Liberty University
Big South Outdoor Track Championships
Liberty Sweeps Big South Men's, Women's Titles
5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Liberty wrapped up its eighth time hosting the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Thursday at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex. Just like the previous seven occasions, the host Flames and Lady Flames finished as team champions, both winning in dominating fashion.
The Lady Flames racked up 235.5 points, finishing 102.5 tallies ahead of long-time rival Coastal Carolina (133 points), in the teams' final matchup before the Chanticleers depart for the Sun Belt Conference next season. Liberty's largest margin of victory at this meet since 1999 gives the Lady Flames back-to-back Big South titles for the first time since winning 10 in a row between 1994 and 2003. Liberty has claimed 15 out of 23 women's championships in meet history.
Meanwhile, the men's team captured its 10th straight conference championship and its 21st title in the meet's 23-year history by 101 points (257 to 156) over runner-up Coastal Carolina. The Flames have now enjoyed a 100+-point margin of victory at this meet in back-to-back seasons.
Brant Tolsma was honored as Big South Coach of the Year on the men's side and shared the women's honor with High Point's Mike Esposito. In a touching moment, Tolsma presented his coach of the year trophy to associate head coach Lance Bingham, who is leaving Liberty after 18 years to become Abilene Christian's head coach.
Tolsma continued to add to his incredible numbers on Thursday, as he is now a 62-time Big South Coach of the Year and has guided Liberty track & field and cross country teams to 89 Big South championships.
Other Liberty award winners included Kylie Polsgrove (Big South Women's Freshman of the Year), Steve Feister (Big South All-Academic Team) and Hannah Scherlacher (Big South All-Academic Team).
Polsgrove finished third in the heptathlon, fourth in the women's high jump and seventh in the women's 100 hurdles. Liberty has now claimed four straight Big South Women's Freshman of the Year trophies between the indoor and outdoor seasons. Ednah Kurgat swept the indoor and outdoor honors last season, while Delaney McDowell was the 2016 indoor recipient.
Liberty won eight events on Thursday, bringing its total to 12 for the meet. Thursday's victors included Erin Edmond (women's 400), Ansley Gebben (women's 800), the quartet of Nicole Leonzo, Kate Flower, Dana Mercer and Edmond (women's 4 x 100), the quartet of Corinn Bedell, Gebben, Olivia Behymer and Edmond (women's 4 x 400), Mychelle Cumings (women's shot put), Stephen Racanelli (men's 400), Bradley Prentice (men's 800) and Feister (men's javelin).
They joined Ednah Kurgat (women's 10K), Erika Jackson (heptathlon), Fred Fulton (men's discus) and Zach Davis (decathlon), who notched first-place finishes during the meet's first two days.
Cumings' shot put victory made conference history, as she became the first Big South female athlete ever to win the same event four times indoors and four times outdoors at the conference meet.
Liberty also did some record breaking on Thursday, including a pair of new school records. The Lady Flames' winning 4 x 100 time of 45.60 set a record, while Feister improved his own men's javelin mark to 234-11.
Feister's javelin throw set a Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex facility record, as did the women's 4 x 400 relay time of 3:41.92. Finally, Gebben established a meet record in the women's 800 at 2:08.41.
Women's Day Three Recap
As has been the case throughout her career, Cumings was dominant in the women's shot put on Thursday. The Tennessee native recorded the top five throws of the competition, including a season-best 49-6.25 effort, and won by three and a half feet. Cumings finishes as a 10-time Big South champion and 12-time All-Big South performer during her time as a Lady Flame.
Sophomore teammates Dasiana Larson (44-5.25) and Holly Arey (41-1.5) came in third and sixth, respectively, in the women's shot put. Larson earned her first career All-Big South medal, while Arey scored points in her fourth different event in three days. Arey's mark was an outdoor personal best, moving her into ninth place in program history.
Edmond had a hand in three event victories on the day, including the first women's race and the last women's event. Edmond flew past Coastal Carolina's Kelila Naules on the anchor leg of the women's 4 x 100 relay, giving the Lady Flames their first back-to-back triumphs in the event since 2000 through 2002.
Liberty's winning time of 45.60 seconds broke the program record of 45.68, which was set while capturing the 2015 Big South title. Flower and Mercer were the two common links between the pair of championship-winning and record-breaking 4 x 100 quartets.
The Lady Flames had not experienced victory in the Big South 4 x 400 relay final since 2004 prior to Thursday. After Bedell and Gebben opened the relay, Behymer gave the Lady Flames the lead for good with a 55.14 split for the third leg. Edmond then closed out the victory with a 54.11 anchor, producing the facility-record time of 3:41.92. It was only the second time Liberty has ever dipped under 3:42 in the women's 4 x 400 and the first since 2007.
In between her two relay appearances, Edmond completed a sweep of the 2016 Big South women's indoor and outdoor 400 titles with a personal-best time of 54.08. She became the Lady Flames' first outdoor champion in the event since Jaime Watson in 2010.
Liberty totaled 19 points in the women's 400, also including the performances of Bedell (third place, personal-best 55.85), Behymer (seventh, 56.27) and Leonzo (eighth, 56.33).
The Lady Flames' quartet of 800 runners produced 21 more team points, highlighted by a 1-2 finish by Gebben and Delaney McDowell. The same two runners grabbed the top two spots in this year's Big South indoor 800 final, but the order was reversed on Thursday.
Gebben took control of the race from the get-go, clocking 29.31 for her first 200 and 1:01.23 for her opening lap. No one could catch the Florida native, who clocked a personal-best time of 2:08.41 for her first career Big South title and the Lady Flames' 12th 800-meter championship in meet history.
In her first year of running the 800, Gebben now ranks fourth in both Liberty and Big South Conference history for the two-lapper.
McDowell followed closely in second place, as the freshman's time of 2:08.94 made her one of three runners to eclipse the previous meet record. Sutton came in sixth in the 800 final for the second straight year, crossing the finish line in 2:15.35.
The Lady Flames' other two all-conference performances on the day came courtesy of Oasis Hernandez in the triple jump (second place, 39-11.25) and Flower in the 100 (third, 11.88).
Flower also clocked 24.67 for seventh place in the 200 final, trailing Edmond's fourth-place time of 24.29 out of lane one. Edmond now ranks sixth in program history for the event.
Liberty placed fourth and fifth in both the women's 1,500 and 5K. In the 1,500, Torree Scull was fourth in 4:33.99, while Scherlacher took fifth with a personal-best time of 4:34.49.
Kat Bouton (fourth, 18:11.17) and Terrill Zentmeyer (fifth, 18:12.65) each claimed their second top-five finish of the meet during the women's 5K.
After keeping busy during the meet's first two days, heptathlon champion Jackson and Polsgrove only had one event to worry about on Thursday, the 100 hurdles final. Jackson came in sixth at 14.61, while Polsgrove was seventh in 14.67.
Men's Day Three Recap
Feister, whose javelin mark of 234-11 added four inches to his own school record, joined Coastal Carolina's Thomas Jordan (2006-08) and Liberty's Ryan Werner (1995-96) as the only back-to-back men's javelin titlists in meet history. The redshirt senior from Pennsylvania posted an impressive series, with all six of his throws measuring 224-8 or longer.
Teammate Denzel Pratt placed third at a personal-best 225-5, breaking his own Liberty freshman record. Meanwhile, Zach Davis took sixth place at 189-0 in his 12th and final event of the meet.
Liberty claimed four of the top five places in this year's Big South indoor men's 800 final, and accomplished the same feat outdoors on Thursday. Leading the way in first and second was the freshman duo of Prentice (1:52.50) and indoor champion Michael Todd (1:52.55). Prentice became the first freshman to win this event at the Big South meet since former VMI great Felix Kitur in 2008. After sitting seventh after an opening lap of 58.79 seconds, Prentice clocked a 53.71 second lap to edge his classmate for the victory.
Colin Schultz took fourth in 1:53.49 with Andrew Crowell ending up fifth in 1:54.05. The Flames totaled 27 points in the event, tying the 1996 squad for the most points Liberty has ever scored in this meet in the 800.
Racanelli came from behind to edge Coastal Carolina's Deion Wellington and repeat as men's 400 champion in a personal-best time of 47.43. Racanelli, who has now swept the Big South men's indoor and outdoor 400 titles in each of the last two years, becomes the first back-to-back outdoor conference champion since Charleston Southern's Levi Brooks in 2009 and 2010. The junior also climbed into Liberty's all-time top 10 for the event with Thursday's clocking.
Behind Racanelli, Jeff Jacobs (49.31) and Levi Mack (49.46) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400 final.
Racanelli earned his 10th career All-Big South honor with a third-place finish in the 200 (22.45) and also took part in both of Liberty's relays.
The Flames' 4 x 400 quartet of Mack (49.5 split), Todd (47.9), Jacobs (47.50) and Racanelli (47.00) placed second in 3:12.14, the fastest time by a Liberty squad since the 2007 IC4A meet.
Meanwhile, Ryan Davis, Racanelli, Greg Edwards and Spencer Jamison teamed up for fifth in the 4 x 100 in 42.02 seconds.
Ryan Davis was not quite able to capture his third straight Big South men's 400 hurdles title, but placed second in 52.53. Teammate Michael Fairfax was fourth with a 55.06 clocking.
Earlier in the day, the same pair finished fifth (Davis – 14.72) and sixth (Fairfax – 16.12), respectively, in the 110 hurdles final.
Rounding out the track events, sophomore Cameron Francis reached the All-Big South podium after both of his races on the day. He started off with a runner-up finish in the 1,500, clocking 56.59 for the last 400 meters and 3:53.99 overall. Schultz (fourth place, personal-best 3:54.57) and Luke Jelen (sixth, 3:57.13) also scored points in the 1,500.
Later on, Francis posted a personal-best 5K time of 14:48.81 to place third. Freshman teammate James Zentmeyer recorded his second fifth-place finish of the meet in 15:02.36, while classmate Azaria Kirwa was eighth in 15:26.04.
Aklesso Agama nearly repeated as men's triple jump champion, stretching out to a personal-best 50-8.25 on his sixth and final jump to briefly take over the lead. However, Charleston Southern's EJ Reddick eclipsed his mark two attempts later, relegating Agama to second place. Agama did punch his ticket to the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet for the second straight year, which will be held in his home state of Florida.
Darrel Jones, one of five triple jumpers to sail past 50 feet in the competition, ended up fourth at 50-3.25. Jonny Saintil chipped in a seventh-place finish with his mark of 46-7.5.
Just as they did indoors, the trio of Carson Waters (16-10.75), Ken Ritchey (16-2.75) and Alex Geniesse (15-9) placed 2-3-4 in the men's pole vault. Waters' clearance set a new personal best for the third straight meet.
Fulton threw the shot put 54-0.5 for second place, earning his third All-Big South honor of the meet and the 10th of his career. Robert Detz was sixth at 51-7.75, while Scouten took seventh place at 49-4.5.
Zach Davis came in third in the high jump at 6-5, capturing his eighth career All-Big South award.
A number of Liberty athletes will make one final attempt to qualify for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet, at the Aggie Last Chance, Sunday in Greensboro, N.C. Events will begin at 9 a.m. inside North Carolina A&T's Aggie Stadium.
Final Men's Team Standings
1) Liberty – 257
2) Coastal Carolina – 156
3) Campbell – 138
4) High Point – 99
5) Winthrop – 61
6) Gardner-Webb – 47
7) Charleston Southern – 31
8) UNC Asheville – 15
Final Women's Team Standings
1) Liberty – 235.5
2) Coastal Carolina – 133
3) High Point – 120.5
4) Campbell – 108
5) Charleston Southern – 53
6T) Winthrop – 48.5
6T) Gardner-Webb – 48.5
8) Radford – 37
9) UNC Asheville – 35
Men's Outstanding Track Performer
Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell
Women's Outstanding Track Performer
Latesha Simpson, Coastal Carolina
Men's Outstanding Field Performer
Austin Miller, High Point
Women's Outstanding Field Performer
Sabina Allen, Campbell
Men's Freshman of the Year
Khai McLin, Campbell
Women's Freshman of the Year
Kylie Polsgrove, Liberty
Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Paul O'Donoghue, High Point
Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Christine Rickert, High Point
Men's All-Academic Team
Jacob Moore, Charleston Southern
Ryan Minor, Coastal Carolina
Mike Hajduk, Winthrop
Steve Feister, Liberty
Andrew White, Gardner-Webb
Nathan Kennedy, Campbell
Chase Stevens, UNC Asheville
Paul O'Donoghue, High Point
Women's All-Academic Team
LaQuestis Scott, Charleston Southern
Jessica Shelton, Radford
Kayli Nichols, UNC Asheville
Tristan Langley, Winthrop
Kelsey Rea, Campbell
Christine Rickert, High Point
Natasha Akbarizadeh, Gardner-Webb
Kyla Van Graan, Coastal Carolina
Hannah Scherlacher, Liberty
Men's Coach of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
Co-Women's Coaches of the Year
Brant Tolsma, Liberty
Mike Esposito, High Point
