Liberty sprinters to compete in Budapest, add to recent success on international stage

UPDATE 8/25: Trinidad and Tobago finished 12th in the mens 4 x 100 relay semifinals at the World Athletics Championships and did not qualify for the final.

Two Liberty University Track & Field sprinters from Trinidad and Tobago will compete this weekend at the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.

Freshman Revell Webster and sophomore Omari Lewis will compete as members of Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 4 x 100 relay squad. The preliminary rounds take place Friday at 1:30 p.m., televised on USA, before the final round on Saturday at 3:40 p.m. on CNBC.

The weekend’s competition marks the second time this summer that Lewis will represent his country on the international stage. In July, he finished fourth in both the men’s 100 and 4 x 100 relay at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) U23 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Webster, 18, is the youngest member of his nation’s team in Budapest. Last month, he won the Trinidadian U20 men’s 100 title. Three weeks later, he edged Lewis to finish third in the Trinidadian men’s 100 final.

Lewis and Webster are just two of many Liberty student-athletes who have competed in international competitions this summer.

Liberty junior Prosper Ekporere claimed the Nigerian men’s 110 hurdles national championship on July 6 at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, Nigeria, with a program record and personal best time of 13.66. He claimed his spot in the Nigerian final by winning his preliminary heat in 13.83 seconds on July 5.

Lady Flame Paola Bueno broke the women’s hammer program record with a 209-4 toss for her third consecutive Mexican national title on July 21 in Puebla, Mexico. This marked a personal best and Liberty program record for Bueno, who is from Nayarit, Mexico. Her dominant performance followed her 197-0 showing on July 18, when she won the Mexican U23 women’s hammer crown.

Competing alongside Bueno in Mexico was Liberty teammate Sofia Mojica, who won the Mexico U23 women’s discus gold medal with a personal-best 161-10 heave on July 18. The performance ranks eighth in program history.

The recent international success by Liberty student-athletes follows a 2022-23 campaign in which both the men’s and women’s teams swept the ASUN Conference Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

International fame also came to former track & field member Alejandro Perlaza Zapata this summer when he helped Columbia win the mixed 4 x 400 relay final on July 28 at the South American Championships in Brazil. The squad’s winning time of 3:14.79 set a new South American Record.