Liberty University
ASUN Championships
Doan Repeats as ASUN Individual Champion; Flames, Lady Flames Place 2nd
10/29/2022 1:25:00 PM | Cross Country
Liberty All-American Calli Doan successfully defended her women’s 5K individual title at the 2022 ASUN Cross Country Championships, contested Saturday morning at John Hunt Park. Both the Flames and Lady Flames finished second in the team standings during Liberty’s final year in the ASUN Conference.
The Flames showcased their youthful talent, with the Women’s (Ava Gordon) and Men’s Freshman of the Year (Jacob Hess) headlining Liberty’s five total ASUN All-Freshman Team honorees.
The Liberty women’s squad entered Saturday’s race having claimed back-to-back ASUN titles. However, the Lady Flames were edged by Lipscomb, 35-45, for top honors this time around. Doan’s winning 5K time of 16:21.0 set a new meet record.
First-year Flame Nicholas Kiprotich placed third in the men’s 8K. However, Eastern Kentucky boasted eight of the top 11 finishers to claim its first ASUN title by 55 points (18-73) over the Flames. Liberty placed second for the fifth consecutive year at this meet, and the Flames have now recorded 20 straight top-two conference finishes dating back to the 2003 Big South Championship.
Women’s Team Results:
1) Lipscomb - 35
2) Liberty - 45
3) Eastern Kentucky - 102
4) Kennesaw State - 106
5) North Florida – 158
6) Queens – 172
7) Bellarmine – 239
8) Stetson – 241
9) Jacksonville – 265
10) Central Arkansas – 289
11) North Alabama – 293
12) FGCU – 320
13) Jacksonville State – 349
14) Austin Peay – 406
Men’s Team Results:
1) Eastern Kentucky - 18
2) Liberty - 73
3) Lipscomb - 102
4) North Florida - 126
5) Bellarmine – 152
6) Central Arkansas – 174
7) North Alabama – 210
8) Queens – 212
9) Kennesaw State – 229
10) FGCU – 231
11) Stetson – 281
12) Jacksonville State – 365
13) Jacksonville – 393
14) Austin Peay – 432
Women’s 5K Individual Results (113 Total Finishers):
1) Calli Doan, Liberty – 16:21.0 (Meet Record, Runner of the Year, 1st Team All-ASUN)
2) Lydia Miller, Lipscomb – 16:26.5 (1st Team All-ASUN)
3) Colbi Borland, Lipscomb – 16:34.2 (1st Team All-ASUN)
4) Jone Zabaleta-Larranaga, Eastern Kentucky – 16:45.4 (1st Team All-ASUN)
5) Caroline Timm, Kennesaw State – 16:46.8 (1st Team All-ASUN)
6) Hayleigh Palotti, Jacksonville – 16:49.9 (1st Team All-ASUN)
7) Ava Gordon, Liberty – 16:50.5 (Freshman of the Year, 1st Team All-ASUN, All-Freshman Team)
8) Kayla Werner, Liberty – 16:54.3 (2nd Team All-ASUN, All-Freshman Team)
9) Liza Corso, Lipscomb – 16:56.0 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
10) Ally Suyak, Lipscomb – 17:00.7 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
11) Mackenzie Barnett, Lipscomb – 17:02.5 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
12) Anna Hostetler, Liberty – 17:05.5 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
13) Anouk Van Gils, Eastern Kentucky – 17:06.5 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
14) Sarah Hendrick, Kennesaw State – 17:13.2 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
15) Kiara Carter, Lipscomb – 17:20.1 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
16) Grace Kilroy, Eastern Kentucky – 17:24.1 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
17) Catherine Farrell, Liberty – 17:26.0 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
18) Letizia Martinelli, Queens – 17:27.6 (3rd Team All-ASUN, All-Freshman Team)
19) Aly Negovetich, Lipscomb – 17:29.6 (3rd Team All-ASUN, All-Freshman Team)
20) Priscillah Kiplagat, Liberty – 17:33.2 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
21) Emma Sullivan, Jacksonville – 17:35.3 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
23) Katrina Schlenker, Liberty – 17:38.9 (All-Freshman Team)
34) Kristiana Young, Liberty – 17:51.6
44) Marie Hostetler, Liberty – 18:01.6
Men’s 8K Individual Results (116 Total Finishers):
1) Ahmed Jaziri, Eastern Kentucky – 23:22.4 (Meet Record, Runner of the Year, 1st Team All-ASUN)
2) Nikodem Dworczak, Eastern Kentucky – 23:24.8 (1st Team All-ASUN)
3) Nicholas Kiprotich, Liberty – 23:30.8 (1st Team All-ASUN)
4) Abdelhakim Abouzouhir, Eastern Kentucky – 23:35.4 (1st Team All-ASUN)
5) Jackson Siddall, Eastern Kentucky – 23:37.3 (1st Team All-ASUN)
6) Keeton Thornsberry, Eastern Kentucky – 23:41.8 (1st Team All-ASUN)
7) Julian Haessner, Central Arkansas – 23:45.7 (1st Team All-ASUN)
8) Aidan O’Gorman, North Florida – 23:47.7 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
9) Joan Tapias, Eastern Kentucky – 23:48.3 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
10) Enock Kipchumba, Eastern Kentucky – 23:52.2 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
11) Nicodemus Rotich, Eastern Kentucky – 23:52.9 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
12) Brady Johnson, Lipscomb – 23:55.6 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
13) Jack Cottrell, Liberty – 24:02.1 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
14) Kyle Harkabus, Liberty – 24:06.8 (2nd Team All-ASUN)
15) Mitch Cox, Queens – 24:08.9 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
16) Evan Allen, North Alabama – 24:10.0 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
17) Philipp Haessner, Central Arkansas – 24:11.3 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
18) Osman Humeida, FGCU – 24:12.5 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
19) Ahmed Kadri, Eastern Kentucky – 24:13.4 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
20) Nick Regas, Lipscomb – 24:13.6 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
21) Caleb Olson, Liberty – 24:14.9 (3rd Team All-ASUN)
28) Jacob Hess, Liberty – 24:29.1 (Freshman of the Year, All-Freshman Team)
30) Levi Streeval, Lipscomb – 24:37.2 (All-Freshman Team)
31) Brady Yingst, Lipscomb – 24:39.9 (All-Freshman Team)
42) Landon Dinkel, Liberty – 24:53.2 (All-Freshman Team)
46) James Schmidt, Lipscomb – 25:04.00 (All-Freshman Team)
51) Jeremiah Mussmon, Liberty – 25:17.3
55) Stephen Carvalho, Liberty – 25:24.6
Women’s Coach of the Year
Nick Polk, Lipscomb
Men’s Coach of the Year
Cory Erdmann, Eastern Kentucky
Race Reactions
- The Lady Flames finish their time in the ASUN with two team titles and three runner-up finishes.
- Liberty has now boasted the ASUN women’s individual champion for four consecutive seasons (Adelyn Ackley-Fairley in 2019 and spring 2021 and Doan in fall 2021 and 2022).
- Doan’s time of 16:21.0 shattered the meet record of 16:56 set by Campbell’s Alicia Valtin in 2005.
- Doan becomes the first five-time All-ASUN runner in Liberty and ASUN Conference history. She placed fifth in 2018, second in 2019, second in spring 2021, first in fall 2021 and first in 2022.
- Gordon joins Doan (2018) and Adelyn Ackley-Fairley (2019) as Lady Flames who have been named ASUN Freshmen of the Year.
- Anna Hostetler and Priscillah Kiplagat each earned their third All-ASUN medals on Saturday, becoming the fourth and fifth Lady Flames with three or more All-ASUN finishes.
- Catherine Farrell’s personal-best time of 17:26.0 made her the 10th Lady Flame ever to dip below 17:30 in a cross country 5K, eight of whom are part of this year’s team.
- The Flames have now recorded nine consecutive conference runner-up finishes, including four in the Big South (2014-17) and five in the ASUN (2018-22).
- Kiprotich’s third-place finish was the best by a Flame at this meet since 2019, when Felix Kandie was the men’s runner-up.
- Kiprotich’s time of 23:30.8 ranks No. 4 in program history behind only national champions Sam Chelanga and Josh McDougal and All-American Azaria Kirwa. He was one of 12 men to break the previous meet record of 24:00.8 on Saturday.
- Hess was Liberty’s first ASUN Freshman of the Year and the Flames’ first conference freshman of the year since 2016 (Stanley Langat – Big South).
- Caleb Olson collected his third career All-ASUN medal, joining Felix Kandie and Ryan Drew as the only Flames with three or more to their credit.
- Jack Cottrell, whose time of 24:02.1 shaved 41 seconds off his previous 8K best, improved from 46th at this meet a year ago to 13th on Saturday.
Up Next
Liberty will now turn its attention to the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships. The meet, which will determine the team and individual qualifiers to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, is scheduled for Nov. 11 at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.
The women’s 6K will begin at 11 a.m. with the men’s 10K to follow at noon.
