Saturday, October 19
Madison, Wis.
11:00 AM ET/10:00 AM CT
Liberty University
at
Wisconsin Pre-Nationals
Ava Gordon (middle, #339) leads the Lady Flames at the start of Saturday's Wisconsin Pre-Nationals. (Photo by Isaac Wasserman)
Liberty Women’s XC Tops 3 Nationally-Ranked Foes at Wisconsin Pre-Nationals
10/19/2024 5:44:00 PM | Cross Country
MADISON, Wis. – The Liberty women's cross country team defeated a trio of nationally-ranked opponents (No. 15 Tennessee, No. 22 Ole Miss and No. 29 Arkansas) on its way to a strong 21st-place finish in Saturday's Wisconsin Pre-Nationals women's "A" 6K. Meanwhile, the Flames came in 12th in the men's "B" 8K at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, site of next month's NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
Adelyn Fairley (47th place, 20:12.7), Allie Zealand (71st, 20:24.7) and Ava Gordon (85th, 20:31.5) all covered the 6K course in well under 21 minutes. Their efforts helped the Lady Flames finish 21st with 546 points in a 33-team field which featured 20 nationally-ranked squads. No. 2 BYU (105 points) and No. 3 Washington (157) earned the team championship and runner-up honors, respectively.
Nicholas Kiprotich led the men's team for the fourth straight race to begin the season, finishing 30th of 180 runners in 24:30.1. The Flames' tight 38-second spread from one through five resulted in a team score of 305, good for 12th place of 25 in the final team standings. The top three men's squads were all Big Ten units, including Purdue (73), Illinois (148) and Ohio State (177).
Race Reactions
Next up for Liberty will be 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.
Adelyn Fairley (47th place, 20:12.7), Allie Zealand (71st, 20:24.7) and Ava Gordon (85th, 20:31.5) all covered the 6K course in well under 21 minutes. Their efforts helped the Lady Flames finish 21st with 546 points in a 33-team field which featured 20 nationally-ranked squads. No. 2 BYU (105 points) and No. 3 Washington (157) earned the team championship and runner-up honors, respectively.
Nicholas Kiprotich led the men's team for the fourth straight race to begin the season, finishing 30th of 180 runners in 24:30.1. The Flames' tight 38-second spread from one through five resulted in a team score of 305, good for 12th place of 25 in the final team standings. The top three men's squads were all Big Ten units, including Purdue (73), Illinois (148) and Ohio State (177).
Race Reactions
- The Lady Flames finished ahead of nationally-ranked opponents for the second meet in a row. Their fourth-place finish at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4 landed them ahead of then No. 25 Michigan State.
- Liberty, which was listed in the "also receiving votes" section of the most recent national poll, could merit consideration for its first national ranking since the fall 2021 campaign.
- Less than an hour after teammate Katrina Schlenker (20:47.0) became the Lady Flames' seventh sub-21:00 6K runner in program history at the Roanoke XC Invitational, Zealand and Gordon became the eighth and ninth members of that list.
- After running the first 6K of her collegiate career, Zealand now ranks No. 4 on Liberty's all-time list for the distance and No. 2 among freshmen (trailing only Ednah Kurgat's 20:06.7 in 2015).
- Gordon moves up to No. 6 all-time for the Lady Flames after dropping her 6K best from 21:27.8 to 20:31.5.
- Liberty's updated list of sub-21:00 performers includes Calli Doan (19:50.6 in 2021), Fairley (20:04.9 in 2021), Ednah Kurgat (20:06.7 in 2015), Zealand (20:24.7 on Saturday), Noel Palmer (20:27.0 in 2018), Gordon (20:31.5 on Saturday), Jennifer Klugh (20:35.8 in 2012), Schlenker (20:47.0 on Saturday) and Kayla Werner (20:58.3 in 2022).
- Fairley (+32), Zealand (+25) and Gordon (+34) all moved up significantly between the 4K and 6K marks on Saturday.
- Among the Lady Flames' top seven finishers, Molly Lashley (186th place, 21:14.5), Marie Hostetler (205th place, 21:29.1) and Jessica Palisca (236th, 21:57.6) all recorded new 6K personal bests.
- Kiprotich has served as the Liberty men's team's No. 1 runner at each of his last seven meets dating back to last season.
- Freshman Andrew Schultz finished 81st overall and fourth among the Flames in 25:08.4 on Saturday, making his debut among Liberty's five scorers. He had previously run No. 8 for the squad at the adidas XC Challenge and No. 7 at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
- In his second race back from injury, Will Jefferson finished a team-best 53rd in the men's open 8K race on Saturday. His time of 25:26.0 was sixth fastest for Liberty on the day.
Next up for Liberty will be 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.
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