The Lynchburg College men's indoor track and field team won its 11th-straight Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) title Friday evening, defeating runner-up Bridgewater College 186.50 points to 154.50.
Hornet sophomore Chris Word (Lynchburg, VA/E.C. Glass) earned the Men's Most Valuable Performer of the Meet honors. Word won the 400 meter-dash in an NCAA qualifying time of 49.41, was first in the 200 in 22.49, and was a part of the winning 4x400 meter relay team that won the race in 3:22.52 (a meet record).
Sophomore Ricky Flynn (Gaithersburg, MD/Damascus) captured the mile title in 4:20.69 (a meet record) and held on to win the 5,000 meter title in thrilling fashion in 15:25.40. Brandon Edwards (Warrenton, VA/Fauquier) won the men's triple jump (13.77 meters), was third in the long jump (6.43 meters) and 200-meter dash (22.75), while Scott Decker (Clifton, VA/Robinson) cleared 4.76 meters to win the pole vault.
Earl Graves (Richmond, VA/Hermitage) placed second in the 200 in 22.56 and the 400 in 50.33. Travis Wray (Newburg, MD/La Plata) took second in the mile run in 4:21 and was third in the 800 meters in 1:59.13. Decker was also selected by the conference's sports information director's as the ODAC Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the year for the second-straight year.
The Hornet women took third place. Roanoke College won the women's meet with 190 points, followed by Washington & Lee University with 110.50 and LC with 59. LC freshman Ashley Allen (Richmond, VA/Thomas Jefferson) won the weight throw with a hurl of 13.77 and was third in the shot put with a throw of 11.42 meters.
Danielle Garofalo (Boxford, MA/Masconomet) scored for Lynchburg in four different individual events, ranking third in the high jump (1.56 meters) and triple jump (10.76 m); fourth in the long jump (5.24 m) and sixth in the 55-meter hurdles (9.12). Jennie Pernisi (Camden, NY/APW) took third in the 5,000 meters in 19:38.69 and fourth in the mile in 5:30.46, while Krystle Landes (Staunton, VA/Wilson) finished fifth in the 400-meter dash in 1:01.10.