Saturday, September 30
Bethlehem, Pa.
10:15 AM ET
Liberty University
at
Paul Short Run
Nicholas Kiprotich (far left) finished a team-best fourth on Saturday.
Liberty Men Place 4th for Best-Ever Finish at Paul Short Run
9/30/2023 1:19:00 PM | Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Competing for the first time in four weeks, the Liberty men's cross country team raced to an impressive fourth-place finish in the men's gold race, the top seeded competition at Saturday's Paul Short Run. Nicholas Kiprotich paced the Flames to their best-ever team finish at this meet with a fourth-place individual showing in the men's 8K at Lehigh's Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
Liberty, which saw its top six men break 25:00 in the 8K, tallied 190 points for fourth place out of 43 teams in the gold race. The Flames' previous best Paul Short gold race finish was sixth in 2017, their most recent visit to Bethlehem.
Up front in the men's race, Yale captured its first Paul Short team title since 1989 with 101 points, defeating runner-up Wingate (No. 3 nationally in Division II) by 22 points.
Liberty also had a number of runners compete in open races, Saturday morning at the Paul Short Run. Jessie Zealand recorded the Lady Flames' most impressive performance of the day, clocking a 6K personal-best 22:42.3 for 13th place out of 299 in the women's open race.
Men's Gold Race Team Results (43 Total Teams):
1) Yale – 101
2) Wingate – 123
3) Stony Brook – 159
4) Liberty – 190
5) Penn State – 203
Men's 8K Gold Race Individual Results (392 Total Finishers):
1) Evan Dorenkamp, Penn State – 23:53.7
2) Murphy Smith, Navy – 23:59.3
3) Ethan Gregg, Wisconsin-La Crosse – 24:00.2
4) Nicholas Kiprotich, Liberty – 24:03.0
5) Carlos Santos, Stony Brook – 24:06.8
18) Caleb Olson, Liberty – 24:28.9
43) Jacob Hess, Liberty – 24:40.8
61) Nathan Moore, Liberty – 24:47.3
64) Kyle Harkabus, Liberty – 24:50.2
65) Will Jefferson, Liberty – 24:50.3
111) Jack Cottrell, Liberty – 25:08.7
129) Ethan Pedersen, Liberty – 25:14.4
233) Graham Mussmon, Liberty – 25:54.3
266) Gavin Sweeney, Liberty – 26:05.7
Women's 6K Open Race Individual Results (299 Total Finishers):
1) Elaine Estes, PRTC – 21:46.2
2) Caroline Cummings, Georgetown – 21:48.5
3) Abby Taylor, Central Park Track Club – 22:07.8
4) Sarah Pickering, Penn State – 22:18.5
5) Allie Walker, Georgia Tech – 22:23.8
13) Jessie Zealand, Liberty – 22:42.3
32) Sophia Park, Liberty – 23:05.2
43) Grace Ervi, Liberty – 23:20.2
50) Summer Bejarano, Liberty – 23:28.1
65) Emily Atha, Liberty – 23:36.6
90) Allison Engle, Liberty – 23:54.0
94) Anna Jo Ripple, Liberty – 23:58.8
101) Rebecca Brown, Liberty – 24:03.3
130) Samantha Troup, Liberty – 24:22.2
193) Rebekah Simmons, Liberty – 25:17.0
Men's 8K Open Race Individual Results (514 Total Finishers):
1) Collin Gilstrap, Stony Brook – 24:19.1
2) Brian Dicola, Unattached – 24:19.3
3) Nick Moulai, La Salle – 24:23.7
4) MacCallum Rowe, La Salle – 24:26.4
5) Taonga Mbambo, La Salle – 24:31.8
96) Ethan Stansbury, Liberty – 26:13.2
Race Reactions
Up Next
Liberty will race at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va. for the second time this season at the XC-23 Pre-Nationals, Oct. 14. The Flames' first race of the day will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the site of the 2023 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
Liberty, which saw its top six men break 25:00 in the 8K, tallied 190 points for fourth place out of 43 teams in the gold race. The Flames' previous best Paul Short gold race finish was sixth in 2017, their most recent visit to Bethlehem.
Up front in the men's race, Yale captured its first Paul Short team title since 1989 with 101 points, defeating runner-up Wingate (No. 3 nationally in Division II) by 22 points.
Liberty also had a number of runners compete in open races, Saturday morning at the Paul Short Run. Jessie Zealand recorded the Lady Flames' most impressive performance of the day, clocking a 6K personal-best 22:42.3 for 13th place out of 299 in the women's open race.
Men's Gold Race Team Results (43 Total Teams):
1) Yale – 101
2) Wingate – 123
3) Stony Brook – 159
4) Liberty – 190
5) Penn State – 203
Men's 8K Gold Race Individual Results (392 Total Finishers):
1) Evan Dorenkamp, Penn State – 23:53.7
2) Murphy Smith, Navy – 23:59.3
3) Ethan Gregg, Wisconsin-La Crosse – 24:00.2
4) Nicholas Kiprotich, Liberty – 24:03.0
5) Carlos Santos, Stony Brook – 24:06.8
18) Caleb Olson, Liberty – 24:28.9
43) Jacob Hess, Liberty – 24:40.8
61) Nathan Moore, Liberty – 24:47.3
64) Kyle Harkabus, Liberty – 24:50.2
65) Will Jefferson, Liberty – 24:50.3
111) Jack Cottrell, Liberty – 25:08.7
129) Ethan Pedersen, Liberty – 25:14.4
233) Graham Mussmon, Liberty – 25:54.3
266) Gavin Sweeney, Liberty – 26:05.7
Women's 6K Open Race Individual Results (299 Total Finishers):
1) Elaine Estes, PRTC – 21:46.2
2) Caroline Cummings, Georgetown – 21:48.5
3) Abby Taylor, Central Park Track Club – 22:07.8
4) Sarah Pickering, Penn State – 22:18.5
5) Allie Walker, Georgia Tech – 22:23.8
13) Jessie Zealand, Liberty – 22:42.3
32) Sophia Park, Liberty – 23:05.2
43) Grace Ervi, Liberty – 23:20.2
50) Summer Bejarano, Liberty – 23:28.1
65) Emily Atha, Liberty – 23:36.6
90) Allison Engle, Liberty – 23:54.0
94) Anna Jo Ripple, Liberty – 23:58.8
101) Rebecca Brown, Liberty – 24:03.3
130) Samantha Troup, Liberty – 24:22.2
193) Rebekah Simmons, Liberty – 25:17.0
Men's 8K Open Race Individual Results (514 Total Finishers):
1) Collin Gilstrap, Stony Brook – 24:19.1
2) Brian Dicola, Unattached – 24:19.3
3) Nick Moulai, La Salle – 24:23.7
4) MacCallum Rowe, La Salle – 24:26.4
5) Taonga Mbambo, La Salle – 24:31.8
96) Ethan Stansbury, Liberty – 26:13.2
Race Reactions
- Kiprotich recorded his second consecutive top-five finish to begin the 2023 season, following his third-place effort at the Sept. 1 Eye Opener. He has now crossed the finish line inside the top five four times in seven total cross country races as a Flame.
- A Liberty men's runner has now posted a top-five finish each of the last five times the Flames have competed in the Paul Short Run gold race. Josh McDougal won the 2004 title, Sam Chelanga captured a pair of titles (2008 and 2010) and Azaria Kirwa was the 2017 runner-up.
- Sophomore Jacob Hess went from being Liberty's No. 10 runner at the Eye Opener to the Flames' No. 3 performer on Saturday.
- Zealand improved from 46th place in this same race as a freshman in 2022 to 13th on Saturday.
- Also moving up considerably from the 2022 women's open race to the 2023 edition were Grace Ervi (94th place to 43rd) and Samantha Troup (165th place to 130th in a personal-best 24:22.2).
- The most impressive personal-best effort of the day went to Rebekah Simmons, who sliced her 6K best from 26:42.5 to 25:17.0.
Up Next
Liberty will race at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va. for the second time this season at the XC-23 Pre-Nationals, Oct. 14. The Flames' first race of the day will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the site of the 2023 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
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