HICKORY, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Teams resumed their outdoor seasons in dominant fashion, as the Bears took a first-place finish in 19 events at the 2024 Southside Power & Fitness Invitational. 

The highlight of the weekend was Alexis Brown breaking the Division II record with a 11.09 result in the women’s 100-meter event.  

The sophomore from Mableton, Ga., won three events at the Irwin Track, including the women’s 200-meter dash and the women’s 4×100-meter relay in addition to her 100-meter performance. 

Coming off her Top 10 finish in the women’s 200-meter dash at the Texas Relays, Brown returned to the top of the podium with a 23.18 result. It is her second win in the event in the outdoor season. 

In the women’s 4×100-meter relay, Brown was joined alongside Melody Jones, Victoria Aransiola and Holly Kone who registered a time of 45.23. The collective group produced a time that was eight tenths of a second faster than their race at the Texas Relays. 

Another LR athlete that succeeded on the short track was Sincere Sanders-Moss, who won the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.  

The freshman from Gastonia, N.C., who set a new personal best in the prelim event, took the top spot with his time of 10.49 in the men’s 100-meter race. Meanwhile, in the 200-meter event, Sanders-Moss recorded another first-place finish with his 21.56 result. 

Sticking with the men’s side, Jacob Wadsworth was able to pull off multiple victories over the weekend in the men’s pole vault and men’s long jump. 

In the men’s long jump, the senior from Dansville, N.Y., set a new personal best with a leap of 7.84 meters to take the top spot in the event. For the men’s pole vault, Wadsworth was the lone participant, but he produced a 3.96-meter jump in his first competition of the season. 

As part of the Bears’ dominant performance, LR won an additional three events on the men’s and women’s sides of the competition. Those included the pole vault, 400-meter dashes and the triple jump. 

In the women’s pole vault, Pearl Ballard registered a first-place result with a 3.08-meter leap. The junior from Hendersonville, N.C. has recorded a Top 10 finish in all three outdoor events she has participated in this season. 

In the 400-meter dashes, Kimberley Owens took the top spot in the women’s race while Bamidele Ajayi finished first in the men’s race. 

Owens, a junior from El Paso, Texas, struck a new personal best with her time of 59.36, which was good enough for her first win of the 2023-24 track and field season. For Ajayi, the freshman also tallied a new personal best of 47.40 to win his first collegiate outdoor race. 

For the triple jump, Nick Henriques and Kone earned first-place results in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively.  

Henriques, the junior from Acworth, Ga., won his second triple jump competition of the outdoor season with a leap of 14.45 meters. Kone, a junior from Nottingham, England, got her second top two finish of the outdoor season with a jump of 11.97 meters. 

Kone secured another relay victory over the weekend while serving as the final leg in the women’s 4×400-meter race. She was joined alongside Sharonda Priester, Carolin Fuehren and Damyja Ortiz, who produced a time of 3:57.82. 

In addition to being the second leg of the relay, Fuehren also notched an individual victory with a first-place time of 2:11.11 in the women’s 800-meter event. After setting a personal best in the Raleigh Relays, Fuehren’s performance was good enough for her first victory of the outdoor season. 

Sticking with the track, Clarence McGill got another personal best time in the 400-meter hurdles with his first-place time of 52.21. The sophomore from Corpus Christi, Texas, who finished third in the Texas Relays, got his fourth top three result of the outdoor schedule. 

In the women’s 10000-meter event, Sabrina Fleig finished first with a time of 36:57.77. The sophomore produced a new personal high with that time in addition to the fourth-straight weekend that she has tallied a career best when a part of the competition. 

Shifting over to the field, Josh Wise had a first-place result in the men’s javelin throw of 53.74 meters. The senior from Portsmouth, England, set a personal best in LR Bears Opener and has won back-to-back events at the Moretz Sports Athletic Campus. 

In the men’s discus throw, Ellis Horton earned his first win of the outdoor season with a toss of 44.48 meters. That distance is the second-best result of the outdoor schedule, with only his toss of 45.72 meters at the Montreat College Open being higher. 

The final event that LR took a first-place finish in was the women’s hammer throw, where Olivia Jackson posted a toss of 45.52 meters. The senior from Cherokee, N.C., finished in the top three in both events at Moretz Sports Athletic Campus in 2024. 

UP NEXT: The Lenoir-Rhyne Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Teams will be back in action next weekend for the Aggie Invitational in Greensboro, N.C. The two-day event hosted by North Carolina A&T will begin on Friday, April 19. It will be the final event before the 2024 SAC Outdoor Championships.