Elon Track and Field Journeys to Lynchburg for Liberty Open

ELON, N.C. – Coming off its first indoor meet of the 2015 calendar year, the Elon University women’s track and field team travels this weekend, Jan. 16-17, to Lynchburg, Va., for the Liberty Open. Competition is slated to begin on Friday, Jan. 16, at 2 p.m. inside the Tolsma Indoor Track Center.

The Phoenix will be one of 16 teams competing at the meet throughout the weekend. Other notable schools include host Liberty, Winthrop, VCU and Colonial Athletic Association foe, James Madison.

Follow the Phoenix
Follow live results of the meet from the program’s schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Results will also be posted on Twitter via the team’s handle @eu_xctf or at @elonscores.

Last Time Out
Elon began 2015 last Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Wake Forest Invitational, inside the JDL Fast Track complex. It was the Phoenix’s first indoor meet in over a month since opening its 2014-15 indoor campaign on Nov. 22.

The maroon and gold had a few standout performances last week. Junior Jennifer Esposito had a third-place standing in the 400-meters with a time of 58.20 while rookie Lydia Laws was 13th overall in the race with her time of 1:01.52.

Senior Haley Laird was third in the high jump after clearing the bar at 5’ 5” (1.65m) while teammate Megan Kirschling was sixth overall after clearing the same height, but needed more attempts to do so.

A couple of athletes tied or set new personal-bests in their events last Saturday. Briana O’Grady had a personal-record heave of 45’ 4.25” (13.82m) in the weight throw. Senior Melinda Hersey tied her personal-best mark of 9’ 10” (3.00m) in the pole vault, which stands fifth-best in school history.

On Deck
Elon returns to the state of Virginia next weekend, Jan. 23-24, to compete at the Hokie Invite at Virginia Tech.