Saturday, November 1
Huntsville, Ala.
10:00 AM ET/9:00 AM CT
Liberty University
at
Conference USA Championships
The Lady Flames celebrate their second consecutive CUSA women's cross country title.
Zealand Leads Lady Flames to CUSA Title Repeat
11/1/2025 1:52:00 PM | Cross Country
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Liberty's Allie Zealand picked a good time for her first collegiate cross country individual victory. Her women's 6K title led the Lady Flames to their second straight team championship, Saturday morning at the CUSA Cross Country Championships. Meanwhile, the Liberty men's squad took second place at John Hunt Park.
Zealand covered the 6K course in 19:53.0, winning by nearly 30 seconds. The sophomore was the first of eight Lady Flames to cross the finish line among the top 21 finishers as Liberty posted a dominating 64-point victory (40 to 104) over runner-up New Mexico State.
The Lady Flames recorded the second largest margin of victory in meet history, trailing only their own 66-point triumph from 2024. Liberty has claimed back-to-back women's cross country conference titles for the first time since spring 2021 and fall 2021 in the ASUN. The Lady Flames also became the first CUSA women's squad to successfully defend their crown since Middle Tennessee won three in a row between 2019-21.
Defending CUSA men's champion Liberty finished with 55 points on Saturday, putting the Flames 18 tallies behind Middle Tennessee for the title. Andrew Schultz (sixth place) paced four Flames inside the top 11 as Liberty posted its 23rd straight top-two finish in men's cross country spanning three leagues (Big South, ASUN and CUSA).
Eight of Liberty's 10 women's competitors earned All-CUSA honors, including first team honorees Zealand (first place), Jessica Palisca (fourth), and Katrina Schlenker (fifth), second team performer Rachel Hill (14th) and the third team quartet of Ryann Aycock (16th), Katie Sigerud (17th), Kate Loescher (18th) and Mackenzie Babcock (21st).
Five Flames took home All-CUSA awards in the men's race, including first teamers Schultz (sixth place) and Nicholas Kiprotich (seventh), second team honorees Edwin Kiprop (10th) and Ethan Pedersen (11th) and third team performer Tristian Merchant (21st).
Women's Team Results:
1) Liberty – 40
2) New Mexico State – 104
3) Missouri State – 117
4) Delaware – 123
5) Kennesaw State – 139
6) Middle Tennessee – 143
7) Jacksonville State – 156
8) FIU – 176
9) Western Kentucky – 220
10) Sam Houston – 261
11) UTEP – 324
12) Louisiana Tech – 365
Men's Team Results:
1) Middle Tennessee – 37
2) Liberty – 55
3) Jacksonville State – 92
4) Kennesaw State – 103
5) New Mexico State – 146
6) UTEP – 158
7) Western Kentucky – 161
8) Sam Houston – 223
9) FIU – 243
10) Louisiana Tech – 302
Women's Outstanding Senior
Faith Nyathi, Middle Tennessee
Men's Outstanding Senior
Jacinto Gaspar, Middle Tennessee
Women's Freshman of the Meet
Viola Jepleting, Jacksonville State
Men's Freshman of the Meet
Solomon Sayo, Middle Tennessee
Liberty Women's All-CUSA Finishers
1st Team – Allie Zealand, Jessica Palisca, Katrina Schlenker
2nd Team – Rachel Hill
3rd Team – Ryann Aycock, Katie Sigerud, Kate Loescher, Mackenzie Babcock
Liberty Men's All-CUSA Finishers
1st Team – Andrew Schultz, Nicholas Kiprotich
2nd Team – Edwin Kiprop, Ethan Pedersen
3rd Team – Tristian Merchant
Race Reactions
Liberty will compete at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 14. The meet, which will determine the team and individual qualifiers for the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, will take place at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va.
The women's 6K will begin at 10 a.m. and the men's 10K will take place at 11.
Zealand covered the 6K course in 19:53.0, winning by nearly 30 seconds. The sophomore was the first of eight Lady Flames to cross the finish line among the top 21 finishers as Liberty posted a dominating 64-point victory (40 to 104) over runner-up New Mexico State.
The Lady Flames recorded the second largest margin of victory in meet history, trailing only their own 66-point triumph from 2024. Liberty has claimed back-to-back women's cross country conference titles for the first time since spring 2021 and fall 2021 in the ASUN. The Lady Flames also became the first CUSA women's squad to successfully defend their crown since Middle Tennessee won three in a row between 2019-21.
Defending CUSA men's champion Liberty finished with 55 points on Saturday, putting the Flames 18 tallies behind Middle Tennessee for the title. Andrew Schultz (sixth place) paced four Flames inside the top 11 as Liberty posted its 23rd straight top-two finish in men's cross country spanning three leagues (Big South, ASUN and CUSA).
Eight of Liberty's 10 women's competitors earned All-CUSA honors, including first team honorees Zealand (first place), Jessica Palisca (fourth), and Katrina Schlenker (fifth), second team performer Rachel Hill (14th) and the third team quartet of Ryann Aycock (16th), Katie Sigerud (17th), Kate Loescher (18th) and Mackenzie Babcock (21st).
Five Flames took home All-CUSA awards in the men's race, including first teamers Schultz (sixth place) and Nicholas Kiprotich (seventh), second team honorees Edwin Kiprop (10th) and Ethan Pedersen (11th) and third team performer Tristian Merchant (21st).
Women's Team Results:
1) Liberty – 40
2) New Mexico State – 104
3) Missouri State – 117
4) Delaware – 123
5) Kennesaw State – 139
6) Middle Tennessee – 143
7) Jacksonville State – 156
8) FIU – 176
9) Western Kentucky – 220
10) Sam Houston – 261
11) UTEP – 324
12) Louisiana Tech – 365
Men's Team Results:
1) Middle Tennessee – 37
2) Liberty – 55
3) Jacksonville State – 92
4) Kennesaw State – 103
5) New Mexico State – 146
6) UTEP – 158
7) Western Kentucky – 161
8) Sam Houston – 223
9) FIU – 243
10) Louisiana Tech – 302
Women's Outstanding Senior
Faith Nyathi, Middle Tennessee
Men's Outstanding Senior
Jacinto Gaspar, Middle Tennessee
Women's Freshman of the Meet
Viola Jepleting, Jacksonville State
Men's Freshman of the Meet
Solomon Sayo, Middle Tennessee
Liberty Women's All-CUSA Finishers
1st Team – Allie Zealand, Jessica Palisca, Katrina Schlenker
2nd Team – Rachel Hill
3rd Team – Ryann Aycock, Katie Sigerud, Kate Loescher, Mackenzie Babcock
Liberty Men's All-CUSA Finishers
1st Team – Andrew Schultz, Nicholas Kiprotich
2nd Team – Edwin Kiprop, Ethan Pedersen
3rd Team – Tristian Merchant
Race Reactions
- The Lady Flames' eight all-conference runners tied a program record. Liberty also put eight women on the all-conference squad at the spring 2021 ASUN Championship.
- Zealand is Liberty's first women's cross country individual champion since Calli Doan at the 2022 ASUN Championship, also contested at John Hunt Park.
- Zealand's 19:53.0 clocking was the second fastest 6K mark in meet history, trailing only the 19:44.5 effort of TCU's Gladys Keitany in 2001.
- Palisca's fourth-place effort far exceeded her previous best conference cross country showing (19th place at the 2023 CUSA meet). She now ranks sixth on Liberty's all-time 6K list with her personal-best time of 20:31.0.
- Schlenker (fifth place) also recorded her top career conference finish on Saturday, while earning All-CUSA recognition for the third straight season. Her 20:34.9 effort set a new personal best by 10 seconds and sits No. 8 in program history.
- Hill (20:51.9, 14th place), Aycock (20:54.3, 16th), Sigerud (20:54.9, 17th), Loescher (20:55.2, 18th) and Babcock (20:57.7, 21st) became the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th members of Liberty's sub-21:00 6K club on Saturday. All 10 Lady Flames who raced in Huntsville now have at least one sub-21:00 6K performance to their credit.
- Loescher and Babcock were the second and fourth fastest freshmen in Saturday's women's race, respectively.
- So dominant were the Lady Flames that their 10th and final finisher (Isabela Ross) came in 33rd of 105, one spot ahead of team runner-up New Mexico State's No. 4 runner (Ainsleigh Kasprick).
- The men's team's streak of 23 consecutive top-two conference finishes began at the 2003 Big South Championships.
- Saturday marked the first time Schultz (23:58.2, sixth place) has served as Liberty's No. 1 runner in his career, as the sophomore improved from a 20th-place showing a year ago.
- Kiprotich came in seventh (24:01.5) at this meet for the third year in a row. He bookends his Liberty career with all-conference performances at John Hunt Park, becoming the seventh Liberty men's runner ever to collect four all-conference medals at the Division I level.
- Kiprop placed 10th (24:11.3) in his CUSA Cross Country Championship debut. He missed the 2024 meet due to injury.
- Pedersen improved from 23rd in 2024 to 11th place (24:11.4) on Saturday. He and Merchant (24:32.4, 21st) each garnered their second All-CUSA cross country medals.
- Eli Julian (23rd, personal-best 24:41.1) placed fourth among freshmen in the men's 8K.
Liberty will compete at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 14. The meet, which will determine the team and individual qualifiers for the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, will take place at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Va.
The women's 6K will begin at 10 a.m. and the men's 10K will take place at 11.
Players Mentioned
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