Allen Named ODAC's Top Athlete; Penick Also Wins Gold

The Eastern Mennonite track and field teams displayed some great efforts at the two-day Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships Friday and Saturday in Lynchburg. The men and women each had an athlete grab a gold metal on day one, resulting in an All-ODAC First Team honor, and junior Michael Allen (Fork Union, Va./Louisa County) was just as good on Saturday, being named the ODAC's Male Athlete of the Meet.

Allen won the long jump for the third straight year, with his best jump landing at 6.65m. He then dominated the field in the triple jump, winning with a distance of 14.49m. His jump was not only the best in the ODAC this year, but it also provisionally qualified him for the NCAA National Championships.

Allen also qualified for the final in the men's 100m, and took seventh with a time of in :11.44. He was also tenth in the 200m at :23.68. The junior won the Athlete of the Meet honor for the second time in his career. He also won it as a freshman in 2009.

Nathaniel Freed (Quakertown, Pa./Christopher Dock) finished in a tie for seventh in the high jump, clearing 1.73m. The freshman also took seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 12.31m.

Kori Penick (Lynchburg, Va./Virginia Episcopal) continued her surprising spring by winning the women's shot put with a toss of 12.28m. Penick joined the track and field team just days before the first outdoor meet earlier this spring. Brittany Burke (Stanley, Va./Page County) finished seventh at 10.72m.

The duo also scored in the discus, with Burke charting fourth with a throw of 33.62m and Penick grabbing fifth at 30.98m.

Freshman Erica Garber (Canby, Or./Canby) won third place in the triple jump, measuring a distance of 10.71m. She also just missed fourth in the 100m dash by a photo finish, taking a respectable fifth with a time of :13.31.

In the 400m, Sophia Holmes (Berryville, Va./Clarke) qualified for the finals with a time of 1:01.01. In the final six she settled for sixth with a time 1:03.22. Holmes also ran her season best in the 1500m, finishing eighth in 5:09.48.

A relay team of Samfee Doe (Monrovia, Md./Baltimore Lutheran), Garber, Holmes and Linda Cimini (Cape May, NJ/Middle Township) took fourth in the 4x400m, crossing in 4:14.61. It was the third-best time in EMU history.