Liberty University
ASUN Outdoor Track Championships
Liberty Sweeps 10K Titles, Breaks 2 Long-Standing School Records on ASUN Day 1
5/11/2023 11:30:54 PM | Track and Field
Liberty started off its final ASUN Outdoor Track & Field Championships appearance with an impressive opening day of competition, Thursday at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium. Adelyn Ackley-Fairley and Tristian Merchant swept the women’s and men’s 10K titles, wile Rayan Holmes (50.27 men’s 400 hurdles) and Isis Brooks (23.25 women’s 200) each took down long-standing program records.
The Lady Flames, who also got a Liberty freshman-record 199-1 hammer effort from Paola Bueno for second place, totaled 45 points through Thursday’s four events. That has Liberty in second place, just 1.5 tallies behind defending champion Kennesaw State.
The Liberty men’s squad, which is seeking its fourth consecutive ASUN title, sits two points behind Kennesaw State (43-41) through three of 21 events.
Women’s Day 1 Recap
After running second to Lipscomb’s Ally Suyak for most of the race, Ackley-Fairley dropped the hammer with a 69.26-second 25th and final lap. She took the lead for good with a decisive move with 300 meters remaining and ended up winning Liberty’s first ASUN women’s 10K title by four seconds with her 35:44.07 clocking. Ackley-Fairley is Liberty’s first women’s 10K conference champion since 2016 (Ednah Kurgat – Big South). Noel Palmer followed in fifth place, crossing the line in 36:29.39.
Brooks’ wind-legal (+1.5 m/s) 23.25 clocking in the women’s 200 prelims was easily the fastest time of the day and shattered Abigail Flower’s program record of 23.48 from the 2013 Big South Championship at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex. It also assured Brooks of NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round qualification in a second event (also 100).
Brooks’ effort ranks No. 4 in meet history and was the fastest time by a women’s 200 runner at this event in six years.
Competing in the meet’s first field event (women’s hammer), Bueno broke both her own Liberty freshman record and the meet record (previously held by fellow Mexico native Naomi Mojica at 195-8 from 2022) with a 199-1 effort in round two.
Kennesaw State’s Kali Terza later eclipsed Bueno’s short-lived meet record twice, as Bueno finished as the event runner-up, moved up on No. 5 in program history and booked a return trip to the River City for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet in two weeks.
The hammer marked the Lady Flames’ highest-scoring event of the day, as Megan Mann (174-5), Sofia Mojica (164-8) and Annika Hantho (164-6) placed 4-6-7 to make it an 18-point event.
Meredith Engle and Patasha Bryan were two of the busiest and most successful Lady Flames on the meet’s opening day. During their heptathlon competition, they found time to compete in the javelin and were two of Liberty’s four scorers. Bryan threw 127-8 for fifth place, with Engle following closely behind in sixth (125-3). They were flanked the standings by teammates Kali Grayson (fourth, 131-1) and Mackenzie White (eighth, 118-0).
Engle (3,187) and Bryan (3,186) currently sit 2-3 in the heptathlon standings after both recorded their best-ever day one scores. Their shot put marks (40-11.75 by Engle and 40-5.5 by Bryan) rank first and second all-time within a Liberty heptathlon competition, eclipsing the mark of 39-8 set by Jamie Gray at the 2019 Virginia Challenge. Engle’s 5-6.5 high jump clearance sits fourth all-time in a Liberty heptathlon.
The Lady Flames advanced all of their athletes to Saturday’s finals in the 400 hurdles (Jasmine Williams – season-best 1:00.29 and Nimeesha Coleman – 1:04.29) and 1,500 (Catherine Farrell – personal-best 4:29.82, Calli Doan – 4:33.41 and Katie Sigerud – 4:36.30). Williams was the 400 hurdles’ No. 1 qualifier, climbing to No. 3 in program history in the process.
Men’s Day 1 Recap
Thursday night’s final event (men’s 10K) marked Merchant’s 10K debut, and he made it a memorable one. He surged to the front with about two miles remaining and held off his pursuers all the way to the finish line, breaking the tape in a meet-record 29:26.15.
The previous meet standard of 29:30.48 had been set by Nathan Jubran of host North Florida in 2021. Merchant now ranks No. 6 all-time at Liberty and put himself onto the bubble for NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round qualification.
Three of the top nine men’s 10K runners in program history are a part of this year’s team, a list that also includes Thursday’s fourth (Caleb Olson – 30:33.40) and sixth-place finishers (Jack Cottrell – 30:46.23).
Holmes took down three different records with his 50.27 clocking, which marked the fastest time among the men’s 400 hurdles prelims by two seconds. The Liberty record of 50.52 had stood since May 21, 1995, when Mike Reed ran it at the IC4A Championship at George Mason. Holmes improved his own ASUN all-time record of 50.63 form the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 15. Finally, he took more than a second off the meet standard (51.28 by Lipscomb’s Wayne Newman in 2018).
The first-year Flame climbed to No. 17 nationally on Thursday, stamping himself a contender to become the first Liberty men’s 400 hurdler to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships since Reed in 1995.
The Hicks brothers accounted for Liberty’s first nine points of the men’s meet in the hammer. Two-time defending champion John reached 208-9 for second place, while brother Christian took eighth with a mark of 172-7.
Hunter Flack (tied for second place) and Anders Janes (fourth) each cleared 15-6.25 to finish inside the men’s pole vault’s top four. Janes wraps up his collegiate career as a six-time All-ASUN vaulter.
Daniel Van Duren (second place, 3,578) and Hunter Bleam (third, 3,443) are in good position halfway through the decathlon competition. Van Duren recorded his best-ever day one score, bookending his five events with a victory in the 100 (personal-best 10.90) and a personal-best 400 clocking of 51.29. Van Duren later competed in the pole vault, making it over an outdoor personal-best 13-0.75 for the seventh position.
Making his decathlon debut, Bleam posted his best marks of the season in all five events, including 11.21 (100), 19-10.75 (long jump), 38-10.25 (shot put), 6-2 (high jump) and 51.74 (400). The freshman’s high jump clearance equaled the best of the competition.
Liberty was perfect in qualifying athletes through to Saturday’s finals in both the 400 hurdles (Holmes – 50.27, Felix Lawrence – 53.85, Zack Weekman – 54.39 and Josh Blalock – 55.03) and 1,500 (Will Jefferson – season-best 3:46.32 and Kyle Harkabus – 3:50.82). Meanwhile, Donald McClinton (season-best 20.81) and Omari Lewis (20.94) were the two fastest qualifiers into the 200 final.
Women’s Team Scores (Through 4 of 21 Events)
1) Kennesaw State – 46.5
2) Liberty – 45
3) Lipscomb – 25
4) Jacksonville – 14
5) Jacksonville State – 11
6) Queens – 7.5
7) Central Arkansas – 3.5
8) EKU – 2
9) North Florida – 1.5
Men’s Team Scores (Through 3 of 21 Events)
1) Kennesaw State – 43
2) Liberty – 41
3) North Florida – 10
4) Central Arkansas – 8
5) EKU – 7
6) Lipscomb – 4
7) Bellarmine – 3
Women’s Day 1 ASUN Champions
Adelyn Ackley-Fairley – 10K – 35:44.07
Men’s Day 1 ASUN Champions
Tristian Merchant – 10K – 29:16.15
Other Women’s Day 1 Top 3 Finishers
2nd – Paola Bueno – Hammer – 199-1
Other Men’s Day 1 Top 3 Finishers
2nd – John Hicks – Hammer – 208-9
Tie for 2nd – Hunter Flack – Pole Vault – 15-6.25
Women’s Day 1 Record Breakers
Liberty Record – 200 – Isis Brooks – 23.25
Previous Record: 23.48 by Abigail Flower at the Big South Championship on April 19, 2013 at Liberty
Liberty Record – Heptathlon Shot Put – Meredith Engle – 40-11.75
Previous Record: 39-8 by Jamie Gray at the Virginia Challenge on April 19, 2019
Liberty Freshman Record – Hammer – Paola Bueno – 199-1
Previous Record: 191-11 by Bueno at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier on May 3
Men’s Day 1 Record Breakers
Liberty Record – 400 Hurdles – Rayan Holmes – 50.27
Previous Record: 50.52 by Mike Reed at the IC4A Championship on May 21, 1995 at George Mason
ASUN All-Time Record – 400 Hurdles – Rayan Holmes – 50.27
Previous Record: 50.63 by Holmes at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 15 in Azusa, Calif.
ASUN Championship Record – 400 Hurdles – Rayan Holmes – 50.27
Previous Record: 51.28 by Lipscomb’s Wayne Newman in 2018
ASUN Championship Record – 10K – Tristian Merchant – 29:26.15
Previous Record: 29:30.48 by North Florida’s Nathan Jubran in 2021
New Women’s NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round Qualifiers
Isis Brooks – 200 – 23.25
Paola Bueno – Hammer – 199-1Â
Day 1 Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Women’s Top 10 List
200 – No. 1 – Isis Brooks – 23.25
Heptathlon Shot Put – No. 1 – Meredith Engle – 40-11.75
Heptathlon Shot Put – No. 2 – Patasha Bryan – 40-5.5
400 Hurdles – No. 3 – Jasmine Williams – 1:00.29
Heptathlon High Jump – No. 4 – Meredith Engle – 5-6.5
Hammer – No. 5 – Paola Bueno – 199-1
Day 1 Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Men’s Top 10 List
400 Hurdles – No. 1 – Rayan Holmes – 50.27
10K – No. 6 – Tristian Merchant – 29:26.15Â
Up Next
Friday’s slate of events will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the decathlon 110 hurdles.
Featured in Main Photo: Tristian Merchant (left) and Coach Isaac Wendland
