Wise, Lyons Lead the Spiders at Liberty Kickoff

Thursday, December 5

Lynchburg, Va.

University of Richmond

Liberty Kick Off

12/06/2024 | Women's Track & Field

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The University of Richmond women's track and field team competed at the Liberty Kickoff Thursday and today to open the indoor season. Leading Richmond was junior Molly Wise and senior Morgan Lyons, while four Spiders set new personal bests.

Thursday
Wise won the long jump matching her personal best at 6.12m. As of yesterday, her mark ranks her No. 1 in the NCAA, ECAC and the Atlantic 10.

Freshman Cameron Whidbee made her collegiate debut and placed 18^th with a mark of 5.07m.

Friday
In the 60m hurdles, sophomores Gabrielle Cummings and Blaiklyn Clayton both qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championships that are set for next March. Cummings finished at 7.67 placing 9^th in the prelims and Clayton finished in 18^th place at 7.82.

In the 1k, senior Dylan Miller finished in 6^th place at 2:54.55 and senior Lindsay Colflesh finished at 3:05.50 to finish 14^th.

Richmond saw success in the 300m as four Spiders rewrote the program's top 10 list. Sophomore Gabrielle Cummings ran a personal best (7^th, 39.95) and finished with the third-best time in program history. Senior Elke Van der Westhuizen (8^th, 40.05) finished with the fourth-best time in program history. Clayton finished with the sixth-best time in program history (9^th, 40.31). Sophomore Morgan Elliott (12^th, 40.77) finished with a new personal best and added her name in the tenth-best time in program history.

Senior Virginia Beringer finished 8^th in the 400m at a new personal best of 56.82 and qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championship. Senior Darya Mikusova finished with a time of 57.65 to place 12^th. Whidbee ran in her first collegiate running event and placed 18^th at 1:00.05.

Freshman Kayla Buback made her first collegiate appearance in the 500m placing 6^th at 1:19.41.

Lyons won the 800m finishing at 2:14.86. Lyons finished over a second and a half ahead of the second-place finisher. Her performance qualifies her for the ECAC Indoor Championships.

In the distance portion, junior Mollie Fenn lead the 3k group finishing 5^th with a time of 9:57.66. Fenn qualified for the ECAC Championships. Juniors Brooke Reif (10:10.22) and Paige Joyce took the nine and ten finishes. Joyce finished with a new personal best at 10:10.61. Senior Allison Colflesh finished in 19^th place at 10:34.63.

In the 4x400 relay, the A relay, Cummings (57.99), Van der Westhuizen (55.77), Elliot (57.10) and Mikusova (58.41) finished 4^th at 3:49.26. The B relay, Clayton (59.68), junior Nina Lavelle (59.78), Whidbee (59.02) and Buback (59.21) finished 8^th at 3:57.67.