Saturday, October 19
Salem, Va.
10:30 AM ET
Liberty University
at
Roanoke XC Invitational
Liberty XC to Close Regular Season at Wisconsin & Roanoke
10/17/2024 3:02:00 PM | Cross Country
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty will wrap up the regular-season portion of the 2024 men's and women's cross country season with a pair of competitions on Saturday. The men's team and the top women's runners will race in the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, while the remainder of the women's squad remains within the Commonwealth for the Roanoke XC Invitational.
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis., site of next month's 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Liberty will be represented in four of Saturday's six races in Madison, including the women's 6K "A" race (11 a.m. Eastern), women's 6K open race (12:20 p.m. Eastern), men's 8K open race (1 p.m. Eastern) and men's 8K "B" race (2:20 p.m. Eastern).
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals will mark Liberty's first televised meet of the season, as all six races will air live on RunnerSpace +PLUS.
Green Hill Park in Salem, Va., will serve as the venue for Saturday's Roanoke XC Invitational, enabling many of the participating teams to preview the course for the upcoming ODAC Championships. The women's 6K is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
The Lady Flames are coming off an impressive fourth-place team finish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4. As a result, they are ranked a season-best No. 8 in the Southeast Region and picked up their first votes of 2024 in the most recent national poll (Oct. 8).
Allie Zealand (16th place, 16:37.2) and Ava Gordon (20th, 16:40.6) both posted top-20 finishes at Notre Dame. Zealand swept the CUSA Women's Runner and Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season thanks to her performance. She will now prepare to step up to the 6K distance for the first time in her collegiate career on Saturday.
Isabela Ross (62nd place, 17:07.9), who served as Liberty's No. 4 finisher at Notre Dame, will get to race less than 100 miles away from her hometown of Oak Creek, Wis., on Saturday.
The Lady Flames will square off against 20 nationally-ranked squads during Saturday's Wisconsin Pre-Nationals "A" race, including the top five teams in the country (No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 NC State).
Liberty's men's squad will look to continue displaying its impressive depth in Wisconsin on Saturday. After winning the adidas XC Challenge team title, the Flames came in 15th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. Those recent results have boosted Liberty to a season-high No. 6 within the Southeast Region.
Liberty's first five finishers in South Bend broke 24:00 for the 8K course, including Nicholas Kiprotich (23:33.3), Tristian Merchant (23:47.7), Jack Cottrell (23:54.4), Edwin Kiprop (23:57.3) and Nathan Moore (23:58.9).
Most of the Lady Flames who are set to compete in the Roanoke XC Invitational were part of the squad which fashioned a third-place finish in the Paul Short Run brown race on Oct. 5. The most notable absence from that unit is freshman Emma Unger (19th place, 22:04.4 for 6K), who earned a trip to the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals thanks to her performance in Pennsylvania.
Liberty is one of only four NCAA Division I squads who plans to take part in the Roanoke XC Invitational, joining ETSU, Radford and Virginia Tech as part of the 26-team field.
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and Roanoke XC Invitational will mark the Flames' final tuneups for the 2024 CUSA Cross Country Championships. That event will take place on Nov. 2 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala. The women's 6K will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and will be followed by the men's 8K at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis., site of next month's 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Liberty will be represented in four of Saturday's six races in Madison, including the women's 6K "A" race (11 a.m. Eastern), women's 6K open race (12:20 p.m. Eastern), men's 8K open race (1 p.m. Eastern) and men's 8K "B" race (2:20 p.m. Eastern).
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals will mark Liberty's first televised meet of the season, as all six races will air live on RunnerSpace +PLUS.
Green Hill Park in Salem, Va., will serve as the venue for Saturday's Roanoke XC Invitational, enabling many of the participating teams to preview the course for the upcoming ODAC Championships. The women's 6K is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
The Lady Flames are coming off an impressive fourth-place team finish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4. As a result, they are ranked a season-best No. 8 in the Southeast Region and picked up their first votes of 2024 in the most recent national poll (Oct. 8).
Allie Zealand (16th place, 16:37.2) and Ava Gordon (20th, 16:40.6) both posted top-20 finishes at Notre Dame. Zealand swept the CUSA Women's Runner and Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season thanks to her performance. She will now prepare to step up to the 6K distance for the first time in her collegiate career on Saturday.
Isabela Ross (62nd place, 17:07.9), who served as Liberty's No. 4 finisher at Notre Dame, will get to race less than 100 miles away from her hometown of Oak Creek, Wis., on Saturday.
The Lady Flames will square off against 20 nationally-ranked squads during Saturday's Wisconsin Pre-Nationals "A" race, including the top five teams in the country (No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 NC State).
Liberty's men's squad will look to continue displaying its impressive depth in Wisconsin on Saturday. After winning the adidas XC Challenge team title, the Flames came in 15th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. Those recent results have boosted Liberty to a season-high No. 6 within the Southeast Region.
Liberty's first five finishers in South Bend broke 24:00 for the 8K course, including Nicholas Kiprotich (23:33.3), Tristian Merchant (23:47.7), Jack Cottrell (23:54.4), Edwin Kiprop (23:57.3) and Nathan Moore (23:58.9).
Most of the Lady Flames who are set to compete in the Roanoke XC Invitational were part of the squad which fashioned a third-place finish in the Paul Short Run brown race on Oct. 5. The most notable absence from that unit is freshman Emma Unger (19th place, 22:04.4 for 6K), who earned a trip to the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals thanks to her performance in Pennsylvania.
Liberty is one of only four NCAA Division I squads who plans to take part in the Roanoke XC Invitational, joining ETSU, Radford and Virginia Tech as part of the 26-team field.
The Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and Roanoke XC Invitational will mark the Flames' final tuneups for the 2024 CUSA Cross Country Championships. That event will take place on Nov. 2 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala. The women's 6K will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and will be followed by the men's 8K at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Players Mentioned
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