Liberty Sweeps CUSA XC Titles

OXFORD, Ala. – For the first time since 2012, Liberty swept the men's and women's cross country conference titles, Saturday morning at Choccolocco Park. The Lady Flames enjoyed the largest margin of victory (66 points) in CUSA Cross Country Championships history, while the Flames pulled out their first conference championship in 11 years.

Led by the duo of Adelyn Fairley (second place) and Allie Zealand (third), Liberty put seven runners inside the top 14 women's 6K finishers. As a result, the Lady Flames notched a dominating 28-94 victory over defending champion Middle Tennessee. It marked Liberty's first conference crown since 2021 (ASUN).

The Liberty men's squad halted a run of 10 consecutive runner-up finishes spanning three conferences (Big South, ASUN and CUSA), claiming its first title since the 2013 Big South Championship. Paced by Tristian Merchant (third place), six Flames crossed the line within the top 20 finishers as Liberty edged defending champion Middle Tennessee, 46-48.

Liberty took home a good amount of individual hardware, as Adelyn Fairley was honored as CUSA Women's Outstanding Senior and Isaac Wendland (men's) and Heather Zealand (women's) swept the CUSA Coach of the Year trophies.

Seven Lady Flames earned All-CUSA honors, including first team honorees Fairley, Zealand and Isabela Ross. Teammates Marie Hostetler, Ava Gordon, Molly Lashley and Katrina Schlenker all made the second team all-conference squad.

On the men's side, two Flames apiece made the first team (Merchant and Nicholas Kiprotich), second team (Nathan Moore and Jack Cottrell) and third team (Kyle Harkabus and Andrew Schultz) all-CUSA units.

Women's Team Results:
1) Liberty – 28
2) Middle Tennessee – 94
3) Kennesaw State – 96
4) New Mexico State – 107
5) FIU – 121
6) Jacksonville State – 168
7) WKU – 178
8) UTEP – 184
9) Sam Houston – 207
10) Louisiana Tech – 309

Men's Team Results:
1) Liberty – 46
2) Middle Tennessee – 48
3) Jacksonville State – 92
4) Sam Houston – 98
5) Kennesaw State – 110
6) New Mexico State – 125
7) UTEP – 187
8) WKU – 202
9) FIU – 305
10) Louisiana Tech – 305

Women's Outstanding Senior
Adelyn Fairley, Liberty

Men's Outstanding Senior
Gudisa Adnow, Sam Houston

Women's Freshman of the Meet
Odilia Jepchumba, Middle Tennessee

Men's Freshman of the Meet
Allan Kiplagat, Middle Tennessee

Women's Coach of the Year
Heather Zealand, Liberty

Men's Coach of the Year
Isaac Wendland, Liberty

Liberty Women's All-CUSA Finishers
1^st Team – Adelyn Fairley, Allie Zealand, Isabela Ross
2^nd Team – Marie Hostetler, Ava Gordon, Molly Lashley, Katrina Schlenker

Liberty Men's All-CUSA Finishers
1^st Team – Tristian Merchant, Nicholas Kiprotich
2^nd Team – Nathan Moore, Jack Cottrell
3^rd Team – Kyle Harkabus, Andrew Schultz

Race Reactions

The last time Liberty swept the men's and women's cross country team titles came at the 2012 Big South Championships in Rock Hill, S.C.
Prior to Saturday, the largest margin of victory in CUSA women's cross country history was 49 points by South Florida in 1998.
The men's two-point victory over Middle Tennessee was the tightest finish at this meet since 2021, when Middle Tennessee beat Charlotte by a single point.
The men's squad has now placed first or second at each of its last 22 conference meets, dating back to the 2003 Big South Championships.
Isaac Wendland won his first career coach of the year award, while Heather Zealand earned her second (also 2021 ASUN).
Adelyn Fairley joined current assistant Calli Doan as the only five-time all-conference runners in Liberty women's cross country history. Fairley's conference cross country career included two first-place finishes, two runner-up finishes and one third-place showing, three of which contributed to team titles.
Allie Zealand's third-place finish came in a personal-best time of 20:08.1, leaving her just a half second behind Fairley and 2.8 seconds back of race champion Odilia Jepchumba of Middle Tennessee.
Isabela Ross came in sixth in a personal-best 20:38.2, collecting her third all-conference medal in as many years. She previously made the All-Sun Belt team in 2022 and 2023 while competing for Southern Miss.
Marie Hostetler's personal-best 20:56.0 clocking was good for eighth place as she became an all-conference performer for the first time since spring 2021.
Ross and Hostetler became the 10^th and 11^th Lady Flames ever to run a sub-21:00 6K. Six of them are part of this year's team, also including Fairley, Zealand, Ava Gordon and Katrina Schlenker.
Also posting personal-best times for the Lady Flames were Kate Goodyear (21:46.8 for 26^th place), Jessica Palisca (21:52.5 for 28^th) and Emma Unger (21:56.8 for 31^st) as all 10 Lady Flames broke 22:00 on Saturday.
Tristian Merchant moved up three places over the final 2K of his first conference cross country race since 2021, when he was a freshman at Northern Arizona. He clocked 24:00.04 for third place.
Nicholas Kiprotich (24:07.67) placed seventh at this race for the second year in a row and earned his third career all-conference medal (also 2022 ASUN).
Nathan Moore (24:09.81 for eighth place) is now a four-time all-conference runner in cross country, including two each at Liberty (2023 and 2024) and Walsh (2021 and 2022).
Jack Cottrell's 11^th-place finish was the best cross country conference showing of his career. He made the all-conference team for the third straight year, completing the course in 24:21.4.
Kyle Harkabus moved up two important places over the final 2K, ending up 17^th in 24:37.8. He is the sixth Liberty men's cross country runner to become a four-time all-conference performer at the Division I level, joining Josh Edmonds, Josh McDougal, Azaria Kirwa, Felix Kandie and Caleb Olson.
Andrew Schultz (24:40.5 for 20^th place) was the fifth-fastest freshman in Saturday's men's 8K. The group was led by individual champion Allan Kiplagat of Middle Tennessee (23:27.9).

Up Next
The NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships will be next up for the Flames. The meet, which will determine the team and individual qualifiers to the 2024 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, is set for Nov. 15 at Winthrop Farm in Rock Hill, S.C.

The women's 6K is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., followed by the men's 10K at 11:30 a.m.

Schedule

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Cottrell

Adelyn Fairley

Kate Goodyear

Ava Gordon

Kyle Harkabus

Marie Hostetler

Nicholas Kiprotich

Molly Lashley

Tristian Merchant

Nathan Moore

Caleb Olson

Jessica Palisca

Isabela Ross

Katrina Schlenker

Andrew Schultz

Emma Unger

Allie Zealand