Columbus, Ohio – The Berea Mountaineers Track and Field teams kicked off their 2023 indoor season at the Comet Invitational on Saturday. The Mountaineers started the season with a bang and left the meet with 35 new personal best and one school record.
 
Sophomore Kymiah Blair, junior Robert Immell and freshman Madison Stonestreet all took event individual titles at the meet. Junior Larry Branch flew to a new a school record in the long jump to highlight the meet.
 
Finals Recap
Long Jump
Women- Berea had four jumpers ready to start the day. Freshman Jerneisha Lewis (4.95m) lead the way to a 2^nd place finish. Freshman Jakeisha Lewis (4.78m), sophomore Liz Stokes (4.68m) and senior Hannah Hisle (4.66m) all finished in the top 10. Je. Lewis, Stokes and Hisle all left set new personal best in the event.
Men- The Mountaineers found excitement in the beginning thanks to Larry Branch. Branch took 2^nd place overall with a jump of 6.44m and had three jumps 6.41m and over. Branch's efforts lead to a new personal best and school record.

Shot Put
Women- In her collegiate debut, freshman Lilly Stears threw 10.03m. That mark is good enough for 2^nd all time indoors for the Mountaineer women. Stears finished 7^th overall in the event.

Weight Throw
Women- Junior Elise Kemp (10.87m) in her season debut, faced a tough field and finished 6^th in the weight throw.

60m Hurdles
Women- In the women's 60m Hurdles finals, Jakeisha Lewis (10.77) finished 4^th and Jerneisha Lewis (11.58) finished 6^th.

60m
Women- Kymiah Blair (8.22) took 4^th place to start off her season debut.
Men- Larry Branch (7.27), sophomore JC Ozor (7.30), and senior Cameron Bridgeman (7.33) finished 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th respectively. Branch and Ozor did so while setting new personal best in the event.

Mile
Women- In her first race of her indoor career, Madison Stonestreet, won first event title of the day for the Mountaineers. Finishing with a time of 5:39.17.
Men- Fighting for position was the name of the game for both Robert Immell (4:30.03) and junior Silas Fair (4:30.58), to finish 4^th and 5^th respectively.

400m
Women- Making her Mountaineer debut, freshman Kristin Fischli did not disappoint. Fischli took 2^nd place and finished .39 behind the event winner with a time of 1:04.79, a new personal best. Junior Liberte Mack made her event debut, running 1:08.26 in the 400m.

800m
Men- One lone Mountaineer stepped up for the 800m and he did not disappoint. Senior Alexis Arreola (2:02.35) took 2^nd place in his season debut. Setting a new indoor PR and his 2^nd fastest time in the event.

200m
Women- Six Mountaineer women took place in the 200m across four heats. In three of those heats, a Mountaineer woman won their heat. Kymiah Blair (26.77) continued her strong season debut with an event title. Jerneisha Lewis (28.43), sophomore Brianna Dowell (29.54), sophomore Angel Patterson (29.65) and senior Anita Chukwu (29.68) finished the top 10. Je. Lewis, Patterson and Chukwu set new personal best in the event.

Men- Mountaineer men had two runners on the podium for the 200m. Sophomore Calib Collier-Smith (23.53) finished 2^nd ahead of teammate Larry Branch (23.77). JC Ozor (24.25) finished 8^th in the event. Branch set a new personal best in the event.

3000m
Women- The Mountaineer women took three top-8 finishes of the 3000m. Sophomore Summer Bahr (11:57.17) lead the way a 3^rd place finish. Freshman Leslie Estrada (12:34.39) and freshman Brooke Donley (12:57.35) set new personal best with 6^th and 8^th place finishes.
Men- Robert Immell lead the way for the Mountaineer men with an event title and new personal best in the 3000m. Running a time of 9:06.97, Immell finished eight seconds ahead of second place.

4x400
Women- Kymiah Blair, Liberte Mack, Brianna Dowell and Kristin Fischli teamed up to take 2^nd  in the women's 4x400 (4:23.10)
Men- Berea's relay team of Calib Collier-Smith, sophomore David Emeka-Ibe, freshman Adrian Castaneda, and freshman Quinncey Gibson finished 8^th with a time of 3:53.75. Berea men's other relay team of Larry Branch, Silas Fair, JC Ozor and Alexis Arreola finished third with a time of 3:35.98 winning their heat.

Qualifying Recap:
60m
Women- Kymiah Blair took first in her heat with a time of 8.27 to qualify for the 60m finals.
Men- Cameron Bridgeman (7.19), Larry Branch (7.25) and Jeffrey Ozor (7.29) qualified for the 60m finals.
 

Saturday, January 28 (Q denotes qualifying. All others are finals)
Event	Place, Mountaineer (Time/Distance), Notes
Long Jump (W)	2. Jerneisha Lewis (4.95m/16'3"), Personal Record 4. Jakeisha Lewis (4.78m/15'8.25") 7. Liz Stokes (4.68m/15'4.25"), Personal Record 9. Hannah Hisle (4.66m/15'3.5"), Personal Record
Long Jump (M)	2. Larry Branch (6.44m/21'1.5"), Personal Record, School Record
Shot Put (W)	7. Lilly Stears (10.03m/32'11"), Personal Record 10. Elise Kemp (9.11m/29'10.75") 13. Abigail Hockstok (8.07m/26'5.75"), Personal Record 16. Attallah Moore (7.56m/24'9.75"), Personal Record 17. Kyonna Ross (7.19m/23'7.25")
Shot Put (M)	14. Joshua Carr (7.28), Personal Record
60m (W) Q	4. Kymiah Blair (8.27), Qualified for the finals 9. Anita Chukwu (8.70), Personal Record 10. Hannah Hisle, (8.70) 12. Angel Patterson (8.81) 15. Liz Stokes (8.94), Personal Record 16. Brianna Dowell (9.03), Personal Record
60m (M) Q	6. Cameron Bridgeman (7.19), Qualified for the finals 7. Larry Branch (7.25), Qualified for the finals, Event Debut, Personal Record 8. Jeffrey Ozor (7.31), Qualified for the finals, Personal Record 13. Calib Collier-Smith (7.39) 22. Adrian Castaneda (7.67), Personal Record 27. Immanuel Darling (7.87) 32. Dillon Gregg (8.14) 33. Anthony Boggs (8.17), Personal Record 34. Gagan Phuyal (8.20), Personal Record
Mile (W)	1. Madison Stonestreet (5:39.17), Personal Record
Mile (M)	4. Robert Immell (4:30.03), Personal Record 5. Silas Fair (4:30.58), Personal Record 16. Noah Reasoner (4:50.64)
Weight Throw (W)	6. Elise Kemp (10.87m/35'8") 10. Lilly Stears (8.65m/28'4.5"), Mountaineer Debut, Personal Record 11. Kyonna Ross (8.48m/27'10")
400m (W)	2. Kristin Fischli (1:04.79), Mountaineer Debut, Personal Record 4. Liberte Mack (1:08), Event Debut, Personal Record
400m (M)	5. Quinncey Gibson (59.47), Event Debut, Personal Record
60m Hurdles (W)	4. Jakeisha Lewis (10.77), Personal Record 6. Jerneisha Lewis (11.58), Personal Record
60m (W)	4. Kymiah Blair (8.22)
60m (M)	4. Larry Branch (7.27) 5. Jeffrey Ozor (7.30) 6. Cameron Bridgeman (7.33)
800m (M)	2. Alexis Arreola (2:02.35), Indoor Personal Record
200m (W)	1. Kymiah Blair (26.77) 6. Jerneisha Lewis (28.43), Personal Record 7. Jakeisha Lewis (28.69) 8. Brianna Dowell (29.54), Indoor Personal Record 9. Angel Patterson (29.65), Personal Record 10. Anita Chukwu (29.68), Personal Record
200m (M)	2. Calib Collier-Smith (23.53) 3. Larry Branch (23.77), Personal Record 8. Jeffrey Ozor (24.25) 15. David Emeka-Ibe (24.91), Personal Record 19. Adrian Castaneda (25.65), Personal Record 22. Quinncey Gibson (26.12), Personal Record 23. Gagan Phuyal (26.17), Personal Record 24. Immanuel Darling (26.42) 27. Anthony Boggs (27.33) 28. Dillon Gregg (27.80), Indoor Personal Record
3000m (W)	3. Summer Bahr (11:57.17) 6. Leslie Estrada (12:34.39), Personal Record 8. Brooke Donley (12:57.35), Personal Record 9. Diana Angel Espinoza (13:13.71), Personal Record 12. Jasiella Grandy (15:26.00), Personal Record
3000m (M)	1. Robert Immell (9:06.97), Personal Record 3. Noah Reasoner (10:01.08)
4x400(W)	2. Kymiah Blair, Liberte Mack, Brianna Dowell, Kristin Fischli (4:23.10)
4x400 (M)	3. Larry Branch, Silas Fair, Jeffrey Ozor, Alexis Arreola (3:35.98) 8. Calib Collier-Smith, David Emeka-Ibe, Quinncey Gibson, Adrian Castaneda (3:53.75)