Liberty University
Liberty Twilight Qualifier
Liberty Wins 12 Events on Windy Senior Day
5/3/2023 11:55:08 PM | Track and Field
Unseasonably chilly, windy conditions could not prevent the host Flames from enjoying a successful conclusion to their 2023 regular season at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier, Wednesday at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex. Liberty’s annual Senior Day celebration featured 12 event victories by the home team, three freshman records and even a successful marriage proposal.
Donald McClinton, one of 20 seniors recognized midway through the meet, proposed to his girlfriend immediately following the Senior Day ceremony’s conclusion. He then helped Liberty win the meet’s very next event, the men’s 4 x 100 relay (season-best 40.63). Rayan Holmes, Omari Lewis and Jackson Birdseye joined him on the Flames’ relay squad.
Liberty’s other men’s victories came in the 400 hurdles (Felix Lawrence – season-best 51.84), hammer (John Hicks – 203-0) and javelin (Ben Shughart – 205-10).
The Lady Flames won eight events, including the 100 (Emily Coates – 12.42), 200 (Isis Brooks – 23.77), 400 (Jezelle Shaw – season-best 56.40), 1,500 (Calli Doan – 4:22.71), triple jump (Makenzy Mizera – 39-10.5), hammer (Paola Bueno – season-best 191-11), javelin (Kali Grayson – 140-3) and 4 x 100 relay (Nimeesha Coleman, Dawn Hilton, Brooks, Joelle Patton – 47.17).
Bueno was one of three Liberty athletes to improve their own program freshman records on the day, also including Brendan Pitcher in the men’s 800 (1:49.29) and Desmond Coleman in the men’s discus (194-3).
Lawrence (men’s 400 hurdles) was the lone Flame to definitively add his name to Liberty’s NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round travel party on Wednesday. However, Bueno, Pitcher and Annika Hantho (women’s discus – personal-best 165-6) all entered their names into the discussion.
Women’s Meet Recap
Bueno’s Liberty freshman-record 191-11 effort led a 1-2-3-4 Lady Flames finish in the women’s hammer. Megan Mann (second, 176-4), Hantho (third, 170-8) and Sofia Mojica (fourth, season-best 166-1) completed the sweep.
Liberty also went 1-2-3 in three other events, including the 100 (Coates – 12.42, Patton – 12.47 and Gabrielle Brohard – 12.86), 200 (Brooks – 23.77, Hilton – 24.77 and Coates – 25.79) and triple jump (Mizera – 39-10.5, Kacy Cox – personal-best 37-1 and Emma Arblaster – 36-11.5).
Doan’s 4:22.71 clocking closed out the night with a Liberty victory in the meet’s final race (women’s 1,500).
The Lady Flames nearly won the day’s opening event as well, but Hantho was overtaken by one centimeter by Virginia Tech’s Essence Henderson on the very last throw of the discus competition. Hantho’s personal-best 165-6 heave, which added more than five feet to her personal best, had come just moments earlier. The mark ranks No. 4 all-time for the Lady Flames and makes her Liberty’s fifth 50-meter discus thrower in program history.
The first race Annamarie McKenzie has completed this season was an outstanding one, as her personal-best 2:10.31 800 clocking for the runner-up spot is the fastest by a Lady Flame this year and ranks No. 9 in program history.
Men’s Meet Recap
The Flames’ aforementioned 4 x 100 relay grouping of Holmes, McClinton, Lewis and Birdseye not only dominated their event in a season-best 40.63 but became the eighth-fastest quartet all-time at Liberty. Earlier in the day, Lewis had used a big 5.1 m/s tailwind to produce a personal-best 10.28 clocking in the 100 prelims, the No. 4 mark all-time for the Flames.
Two-time defending ASUN men’s 400 hurdles champion Lawrence broke 52 seconds (51.84) for the first time this season and the fourth time in his career, despite unfavorable wind conditions during his race. He will now get to make his third career NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round appearance.
Hicks (203-0 hammer to win by more than 18 feet) and Shughart (205-10 javelin to win by more than 22 feet) were dominant in their respective events. It marked Hicks’ second hammer victory in six days and his third triumph of the season. Meanwhile, it was Shughart’s first career event victory.
Named ASUN Men’s Field Athlete of the Week earlier in the day, Kevin Nedrick entered the Liberty Twilight Qualifier on a four-meet discus winning streak. He was relegated to third place (192-9), but it took a facility record (207-8 by former Virginia Tech standout Jordan Roach) and a Liberty freshman record (194-3 by Coleman) to defeat him.
The duo of Pitcher (second, 1:49.29) and Isaiah Schulties (fifth, 1:50.26) both notched considerable personal bests in the 800 to earn top-five placements in the event’s invitational section. Pitcher climbs to No. 4 in program history, while sophomore Schulties joins the top 10 list at No. 8.
Several other noteworthy performances included a 9:09.48 clocking for third place in Tristian Merchant’s steeplechase debut, a 15-9.25 pole vault clearance which was just one centimeter off Hunter Flack’s career best and a 172-10 mark for sixth place in Beau Backes’ first discus competition post-injury (Backes was competing unattached).
Women’s Event Winners
Isis Brooks – 200 – 23.77
Paola Bueno – Hammer – 191-11
Emily Coates – 100 – 12.42
Calli Doan – 1,500 – 4:22.71
Kali Grayson – Javelin – 140-3
Makenzy Mizera – Triple Jump – 39-10.5
Jezelle Shaw – 400 – 56.40
Nimeesha Coleman, Dawn Hilton, Isis Brooks, Joelle Patton – 4 x 100 – 47.17
Men’s Event Winners
John Hicks – Hammer – 203-0
Felix Lawrence – 400 Hurdles – 51.84
Ben Shughart – Javelin – 205-10
Rayan Holmes, Donald McClinton, Omari Lewis, Jackson Birdseye – 4 x 100 – 40.63
Women’s Record Breakers
Liberty Freshman Record – Hammer – Paola Bueno – 191-11
Previous Record: 191-5 by Bueno at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 14
Men’s Record Breakers
Liberty Freshman Record – 800 – Brendan Pitcher – 1:49.29
Previous Record: 1:50.40 by Pitcher at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 14
Liberty Freshman Record – Discus – Desmond Coleman – 194-3
Previous Record: 193-7 by Coleman at the Dr. Jack M. Toms Invitational on March 25
New Men’s NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round Qualifiers
Felix Lawrence – 400 Hurdles – 51.84
Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Women’s Top 10 List
Discus – No. 4 – Annika Hantho – 165-6
Hammer – Tie for No. 6 – Paola Bueno – 191-11
800 – No. 9 – Annamarie McKenzie – 2:10.31
Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Men’s Top 10 List
Discus – No. 3 – Desmond Coleman – 194-3
100 – No. 4 – Omari Lewis – 10.28
800 – No. 4 – Brendan Pitcher – 1:49.29
800 – No. 8 – Isaiah Schulties – 1:50.26
4 x 100 – No. 8 – Holmes, McClinton, Lewis, Birdseye – 40.63
Up Next
Liberty will head to Jacksonville, Fla., for the 2023 ASUN Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The meet is scheduled for May 11-13 at North Florida’s Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium.
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