patrick Sastre clocked in at 1:58.44 to finish in eighteenth place, while Josh Parks crossed the line at 1:58.75 to take home a twenty-first place finish.
 
Mitchell Brown recorded his career best in the men's 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:17.89, good enough for a twenty-fourth place finish.
 
In the men's 60-meter hurdles, Ralph Jolly set a new PR with a time of 9.25 seconds to finish in thirty-fourth place.  Austin Evans clocked in at 8.86 seconds to place twenty-fifth.
 
Gardner-Webb returns to action on Saturday, February 3^rd at the Art and Linda Maillet UNC Open, hosted by the University of North Carolina at the Eddie Smith Field House.  Action is set to begin at 9:00 am.