Sauder Voted VaSID State Field Rookie of the Year
4/26/2022 1:10:45 PM | Track and Field
Liberty All-American high jumper Kennedy Sauder was voted the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) University Division Indoor Track & Field Men’s Field Rookie of the Year, it was announced on Tuesday.
Sauder (jumps) was also one of Liberty’s three VaSID first team all-state honorees, joining Quinten Clay (jumps) and Ally Kipchirchir (mid-distance).
The Flames’ second team all-state honorees featured Jeremy Davis (jumps), Ryan Drew (mid-distance), Diamantae Griffin (sprints), Felix Kandie (distance), Kyle Mitchell (throws) and Caleb Olson (distance).
Capsules of each Liberty award winner are found below.
Kennedy Sauder (Field Rookie of the Year, 1st Team – Jumps) – Sauder capped off a phenomenal freshman season by tying for 13th place in the high jump at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, earning second team All-America honors. He won three of five high jump competitions on the season, headlined by his victory at the ASUN Championship. Sauder’s ASUN-winning leap of 7-4.25 broke the ASUN, meet, program and facility records, while ranking No. 5 nationally for the year.
Quinten Clay (1st Team – Jumps) – Clay was named ASUN Most Valuable Male Performer and Men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer after winning the long jump (program-record 25-0.75) and triple jump (personal-best 48-11.75) titles and taking second in the high jump (personal-best 7-0.5).
Ally Kipchirchir (1st Team – Mid-Distance) – Kipchirchir was on Liberty’s ASUN-winning 4 x 400 relay team and took second place in the 800. At the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational on Feb. 11, he lowered his Liberty men’s 800 record to 1:49.19.
Jeremy Davis (2nd Team – Jumps) – Davis was the ASUN long jump runner-up and took seventh in the triple jump (indoor personal-best 46-2.75). He won the Brant Tolsma Invitational long jump on Jan. 21 with a mark of 24-3.5 that is tied for fifth in program history.
Ryan Drew (2nd Team – Mid-Distance) – Drew won the ASUN mile (4:02.10) and distance medley relay (9:52.99), setting new meet records in both. He also clocked a 4:01.27 mile at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, taking down the Liberty and ASUN all-time standards for the event.
Diamantae Griffin (2nd Team – Sprints) – Griffin won both the ASUN 200 and 4 x 400 relay titles while placing fourth in the 60. During the season, he moved up to No. 3 in program history for the 60 (6.74), No. 2 for the 200 (21.03) and No. 3 for the 300 (33.79).
Felix Kandie (2nd Team – Distance) – Kandie crossed the line third in the ASUN 5K (indoor personal-best 14:14.48) and fourth in the 3K. His 8:03.38 3K effort at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational on Feb. 11 ranks No. 3 all-time for the Flames.
Kyle Mitchell (2nd Team – Throws) – Mitchell finished fourth in the ASUN men’s shot put final. He won a pair of shot put competitions on the season, including the Liberty Kickoff with a season-best mark of 60-10.75.
Caleb Olson (2nd Team – Distance) – Olson placed fifth in the 3K (personal-best 8:10.39) and 5K (indoor personal-best 14:21.02) at the ASUN Championship, joining Liberty’s all-time top 10 lists for both events in the process.
