Liberty University’s Gilles Ouedraogo won the men’s triple jump and set a new program record with a leap of 52 feet, 4.5 inches at the Penn Relays on April 25. The event took place during cool, rainy, and windy conditions at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The achievement is significant as it marks Ouedraogo’s outdoor debut for the season and surpasses Clarence Powell’s previous Liberty record of 52-1.25 set in May 2010. Ouedraogo now holds both the indoor (53-1) and outdoor (52-4.5) triple jump records for Liberty.
Ouedraogo only needed one attempt to secure his victory, winning by a foot over his competitors. His performance was part of a successful weekend for Liberty athletes, who also saw Allie Zealand break the women’s 5K program record with a time of 15:26.38 earlier in the meet.
Other notable results included Ben Shughart finishing second in the men’s javelin championship section with a throw of 218-6, just four feet behind winner Collin Torres from Army. Christian Hicks placed third in the men’s discus championship section at 190-2, missing second place by an inch to Iosif Papa from UMBC.
On the women’s side, Isabella Frattura finished third in the championship javelin section with a throw of 156-4 after two consecutive top-ten finishes as a high school competitor at this event in previous years. Bethany Tate achieved ninth place in shot put with her first attempt reaching 51-5.5.
Liberty concluded three days at Penn Relays with two new program records and three event victories across various disciplines. Looking ahead, Liberty plans to compete next at two twilight meets: Hill City Twilight hosted by University of Lynchburg on May 2 and Duke Twilight on May 3.
