Elon Track and Field Travels to Liberty for Darius Dixon Invitational

ELON, N.C. – For the second straight year, the Elon University women’s track and field team travels to Liberty University to compete at the Darius Dixon Invitational this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-28, inside the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.

MEET INFO

Follow the Phoenix
Fans can keep up with the action of the Phoenix this Friday and Saturday with live results listed on the Elon women’s track and field schedule page. Other updates will be provided on the team’s social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram at the handle, @eu_xctf.

Setting the Stage
Along with the Phoenix, other competitors at the meet will include athletes from host Liberty as well as fellow Colonial Athletic Association foes College of Charleston, James Madison and UNCW. Overall, 22 programs will have at least one athlete for this weekend’s meet including ACC schools Virginia and Wake Forest.

Elon Prelims
• The Phoenix is scheduled to have 22 athletes in competition on Friday and Saturday. Elon will also have a couple of members from the men’s cross country team, Nick Ciolkowski and Justin Leopold, also scheduled to race.
• Elon currently has three athletes and its distance medley relay team that have qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Championships. Senior Kimberly Johansen has the second-best time in the ECAC in the one-mile while Bre’anna Warren and Bryanna Hames are in the top-22 in the of performance list in the shot put.
• Johansen will race in her first meet since the season-opener at the JDL College Kickoff on Dec. 3. She had previously broken her own school-record in the one-mile with a time of 4:47.00 and won the race by over 13 seconds at the meet. The Chelmsford, England, native’s time is currently 16th on the NCAA qualifying list.

About the Darius Dixon Invitational
This is the third straight year that Liberty has hosted the Darius Dixon Invitational, named in honor of its former student-athlete who passed away at the age of 18 in 2013 during his freshman year. The inaugural Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational was contested on Dec. 3-4, 2014 at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center.

A special recognition for Dixon will take place prior to the start of the men’s 400-meter dash Saturday afternoon.

Last Time Out
The Phoenix is coming off a second-place team performance at the Wake Forest Invitational last Saturday, Jan. 21. Elon scored 96.5 points to finish second among nine schools behind Jacksonville, who tallied 145.5. The maroon and gold finished ahead of other notable programs Georgia Southern, host Wake Forest, Davidson, The Citadel and North Carolina A&T,

Racing in its first distance medley relay in nearly three years, the Phoenix set a new school record in the event last Saturday. The quartet of Brigid Brennan, Lydia Laws, Chelsea Smith and Coralea Geraniotis clocked a new program-best time of 12:07.82 to win the event and represent the Phoenix “B” team. The Elon DMR “A” team of Melissa Anastasakis, Katie Arbogast, Molly Offstein and Shelby Cuddeback ran the second-fastest time in program history with its 12:09.84 and was the runner-up overall.

Elon also captured the event title in the 4×400-meter relay by edging Georgia Southern in the race. Desiree Ross, Arbogast, Laws and Lauren Brzozowski clocked a time of 3:56.49 in the race while the Eagles ran a 3:56.54 in the highly competitive race.

In the shot put, Bre’anna Warren was the runner-up in the event after setting a new personal-record with a toss of 45′ 11.25″ (14.00m) and becomes only the second athlete in school history to reach the 14-meter mark in the indoor shot put (Charlise Morgan – school-record 14.78m in 2014). Bryanna Hames also finished in the top-five in fourth with her new personal-best heave of 45′ 4.25″ (13.82m)

On Deck
Elon is back inside the JDL Fast Track Complex for the prestigious Camel City Invitational next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 3-4.