Results
Brianna Liebold and Laurie Ajavon went 1-2 in the long jump and ran legs on a relay team that broke a school record and provisionally qualified for nationals on the first full day of the PSAC outdoor track and field meet at Slippery Rock.
Liebold won her second PSAC outdoor title and fourth overall with a jump of 18 feet, 10 ½ inches. She also won the triple jump at the 2009 outdoor meet and has both a long and triple jump championship at the conference indoor meet during her career.
Ajavon was a distant second at 18-2 ¼ while Liz Tepsic gave the Crimson Hawks three scorers in the event by placing eighth with a top mark of 16-5 ¼. Liebold and Ajavon were joined by Laura Nientimp and Brooke McDaniel to record a time of 47.30 in the 4 x 100 meter relay, breaking the mark of 47.50 that had stood since 1999.
Ayanna LeBlanc turned in a second place performance for IUP in the shot put with a throw of 42-11 ½.
Tepsic was fourth in the heptathlon with a total of 4,416 points. She was in the top five in four of the seven events, including second in the shot put (36-1 ½), tied for third in the high jump (5-1 ¾), fourth in the javelin (104-3) and fifth in the long jump (16-4 ¼).
Chelsea O'Hanlon rounded out the scorers for the IUP women by tying for seventh in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-2 ½. The Crimson Hawk women have 32 points heading into the final day of the meet Saturday and trail only Kutztown with 51 in the team standings.
Two IUP athletes earned points in the men's meet, led by Elly Kiptoo-Rono with a fifth place finish in the 10,000 meters (31:19.94). Russell Langley was seventh in the javelin (190-3). Nafee Harris, a four-time national champion in the long jump, injured a hamstring and was not able to advance to the finals.
Qualifying for Saturday's event finals for the women were Nientimp in the 100 meters (12.45) and McDaniel in the 400 meters (56.66). Advancing for the men were Steve Wainwright in the 800 meters (1:52.81) and Jared Long in the 400 meter hurdles (53.13) as well as the 4 x 100 meter relay team of Harris, Hopeton Bailey, Alex Patterson and Elijah Williams.
