Lynchburg Reporter

Liberty will remain in the Commonwealth of Virginia for a pair of meets this week. Most of the Flames will compete in the Virginia Challenge, Thursday through Saturday at Lannigan Field in Charlottesville. Another group of Liberty athletes will travel across the Hill City for Saturday’s WildCat Twilight at Randolph College’s WildCat Stadium.

How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames

Live results will be available throughout both meets. The Virginia Challenge will feature lap-by-lap splits and in-progress field event updates, courtesy of Flash Results.

Weather Report

Thursday’s forecast in Charlottesville calls for cloudy skies and a high in the low 70s. Friday and Saturday are expected to include more sunshine with the high temperature approaching 80.

Saturday’s forecast for Lynchburg projects a high in the low 80s under mostly sunny skies.

Virginia Challenge Preview

Liberty will return to Lannigan Field for the second time this season after opening the outdoor campaign at the Virginia Open on March 19.

That day, Isis Brooks set the Liberty women’s 100 dash record at 11.48 in her Lady Flames debut. After lowering the record to 11.41 at last Saturday’s Meet of Champions, Brooks could next take aim at the ASUN all-time standard of 11.36 on Friday in Charlottesville.

At the opposite end of the running event spectrum, Adelyn Ackley and Anna Hostetler are slated to make their 10K debuts Friday at 10 p.m. Ackley clocked an ASUN all-time record 15:54.98 5K on April 1 in Stanford. The ASUN (33:43.36 by North Florida’s Eden Meyer in 2017) and Liberty (33:56.67 by Noel Palmer in 2019) 10K standards could be in play.

The Flames’ record-breaking men’s 4 x 100 relay squad of Brandon Letts, Diamantae Griffin, Christian Lyon and Donald McClinton is scheduled to compete on Saturday. They will aim for their third consecutive victory and to lower their Liberty and ASUN Conference records from 39.44.

Ryan Drew will try to break records in his fifth consecutive individual race when he takes the track for the men’s 1,500 on Friday. He lowered the Liberty record to 3:41.87 on March 24, while the current ASUN all-time record stands at 3:41.26 (Lipscomb’s Shane Streich in 2021).

The throwing events bear watching in Charlottesville, beginning with a special Thursday evening session featuring only the men’s and women’s hammer. ASUN Men’s Field Athlete of the Week John Hicks has been on a tear in the men’s hammer. Most recently, he dominated the Meet of Champions competition on Saturday with a personal-best 216-4 effort that ranks No. 28 nationally.

WildCat Twilight Preview

After setting personal bests in different events at the Meet of Champions, Lady Flames Samantha Troup, Jessica Rogers, Ruth Tanui and Chelsea Stocki will all step down to the 800-meter distance on Saturday at Randolph.

The women’s high jump competition will feature a pair of Liberty volleyball players. Abby Phillips is a two-time ASUN high jump runner-up for the Lady Flames, while volleyball teammate Trinity Watts will make her collegiate high jump debut on Saturday.

Juan Pablo Germain Ronco is entered in Saturday’s men’s 110 hurdles. The No. 5-ranked hurdler in program history (14.28) has not competed in over a year, since the 2021 Texas Relays.

Record Setters

Liberty has been rewriting the record books during the opening month of the 2022 outdoor season.

New ASUN Records

March 25 – Men’s 4 x 100 – 39.65 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton (Old Record: 39.68 by ETSU, 3/31/07)

April 1 – Women’s 5K – 15:54.98 by Adelyn Ackley (Old Record: 16:10.19 by Ackley, 4/16/21)

April 1 – Men’s 5K – 13:40.82 by Ryan Drew (Old Record: 13:53.30 by Drew, 5/1/21)

April 2 – Men’s Discus – 186-3 by Kevin Nedrick (Old Record: 186-3 by Kennesaw State’s Daniel Haugh, 5/11/19)

April 2 – Men’s 4 x 100 – 39.44 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton (Old Record: 39.65 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton, 3/25/22)

New Program Records

March 19 – Women’s 100 – 11.48 by Isis Brooks (Old Record: 11.57 by Abigail Flower, 4/19/13)

March 24 – Men’s 1,500 – 3:41.87 by Ryan Drew (Old Record: 3:43.05 by Drew, 5/5/21)

March 25 – Men’s 4 x 100 – 39.65 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton (Old Record: 39.86 by McFadden, Swinton, McDuffie & Marriott, 5/18/96)

April 2 – Men’s 4 x 100 – 39.44 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton (Old Record: 39.65 by Letts, Griffin, Lyon & McClinton, 3/25/22)

April 16 – Women’s 100 – 11.41 by Isis Brooks (Old Record: 11.48 by Brooks, 3/19/22)

April 16 – Men’s 200 – 20.58 by Diamantae Griffin (Old Record: 20.63 by Griffin, 5/15/21 & 4/2/22)

Among the Nation’s Elite

Liberty ranks among the top 25 nationally in the following events at this stage of the season.

Men’s Steeplechase – No. 3 – Felix Kandie – 8:37.00

Women’s 5K – No. 23 – Adelyn Ackley – 15:54.98

ASUN Leaders

Liberty currently ranks No. 1 in the ASUN Conference in the following events:

Men’s 100 – Diamantae Griffin – 10.35

Men’s 200 – Diamantae Griffin – 20.58

Men’s 5K – Ryan Drew – 13:40.82

Men’s 10K – Caleb Olson – 29:14.24

Men’s 110 Hurdles – Felix Lawrence – 14.21

Men’s 400 Hurdles – Felix Lawrence – 52.79

Men’s Steeplechase – Felix Kandie – 8:37.00

Men’s 4 x 100 Relay – 39.44

Men’s Long Jump – Quinten Clay – 24-7.25

Men’s Discus – Kevin Nedrick – 186-3

Men’s Hammer – John Hicks – 216-4

Men’s Decathlon – Anthony Bryan – 6,912

Women’s 100 – Isis Brooks – 11.41

Women’s 200 – Isis Brooks – 23.60

Women’s 400 – Janai Scott – 54.07

Women’s 5K – Adelyn Ackley – 15:54.98

Women’s Pole Vault – Taylen Langin – 13-1.75

Women’s Shot Put – Naomi Mojica – 51-3.5

Women’s Discus – Megan Mann – 157-4

Women’s Hammer – Grace Artis – 191-11

Women’s Javelin – Mackenzie Hainley – 151-2

Bound for Bloomington

The NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet is scheduled for May 25-28 in Bloomington, Ind. The following Flames are likely to qualify for the meet, based upon their marks thus far in the 2022 outdoor season.

Beau Backes – Men’s Discus

Jose Ballivian – Men’s Discus

Quinten Clay – Men’s Long Jump

Ryan Drew – Men’s 1,500, 5K

Diamantae Griffin – Men’s 100, 200, 4 x 100 Relay

John Hicks – Men’s Hammer

Felix Kandie – Men’s Steeplechase

Brandon Letts – Men’s 4 x 100 Relay

Christian Lyon – Men’s 100, 4 x 100 Relay

Donald McClinton – Men’s 200, Men’s 4 x 100 Relay

Kyle Mitchell – Men’s Shot Put

Kevin Nedrick – Men’s Shot Put, Men’s Discus

Caleb Olson – Men’s 10K

Adelyn Ackley – Women’s 5K

Isis Brooks – Women’s 100, 200

Mackenzie Hainley – Women’s Javelin

Up Next

Next weekend, Liberty will preview the venue for the ASUN Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The UNF Invitational is slated for April 29-30 at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.

Original source can be found here.