Barrett, Sauder Ready for NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships
3/8/2023 11:00:45 AM | Track and Field
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For the first time since 2010, Liberty will send multiple athletes to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. Warren Barrett (men’s shot put) and Kennedy Sauder (men’s high jump) are set to compete on Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
The men’s high jump will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern, with the men’s shot put to follow at 9 p.m. Eastern Saturday evening.
How to Follow the Flames
The meet will be televised live on ESPN+.
Live results, including jump-by-jump and throw-by-throw updates, will be available courtesy of Flash Results.
About the Facility
The Albuquerque Convention Center has served as the epicenter of indoor track & field in the United States in 2023. After hosting the USATF Indoor Championships in February, the venue will welcome the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships for the second time (also 2014).
The 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships were also slated for Albuquerque before being cancelled on the eve of the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the Albuquerque Convention Center is its high altitude (4,958 feet above sea level).
Sauder’s best performance of the 2022-23 indoor campaign to date was achieved in Albuquerque’s thin air. He won the men’s high jump at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational on Feb. 10 with a season-best 7-3.25 clearance.
NCAA Championship Event Capsules (Organized Chronologically)
Men’s High Jump
Event Schedule: Final – Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern
Liberty Competitor: Kennedy Sauder (So., Lauderhill, Fla.)
Season Best/Personal Best: 7-3.25 (2.22m)/7-4.25 (2.24m)
How He Got Here: Sauder is back at the NCAA national meet after he was the nation’s only freshman men’s high jumper to earn All-America honors both indoors (T-13th place, 2nd team All-American) and outdoors (T-15th place, 2nd team All-American) in 2022.
Sauder qualified on the basis of his aforementioned 7-3.25 effort at the Feb. 10 Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque. That is tied with Wichita State’s Brady Palen for No. 7 on the NCAA list this season.
The sophomore has finished first in four of his five high jump competitions this season. Most recently, he successfully defended his ASUN Conference title with a 7-2.5 clearance on Feb. 25.
Event Breakdown: Defending national champion Vernon Turner of Oklahoma is the top seed entering Saturday’s competition, thanks to his 7-5.75 clearance at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
ACC champion Trey Allen of Louisville is the No. 2 seed, owning a season best of 7-5.25.
Auburn’s Dontavious Hill placed third both indoors and outdoors in 2022. However, he finished only sixth at the SEC meet two weeks ago.
What’s at Stake: If Sauder clears a bar on Saturday, he is guaranteed at least second team All-America honors. If he finishes inside the top eight, he will become a first team All-American.
An All-America honor would be the third of Sauder’s career, making him the fifth Liberty men’s track & field athlete to collect three or more All-America certificates at the NCAA Division I level. The other members of the club are Josh McDougal, Sam Chelanga, Ryan Werner and Michael Decker.
A top-eight finish would also score Liberty’s first team points at this meet since 2019, when Alejandro Peralaza Zapata came in sixth in the men’s 400 final.
Additionally, a top-eight finish would be the first by an ASUN men’s high jumper at this meet. Lipscomb’s Gemikal Prude placed ninth in the men’s high jump at the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, marking the conference’s best finish in this event to date.
If Sauder achieves a personal best on Saturday, it would break his own Liberty and ASUN Conference all-time indoor records of 7-4.25 set at the 2022 ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Men’s Shot Put
Event Schedule: Final – Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern
Liberty Competitor: Warren Barrett (Sr., Montego Bay, Jamaica)
Season Best/Personal Best: 64-1.25 (19.54m)/64-1.25 (19.54m)
How He Got Here: Barrett has enjoyed a breakthrough season after entering the year with a top shot put mark of 60-6.5 during his first two years as a Flame. He broke the program record with a mark of 63-3.5 at the Liberty Kickoff on Dec. 2 before improving it to 64-1.25 at the Brant Tolsma Invitational.
The 64-1.25 mark has Barrett seeded No. 15 among the event’s 16 national qualifiers.
Barrett has won three of his four shot put competitions this season. The lone exception came in his most recent meet, the Bob Pollock Invitational on Jan. 28. That day, Barrett finished second to Cincinnati’s Fred Moudani, another of the individuals who will be throwing the shot Saturday in Albuquerque.
Barrett has not competed in six weeks due to injury but is slated to return to action on Saturday.
Barrett will be the Flames’ first men’s shot putter to compete at this meet since his former coach Clendon Henderson placed 14th in 2008. Barrett is the first ASUN Conference men’s shot putter ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Event Breakdown: Arizona State’s Turner Washington is the two-time defending national champion and owns the NCAA Division I indoor shot put record at 71-8.25. However, he is only seeded No. 8 this season at 65-10.5.
Jordan Geist of rival Arizona owns the top seed this season. The USATF indoor runner-up in Albuquerque last month has reached 70-5.75 in 2023.
Barrett is one of two natives of Montego Bay, Jamaica in Saturday’s field (also Arkansas’ Roje Stona). Other international competitors include Moudani (France) and Harvard’s Alexander Kolesnikoff (Australia).
What’s at Stake: If Barrett records a legal mark on Saturday, he is guaranteed at least second team All-America honors. If he finishes inside the top eight, he will become a first team All-American.
Barrett would become the first NCAA Division I indoor men’s shot put All-American in either Liberty or ASUN Conference history.
Kyle Mitchell, who helps coach Barrett as a volunteer assistant, was a second team All-American outdoors for the Flames in 2021.
If Barrett achieves a new personal best on Saturday, he would break his own program record and at least tie the ASUN Conference all-time standard of 64-1.75 set by Kennesaw State’s Tyler Blalock in 2022.
