300 cars lined Highway 100 at Vaughn’s Gap where the 2014 Belmont Opener took place. The sunshine was reflecting off of the bright green grass, however the striking visuals were not enough to mask the 94 degree heat that weighed heavily upon the contestants.
“It was hot. Tough conditions, tough course,” said head coach Bill Taylor. After the women’s race a girl could be seen being lifted into an ambulance. Luckily, most of the contestants were able to recover quickly.
Lipscomb freshman Paige Stoner enjoyed her time at her first ever college meet.
“The whole thing was really exhilarating to be with so many girls, that’s so different from high school,” Stoner said. “It helped a lot to know that I have teammates that I need to push myself for.”
Lipscomb sophomore Barbara Ball was excited for the team to get out and race for the first time of the new season, and to be able to put all their hard work to the test.
Lipscomb held back a number of girls from racing in the meet and Kaitlyn Llewellyn, a senior at Lipscomb, mentioned that working with less people was something to get used to.
“It will be nicer next week when we have more depth,” Llewellyn said, “It was pretty hot so times weren’t great, but it was a good way to start the season. It was a lot of fun.”
Coach Bill Taylor said that the girls ran well, and that their effort was there.
As for times, errors and protests delayed the results for the Belmont Opener. The women’s race was being reviewed due to technical issues and no results were made available. The men’s results were also under review after several protests from coaches. They were later finalized.
On the men’s side, Lipscomb sophomore Daniel Lenart flashed incredible potential when he beat the heat to post a personal record in the 5k with a time of 15:59:79.
“I was very pleased with how everything went today,” Lenart said. “We went out very strong as a team, everybody stayed together throughout a good portion of the beginning of the race.”
Lenart mentioned that he was able to work well with freshman Mitch Zabka, especially in the last two miles which attributed to both of their successful race times.
Lipscomb’s Mitch Zabka was in his first ever college race and loved every second of it.
“It was just really cool having a teammate right next to me; that team aspect was just an awesome feeling,” Zabka said. “It really motivates you during the race. It helped me push through a lot of the pain and help with my mental game.”
Coach Bill Taylor was happy with the men’s performance. With only four guys in Nashville and the rest running in Florida for the weekend, they still showed character.
“Daniel Lenart’s PR in ridiculous heat and a tough course, I’m very proud of him,” Coach Taylor said. “I thought the guys fought hard. What I look for first is effort and the effort was there, the fight was there and we’re early in the season. I’m really happy.”
Lipscomb’s next race in Nashville is the Vanderbilt Invite. It will be held on Sept. 13th in Nashville.