Engle, Clay, Sauder Recognized as ASUN’s Best
3/4/2022 3:03:06 PM | Track and Field
After helping Liberty sweep the men’s and women’s team titles at last weekend’s ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships, three Flames have garnered individual honors. Meredith Engle was voted ASUN Women’s Most Outstanding Field Performer, Quinten Clay was named ASUN Men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer and Kennedy Sauder was tabbed ASUN Men’s Most Outstanding Freshman.
A native of Dillsburg, Pa., Engle was previously named ASUN Most Valuable Female Performer after pacing all female athletes with 23 points. She won the pentathlon (personal-best 3,896), took second in the high jump (5-6.5) and finished fourth in her first triple jump (38-8.75) competition as a collegiate athlete.
Engle’s pentathlon score ranks No. 2 in program history and No. 4 all-time in the ASUN Conference. It was bolstered by a personal-best 5-8.5 high jump clearance that tied the meet and facility records for the pentathlon high jump while ranking No. 4 all-time at Liberty.
Clay, who hails from Portsmouth, Va., repeats as ASUN Men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer after claiming his second ASUN Most Valuable Male Performer award in a row on Saturday. He became the first ASUN athlete since 2018 to sweep the men’s long jump (program-record 25-0.75) and triple jump (personal-best 48-11.75) titles, while also clearing a personal-best 7-0.5 for second place in the high jump to total a meet-high 28 points.
Clay made it back-to-back ASUN long jump championships with a 25-0.75 leap that took down James McKnight’s Liberty record of 25-0.5 that had stood for 28 years. It was the best indoor mark by an ASUN long jumper in six years. Clay climbed to No. 4 in program history while joining the high jump’s 7-foot club for the first time and moved up to No. 5 all-time in the triple jump.
Sauder won the men’s high jump title with a 7-4.25 clearance that broke the meet, facility and Liberty records. The freshman from Lauderhill, Fla., is tied for No. 3 nationally in the event this season and would have won every Division I conference meet contested this past weekend.
Sauder became Liberty’s first freshman to win an indoor conference men’s high jump title since Kyle Wheeler captured the Big South crown in 2012. His 7-4.25 mark is the top by an NCAA freshman this season.
Sauder will next high jump at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. His event will begin March 12 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
Engle and Clay will turn their attention to the outdoor season, which will get started with the Virginia Open, March 19 in Charlottesville, Va.
