Lynchburg, Va. – The University of Lynchburg men's and women's track & field teams jousted with Division I opponents at the season-opening Liberty Kickoff, posting nine top-10 finishes across the two days of competition.

Micah Leech kicked off the action on Thursday in group B of the men's heptathlon, tallying 4999 points to finish second in the pod. Leech's points total would have qualified for the 2024-2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships as the 11th mark in the nation.

The junior earned individual victories in the 60m hurdles (8.43) and pole vault (13' 11¼" or 4.25m) events of the heptathlon, finishing inside the top five of five separate events. 

In the women's weight throw, Kenzie Swicegood opened her indoor campaign with a 51' (15.54m) mark to earn seventh in the competition. While Swicegood tallied four fouls in her six attempts, several travelled distances that would have qualified for last year's NCAA Championships.

Three Hornets swamped the top 15 of the men's high jump, led by Elijah Rose's eighth-place performance. Rose cleared the 6' 4¾" (1.95m) bar to secure a top-10 finish, while Aidan Hipp earned 13th and Jaren Lee clinched 14th at the same height (6' 2¾" or 1.90m).

To round out the field events, Kacey Kelly secured third place in the women's triple jump with a 38' 7¼" (11.77m) leap, and Bronson Andrasz earned fourth in his collegiate debut with a 13' 11¼" (4.25m) performance in the lower section of the men's pole vault. Demetri Hinton leapt to fifth place in the men's triple jump with a 45' 8¾" (13.94m) performance.  

Around the oval, Parker Marshall opened his Hornets career with a stellar 1:07.40 performance in the men's 500m dash to finish sixth. Blake Henson (1:09.75) and Noah Austin (1:11.69) also finished in the top 15 to finish 11th and 14th, respectively.

Rami Dib led the Hornets' effort in the men's mile with a 4:17.85 performance for seventh. Jamison Mantooth clocked 4:26.89 to finish 12th.

In short sprints, Antaveon Steele earned 16th in the men's 60m hurdles with an 8.54 performance, while Rylee Turner sprinted to a 29th-place 7.95 result in the women's 60m dash. Turner's performance is just ten-hundredths of a second from tying Aleshia Washington's school record of 7.85 from 2015.

Turner also placed 29th in the women's 200m dash, crossing the line in 26.00 to trail Aniya Seward's school record by four-hundredths of a second. She moved into second on the Lynchburg all-time performances list for the women's 200m dash.

To cap the meet on Friday night, the Lynchburg women's 4x400m relay team placed 10th overall with a 4:08.35 result.

Several athletes will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 7 as the team travels to Winchester, Va. to compete at the Shenandoah Holiday Kickoff.

To view results from the Liberty Kickoff, click here.

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--LYN--