Liberty University
Big South Outdoor Track Championships
Liberty Sweeps Big South Men's, Women's Track Titles
5/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty shone brightly on a sun-drenched Saturday at the 2015 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships, sweeping the men's and women's team championships at Vert Stadium.
The Liberty men's squad captured its 20th outdoor team title and ninth in a row in dominating fashion, racking up 288.5 points to outdistance runner-up Coastal Carolina by 106 tallies. It marked the Flames' largest margin of victory at this meet since 2009 and Liberty's largest point total since scoring 291.5 at the 2001 Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Conversely, the Lady Flames held off Coastal Carolina by 11.5 points (210.5-199) for their second title in three years and 14th overall Big South outdoor team crown.
Liberty took home a significant amount of individual hardware, with awards going to Jacy Christiansen (Women's All-Academic Team), Fred Fulton (Men's Outstanding Field Performer), Ednah Kurgat (Women's Freshman of the Year), David Scouten (Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Men's All-Academic Team) and head coach Brant Tolsma (Men's and Women's Coach of the Year).
Scouten, who boasts a 3.97 GPA, was the Flames' first Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year at this meet since Phil Leineweber in 2009. Meanwhile, Kurgat completed a sweep of the 2015 Big South Women's Freshman of the Year for indoor and outdoor track & field.
Tolsma added to his amazing numbers as Liberty's cross country and track & field coach. He has now guided the Flames and Lady Flames to 85 Big South team championships and earned 59 Big South Coach of the Year trophies during his 29 years at Liberty.
Liberty took down a pair of school records on Saturday. Sophomore Mary Witmer's 400 hurdles time of 59.92 took down the previous mark of 60.32, set by teammate Ansley Gebben at the 2014 Big South meet. Meanwhile, Dana Mercer, Abigail Flower and Olivia Davis and Kate Flower lowered the women's 4 x 100 relay standard to 45.68, improving upon the mark of 45.81 set earlier this season.
Women's Day Three Recap
Abigail Flower contributed to three of the Lady Flames' four event victories on Saturday, including the women's 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay. The relay was the day's first women's running event and helped Liberty get off to a strong start. Flower recovered from a dicey handoff to give the Lady Flames the lead for good on the backstretch. Liberty's winning time of 45.68 set a program record and put the Lady Flames atop the Big South women's 4 x 100 podium for the first time since 2007.
It had been even longer since a Lady Flame had won either the 100 (2000) or 200 (1999) dash titles at this meet, but Flower ended both droughts in the span of an hour. The senior's 100 victory came in a season-best 11.59 seconds and was complemented by sister Kate Flower (fourth, 12.08) and Davis (seventh, 12.27).
Flower took top honors in the 200 by more than a half second, clocking a time of 23.81 into a stiff headwind for her fourth Big South individual event title and 12th career All-Big South honor. Kate Flower added a fifth-place finish in 24.74 seconds.
Junior Janae Jones repeated as Big South women's triple jump champion, thanks to a personal-best leap of 41-2.25 which moves her into second place in program history. Senior Melissa Rohwer followed in third place with a season-best 39-2.5, claiming her fifth and final All-Big South award.
With the meet hanging in the balance entering the next-to-last event (women's 5K), the Lady Flames' distance crew came through in a big way. Liberty outscored Coastal Carolina, 15-13, sealing the team victory as all four Lady Flames scored points.
Kurgat led the way with her second runner-up finish of the meet, clocking a time of 17:01.12. Christiansen (fifth, 17:41.18), Meredith Mistretta (seventh, 18:08.96) and Jessie Proehl (eighth, 18:22.59) added valuable points, as well.
Jocelyn Williams continued her impressive late-season surge in the women's hammer, claiming runner-up honors with a personal-best 200-10 heave. The redshirt senior, who finishes as an eight-time All-Big South honoree, became just the second Lady Flame ever to throw the hammer 200 feet and is one of just 12 women in the East Region to do so in 2015. Fellow senior Jennifer Smith reached a personal-best 184-8 for fourth place.
Ansley Gebben started off a busy day with a third-place showing in the women's 400 final with a personal-best time of 55.03. Teammate Corinn Bedell crossed the line in seventh place with a personal-best effort of her own, 56.19.
Gebben later placed seventh in the 400 hurdles in 1:03.92, following Witmer's record-breaking 59.92 effort which netted fourth place.
Finally, Olivia Behymer, Bedell, Witmer and Gebben teamed up for fifth place in the 4 x 400 relay. Gebben's 54.83 anchor leg contributed to the Lady Flames' final time of 3:45.79, which makes them the second-fastest quartet in program history.
Two and a half hours before her clutch 5K performance, Christiansen sped to fourth place in the 1,500, thanks to a personal-best time of 4:31.47.
Jasmin Sutton chipped in a sixth place at 800 meters, posting a career-best time of 2:17.48.
Men's Day Three Recap
Sophomore Stephen Racanelli scored 22 points for the Flames in his quartet of Saturday events, headlined by a come-from-behind victory at 400 meters. Racanelli chased down defending champion Alexander Hass of Coastal Carolina on the final straightaway, completing a sweep of the 2015 Big South indoor and outdoor men's 400 crowns in a personal-best time of 47.52 seconds. Also scoring points in the event were freshmen Levi Mack (seventh, 50.20) and Jeff Jacobs (eighth, 51.04).
Racanelli was the men's 200 runner-up, clocking a time of 21.67 into a headwind. He also competed on the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay squads, both of which finished second.
The Flames' 4 x 100 grouping of Ryan Davis, Racanelli, Marquis Gilchrist and Joey Imhoff clocked 41.43, while the 4 x 400 quartet of Ryan Versen, John Sherret, Jacobs and Racanelli notched a season-best time of 3:16.26. Racanelli clocked 47.39 seconds for the anchor leg, moving Liberty into the runner-up spot.
Davis also enjoyed a memorable Saturday, including a sparkling performance in the 400 hurdles final. The sophomore overtook Winthrop's Andrew Chavous over the final hurdle to win his second straight Big South men's 400 hurdles crown in a personal-best time of 51.23 seconds. In the process, Davis broke the meet record and climbed to No. 2 in Liberty and Big South Conference history for the 400 hurdles. He now ranks inside the top 20 in the East Region this season.
Earlier, Davis had posted a personal-best 110 hurdles time of 14.57 for third place in the event, enabling him to crack into Liberty's all-time top 10.
Blake Kohring (fifth in the 110 hurdles, 15.07) and Versen (sixth in the 400 hurdles, 55.55) added points in the hurdles.
Another sophomore, Aklesso Agama, was victorious for the Flames on Saturday, winning the men's triple jump crown to go along with his indoor men's triple jump championship from February. Agama reached a personal-best 50-3.5, climbing to third in program history.
Freshman Darrel Jones recorded the top triple jump mark of his young collegiate career, 49-11, for third place in the event and sixth on Liberty's all-time list. Meanwhile, senior Kyle Wheeler jumped 45-0.5 to place eighth. He ended up scoring 19 points in three jumping events at this meet.
Fulton finished as the Flames' highest point scorer for the meet, however, as his third-place hammer finish (183-2) boosted his total to 26. Fulton previously won both the men's shot put and discus titles on Friday.
Scouten ended the meet with 18 points after throwing the hammer 173-3 for fifth place. Trevor VanAsselt came in sixth with a hammer throw of 173-0.
Sherret wraps up his career as a five-time All-Big South performer, garnering his final all-conference nod with a third-place finish at 800 meters (1:54.36). Classmate Trevor Hope came in fifth in 1:55.40.
Imhoff, another of the Flames' seniors, crossed the line fifth in the 100 final with a personal-best time of 10.70 seconds.
Freshmen scored 12 points in the mid-distance and distance events on Saturday, including Titus Koech's fifth-place effort at 5K in 15:07.30.
Rookies Stalline Kurgat (fifth, 3:58.01), Cameron Francis (sixth, 3:58.65) and Luke Jelen (eighth, 3:59.51) all tallied points in the men's 1,500 final.
A number of Liberty athletes will next compete in the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet, slated for May 28-30 in Jacksonville, Fla. The official list of qualifiers will be announced by the NCAA on Thursday.
Some Flames and Lady Flames will remain in the Piedmont Triad for one final opportunity to punch their tickets to Jacksonville, at Sunday's Aggie Last Chance Meet in Greensboro, N.C. Action will begin at 9 a.m. inside Aggie Stadium.
Final Men's Team Scores
1) Liberty – 288.5
2) Coastal Carolina – 182.5
3) High Point – 122
4) Campbelll – 101
5) Winthrop – 60
6) Gardner-Webb – 52
7) UNC Asheville – 8
Final Women's Team Scores
1) Liberty – 210.5
2) Coastal Carolina – 199
3) Campbell – 95
4) High Point – 82
5) Radford – 59
6) Gardner-Webb – 58.5
7) Winthrop – 43
8) Charleston Southern – 37
9) UNC Asheville – 35
Men's Outstanding Track Performer
Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell
Women's Outstanding Track Performer
Teresa Williamson, Radford
Men's Outstanding Field Performer
Fred Fulton, Liberty
Women's Outstanding Field Performer
Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop
Men's Freshman of the Year
Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell
Women's Freshman of the Year
Ednah Kurgat, Liberty
Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
David Scouten, Liberty
Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Teresa Williamson, Radford
Men's All-Academic Team
Alexander Hass, Coastal Carolina
Carlo Raiteri, Winthrop
David Scouten, Liberty
Seaver Wait, Gardner-Webb
Nate Kennedy, Campbell
Chase Stevens, UNC Asheville
Paul O'Donoghue, High Point
Women's All-Academic Team
LaQuestis Scott, Charleston Southern
Teresa Williamson, Radford
Kasey Briggs, UNC Asheville
Shalace Rose, Winthrop
Lynette Akai, Campbell
Christine Rickert, High Point
Kristen Hurley, Gardner-Webb
Kyla Van Graan, Coastal Carolina
Jacy Christiansen, Liberty
Men's Coach of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
Women's Coach of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
