Friday, October 17
Columbia, Mo.
11:00 AM ET/10:00 AM CT
Liberty University
at
Pre-National Invitational
The Lady Flames celebrate a 9th-place team finish at the Pre-National Invitational.
Lady Flames Place 9th at Pre-Nats as Zealand Clocks Program-Record 19:40.4 6K
10/17/2025 5:33:00 PM | Cross Country
COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the second meet in a row, Liberty's Allie Zealand set a program record and led her team to a lofty finish. At Friday's Pre-National Invitational, Zealand's first 6K of the season resulted in a program-record 19:40.4 for fifth place as the Liberty women's squad took ninth overall. Meanwhile, the Flames produced a 21st-place men's team showing at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
The Lady Flames totaled 325 points for ninth place of 38 women's teams, including second to Clemson among Southeast Region squads. The five teams Liberty finished directly in front of were all SEC units, including Kentucky (10th), Mississippi State (11th), Texas (12th), Florida (13th) and Ole Miss (14th). Up front, BYU (25 points) produced a dominating victory over runner-up No. 19 Villanova (170 points).
As she had at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational two weeks earlier, Zealand took down one of Calli Doan's program records. This time, the stellar sophomore shaved 10 seconds off Doan's 19:50.6 clocking from the 2021 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Fla. That race saw Doan earn All-America honors with a 28th-place finish.
Nicholas Kiprotich came in 71st in the men's 8K in 24:22.2, leading the short-handed Flames to 21st of 31 in the final men's team standings with 587 points. Liberty only had five runners complete the race Friday morning. Georgia was a surprise men's team champion with 119 points, finishing 45 tallies in front of the host team, No. 19 Missouri (164 points).
Race Reactions
Three Liberty runners will compete in the Roanoke XC Invitational, Saturday morning at Green Hill Park in Salem, Va. Caden Ellis will race in the men's 8K at 10:30 a.m., while the women's duo of Eden Alexander and Gracelyn Laudermilch will take part in the women's 6K at 11:30.
The Lady Flames totaled 325 points for ninth place of 38 women's teams, including second to Clemson among Southeast Region squads. The five teams Liberty finished directly in front of were all SEC units, including Kentucky (10th), Mississippi State (11th), Texas (12th), Florida (13th) and Ole Miss (14th). Up front, BYU (25 points) produced a dominating victory over runner-up No. 19 Villanova (170 points).
As she had at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational two weeks earlier, Zealand took down one of Calli Doan's program records. This time, the stellar sophomore shaved 10 seconds off Doan's 19:50.6 clocking from the 2021 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Fla. That race saw Doan earn All-America honors with a 28th-place finish.
Nicholas Kiprotich came in 71st in the men's 8K in 24:22.2, leading the short-handed Flames to 21st of 31 in the final men's team standings with 587 points. Liberty only had five runners complete the race Friday morning. Georgia was a surprise men's team champion with 119 points, finishing 45 tallies in front of the host team, No. 19 Missouri (164 points).
Race Reactions
- The Lady Flames are now 5-for-5 in recording team top-10 finishes this season between the "A" and "B" teams.
- Zealand improved her 6K personal best by 28 seconds from her 20:08.1 effort at the 2024 CUSA Championship, becoming the second Lady Flame ever to dip under 20 minutes.
- Zealand has now finished inside the top five in all four of her races this fall. Friday's impressive fifth-place effort came in a field of 339 women's finishers.
- Jessica Palisca has now served as Liberty's No. 2 finisher in four consecutive races to begin her senior campaign. On Friday, she came in 60th in 20:40.6, shattering her previous 6K best of 21:52.5 to become the 12th member of the Lady Flames' sub-21:00 club all-time.
- Katrina Schlenker recorded her best race of the season, running a personal-best 20:44.6 for 67th place. She steadily moved up throughout the race, going from 164th at the 1K split to 135th at 2K, 111th at halfway, 90th at 4K, 80th at 5K and 67th at the finish line.
- Freshman Kate Loescher excelled in her 6K debut, placing 94th in 21:01.6. Like Schlenker, she was passing runners throughout the race, moving all the way up from 178th at 1K.
- Two additional Lady Flames set big 6K PRs on the day, including Katie Sigerud (22:27.8 to 21:15.6) and Anna Fletcher (23:07.8 to 22:12.8).
- On the men's side, Kiprotich led the Flames for the third race in a row.
- Sophomore Andrew Schultz (24:31.3 for 87th place) was the Flames' No. 2 finisher for the first time in his career.
- The meet was contested one day earlier than originally scheduled due to the threat of thunderstorms in Missouri on Saturday.
- Gans Creek Cross Country Course will host the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships for the first time on Nov. 22.
Three Liberty runners will compete in the Roanoke XC Invitational, Saturday morning at Green Hill Park in Salem, Va. Caden Ellis will race in the men's 8K at 10:30 a.m., while the women's duo of Eden Alexander and Gracelyn Laudermilch will take part in the women's 6K at 11:30.
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