Friday, October 4
South Bend, Ind.
10:30 AM ET
Liberty University
at
Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
Lady Flames Notch Impressive 4th-Place Showing at ND
10/4/2024 4:26:00 PM | Cross Country
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Liberty women's cross country team recorded its best showing of the 2024 season to date on Friday, placing an impressive fourth at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. Meanwhile, five Flames broke 24:00 in the men's 8K at Burke Golf Course, helping the men's team finish 15th overall.
Allie Zealand (16th place, 16:37.2) and Ava Gordon (20th, 16:40.6) both posted top-20 finishes in the women's 5K, helping Liberty defeat everyone other than a trio of top-five squads among the 22 teams (including No. 25 Michigan State) with a final score of 189. No. 1 Northern Arizona (52), No. 5 BYU (65) and No. 3 Notre Dame (70) claimed the first three positions.
Prior to Friday, only eight Liberty men's runners had ever clocked a sub-24:00 8K in program history. Five did so in South Bend, including Nicholas Kiprotich (49th place, 23:33.3), Tristian Merchant (70th, 23:47.7), Jack Cottrell (81st, 23:54.4), Edwin Kiprop (84th, 23:57.3) and Nathan Moore (89th, 23:58.9). As a result, the Flames came in 15th of 19 squads with 360 points. Up front, host No. 9 Notre Dame upset No. 4 Northern Arizona for the victory, 55-68.
Race Reactions
A group of Lady Flames will race at the 50th Paul Short Run, Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa. They will be split up between the women's open 6K race at 10:15 a.m. and the women's brown 6K race at 2:30 p.m.
Allie Zealand (16th place, 16:37.2) and Ava Gordon (20th, 16:40.6) both posted top-20 finishes in the women's 5K, helping Liberty defeat everyone other than a trio of top-five squads among the 22 teams (including No. 25 Michigan State) with a final score of 189. No. 1 Northern Arizona (52), No. 5 BYU (65) and No. 3 Notre Dame (70) claimed the first three positions.
Prior to Friday, only eight Liberty men's runners had ever clocked a sub-24:00 8K in program history. Five did so in South Bend, including Nicholas Kiprotich (49th place, 23:33.3), Tristian Merchant (70th, 23:47.7), Jack Cottrell (81st, 23:54.4), Edwin Kiprop (84th, 23:57.3) and Nathan Moore (89th, 23:58.9). As a result, the Flames came in 15th of 19 squads with 360 points. Up front, host No. 9 Notre Dame upset No. 4 Northern Arizona for the victory, 55-68.
Race Reactions
- The Lady Flames improved upon their sixth-place performance from their most recent Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in 2022. Four of Liberty's top nine runners from that meet were in action Friday, including Gordon, Marie Hostetler, Katie Sigerud and Katrina Schlenker.
- Zealand moved up 13 places between the 4K and 6K marks, while Gordon overtook 18 runners during the same span. Their fast close to the race helped Liberty move up from sixth place at the 4K pole to fourth in the final team standings.
- Zealand served as the Lady Flames' No. 1 runner for the second straight meet and was the third fastest freshman in the race. Her time of 16:37.2 ranks No. 3 in program history and just missed Gordon's Liberty freshman record of 16:34.7 from the 2022 Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
- Adelyn Fairley (28th place, 16:44.7) made it a trio of Lady Flames crossing the finish line under 17:00 with a new cross country 5K personal best.
- Marie Hostetler (75th place, 17:16.2), Katrina Schlenker (89th, 17:24.9) and Molly Lashley (90th, 17:25.5) became the 13th, 14th and 15th Lady Flames ever to run faster than 17:30 in a cross country 5K.
- Later in the day, Jessica Palisca posted a personal-best 17:51.6 for 20th place in the open women's 5K. That made it 10-for-10 Lady Flames in recording sub-18:00 efforts on the day.
- The Liberty men's squad's 15th-place finish was one spot better than the Flames fared at this meet two years ago.
- Kiprotich was already a member of the sub-24:00 club prior to Friday, but Merchant, Cottrell, Kiprop and Moore each achieved the milestone for the first time as Flames.
- Kiprop's 23:57.3 performance came in his first collegiate 8K.
- Will Jefferson returned from injury to compete in his home state of Indiana during the open men's 8K, clocking 25:26.4 for 54th place. It was his first competition since running a 3K at the Penn State National Open on Jan. 27.
A group of Lady Flames will race at the 50th Paul Short Run, Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa. They will be split up between the women's open 6K race at 10:15 a.m. and the women's brown 6K race at 2:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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