Friday, May 2
Jacksonville, Fla.
1:00 PM ET
Liberty University
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East Coast Relays
Liberty to Open May with 3-Meet Week
5/1/2025 10:39:00 AM | Track and Field
LYNCHBURG, Va. – As the calendar turns to May, Liberty will compete in three track & field meets in three different states this weekend. Part of the team will remain in town for Friday's The Hill City Twilight at the University of Lynchburg. Another group of Flames and Lady Flames will travel to Jacksonville, Fla., for the East Coast Relays (Friday and Saturday). Finally, a small group of distance runners will race at the Duke Twilight on Sunday.
How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames
Live video coverage will be provided for both The Hill City Twilight (YouTube) and Duke Twilight (ACC Network Extra)
Live results will be available for all three of this week's meets.
Weather Report
Friday's weather forecast for The Hill City Twilight calls for partly cloudy skies, a chance of showers and thunderstorms and a high reaching the low-80s.
The East Coast Relays should see highs in the upper-80s both days of competition with thunderstorms possibly developing later on Saturday.
Sunday should be cooler for the Duke Twilight with a high in the mid-70s and a low dipping into the low-60s at night. However, showers and thunderstorms are likely at some point during the meet.
Hill City Highlights
A year ago at The Hill City Twilight, two Liberty men's mid-distance records went down in less than an hour, including the 800 (Brendan Pitcher – 1:48.26) and 1,500 (Kyle Harkabus – 3:40.78).
Pitcher will return to the meet on Friday with a similar objective in mind: breaking his own program record and qualifying for the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet.
The women's 800 could also see some fast times posted, with Liberty record holder Kate Goodyear, Jessica Palisca and Allie Zealand all entered. After breaking the Liberty freshman record in the 1,500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Zealand could threaten Delaney McDowell's 800 freshman standard of 2:08.59 from 2016.
Only 10 Lady Flames (including current team members Adelyn Fairley and Ava Gordon) have ever run an outdoor track 5K faster than 17 minutes. That number could grow Friday night with Ryann Aycock, Marie Hostetler, Molly Lashley, Isabela Ross and Katrina Schlenker all entered.
East Coast Entries
The East Coast Relays will take place at North Florida's Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium. The same venue will play host to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet, May 28-31.
Many members of Liberty's travel party to the East Coast Relays are either in a good position to qualify for a return trip to Jacksonville later this month or looking to achieve a qualifying mark this week.
The Lady Flames' 4 x 100 relay squad of Indea Cartwright, Reese Webster, Mahogany Mobley and Akilah Lewis is set to race for the first time since clocking a program-record 44.61 at the Florida Relays.
The women's 4 x 100 relay team is currently on the bubble for NCAA Division I East First Rounds qualification, along with a couple other athletes competing at the East Coast Relays (Jacob Torres – men's 400 hurdles and Bethany Tate – women's shot put).
Distance Night at Duke
Although the travel party is small (seven runners), the possibilities are considerable at Sunday's Duke Twilight.
The Lady Flames entered in the meet include one program record holder (Kate Goodyear – 800) and two athletes knocking on the door of setting records in their events (Allie Zealand – 1,500 and Adelyn Fairley – 5K).
Zealand clocked 4:15.67 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in the first 1,500 race of her collegiate career. Heather (Sagan) Zealand, her mother and coach, has held the Liberty record at 4:14.71 since 2002.
One night after lowering the Liberty women's 10K record to 33:29.29 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Fairley clocked a 15:57.55 5K. That is less than 10 seconds off the Liberty standard of 15:48.63 set by Ednah Kurgat in 2016.
Edwin Kiprop headlines the Liberty men's distance entries in Durham. He currently tops the CUSA leaderboard with a 5K time of 13:52.95. Kiprop will look to improve upon that time in an effort to solidify a trip to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet.
CUSA's Best
The following Flames and Lady Flames rank No. 1 in Conference USA in their events at this stage of the 2025 outdoor track & field season. The 2025 CUSA Outdoor Track & Field Championships will take place at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium, May 16-18 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Women's 200 – Reese Webster – 23.14
Women's 5K – Adelyn Fairley – 15:57.55
Women's 10K – Adelyn Fairley – 33:29.29
Women's Shot Put – Bethany Tate – 49-9.25
Heptathlon – Meredith Engle – 5,414
Men's 100 – Omari Lewis – 10.05
Men's 5K – Edwin Kiprop – 13:52.95
Men's 400 Hurdles – Jacob Torres – 51.68
Men's 4 x 100 – Vu, McKnight, Webster, Lewis – 39.42
Men's Discus – Christian Hicks – 188-3
Men's Hammer – Kellen Kimes – 219-4
Pack Your Bags for Jacksonville
The 2025 NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet will be contested at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium, May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. The following Flames and Lady Flames are currently in a position to qualify for the meet, based upon their ranking in the East Region.
Men's 100 – Omari Lewis (No. 6)
Men's 200 – Omari Lewis (No. 35)
Men's 400 Hurdles – Jacob Torres (No. 43)
Men's 4 x 100 Relay – Eddy Vu, Troy McKnight, Revell Webster, Omari Lewis (No. 15)
Men's Long Jump – Markus White (No. 43)
Men's Triple Jump – Joshua Smith (No. 22)
Men's Discus – Christian Hicks (No. 16), Beau Backes (No. 36)
Men's Hammer – Kellen Kimes (No. 9)
Women's 100 – Reese Webster (No. 26), Akilah Lewis (No. 44)
Women's 200 – Reese Webster (No. 19)
Women's 1,500 – Allie Zealand (No. 33)
Women's 5K – Adelyn Fairley (No. 40)
Women's 10K – Adelyn Fairley (No. 21)
Women's 100 Hurdles – Indea Cartwright (No. 20)
Women's Steeplechase – Katrina Schlenker (No. 35), Marie Hostetler (No. 37)
Women's 4 x 100 Relay – Indea Cartwright, Reese Webster, Mahogany Mobley, Akilah Lewis (No. 19)
Women's Shot Put – Bethany Tate (No. 41)
Women's Hammer – Paola Bueno (No. 11)
Women's Javelin – Addilae Watts (No. 21)
On the Way to Eugene?
The only events not contested at the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet are the decathlon and heptathlon. The top 24 declared decathletes and heptathletes will advance directly to the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, set for June 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.
Meredith Engle currently ranks No. 21 nationally with her heptathlon score of 5,414.
Up Next
The Flames will prepare for their lone home meet of the outdoor season (Liberty Twilight Qualifier) on Tuesday. The one-day competition at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex will include a ceremony to honor Liberty's seniors.
How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames
Live video coverage will be provided for both The Hill City Twilight (YouTube) and Duke Twilight (ACC Network Extra)
Live results will be available for all three of this week's meets.
Weather Report
Friday's weather forecast for The Hill City Twilight calls for partly cloudy skies, a chance of showers and thunderstorms and a high reaching the low-80s.
The East Coast Relays should see highs in the upper-80s both days of competition with thunderstorms possibly developing later on Saturday.
Sunday should be cooler for the Duke Twilight with a high in the mid-70s and a low dipping into the low-60s at night. However, showers and thunderstorms are likely at some point during the meet.
Hill City Highlights
A year ago at The Hill City Twilight, two Liberty men's mid-distance records went down in less than an hour, including the 800 (Brendan Pitcher – 1:48.26) and 1,500 (Kyle Harkabus – 3:40.78).
Pitcher will return to the meet on Friday with a similar objective in mind: breaking his own program record and qualifying for the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet.
The women's 800 could also see some fast times posted, with Liberty record holder Kate Goodyear, Jessica Palisca and Allie Zealand all entered. After breaking the Liberty freshman record in the 1,500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Zealand could threaten Delaney McDowell's 800 freshman standard of 2:08.59 from 2016.
Only 10 Lady Flames (including current team members Adelyn Fairley and Ava Gordon) have ever run an outdoor track 5K faster than 17 minutes. That number could grow Friday night with Ryann Aycock, Marie Hostetler, Molly Lashley, Isabela Ross and Katrina Schlenker all entered.
East Coast Entries
The East Coast Relays will take place at North Florida's Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium. The same venue will play host to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet, May 28-31.
Many members of Liberty's travel party to the East Coast Relays are either in a good position to qualify for a return trip to Jacksonville later this month or looking to achieve a qualifying mark this week.
The Lady Flames' 4 x 100 relay squad of Indea Cartwright, Reese Webster, Mahogany Mobley and Akilah Lewis is set to race for the first time since clocking a program-record 44.61 at the Florida Relays.
The women's 4 x 100 relay team is currently on the bubble for NCAA Division I East First Rounds qualification, along with a couple other athletes competing at the East Coast Relays (Jacob Torres – men's 400 hurdles and Bethany Tate – women's shot put).
Distance Night at Duke
Although the travel party is small (seven runners), the possibilities are considerable at Sunday's Duke Twilight.
The Lady Flames entered in the meet include one program record holder (Kate Goodyear – 800) and two athletes knocking on the door of setting records in their events (Allie Zealand – 1,500 and Adelyn Fairley – 5K).
Zealand clocked 4:15.67 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in the first 1,500 race of her collegiate career. Heather (Sagan) Zealand, her mother and coach, has held the Liberty record at 4:14.71 since 2002.
One night after lowering the Liberty women's 10K record to 33:29.29 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Fairley clocked a 15:57.55 5K. That is less than 10 seconds off the Liberty standard of 15:48.63 set by Ednah Kurgat in 2016.
Edwin Kiprop headlines the Liberty men's distance entries in Durham. He currently tops the CUSA leaderboard with a 5K time of 13:52.95. Kiprop will look to improve upon that time in an effort to solidify a trip to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet.
CUSA's Best
The following Flames and Lady Flames rank No. 1 in Conference USA in their events at this stage of the 2025 outdoor track & field season. The 2025 CUSA Outdoor Track & Field Championships will take place at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium, May 16-18 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Women's 200 – Reese Webster – 23.14
Women's 5K – Adelyn Fairley – 15:57.55
Women's 10K – Adelyn Fairley – 33:29.29
Women's Shot Put – Bethany Tate – 49-9.25
Heptathlon – Meredith Engle – 5,414
Men's 100 – Omari Lewis – 10.05
Men's 5K – Edwin Kiprop – 13:52.95
Men's 400 Hurdles – Jacob Torres – 51.68
Men's 4 x 100 – Vu, McKnight, Webster, Lewis – 39.42
Men's Discus – Christian Hicks – 188-3
Men's Hammer – Kellen Kimes – 219-4
Pack Your Bags for Jacksonville
The 2025 NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet will be contested at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium, May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. The following Flames and Lady Flames are currently in a position to qualify for the meet, based upon their ranking in the East Region.
Men's 100 – Omari Lewis (No. 6)
Men's 200 – Omari Lewis (No. 35)
Men's 400 Hurdles – Jacob Torres (No. 43)
Men's 4 x 100 Relay – Eddy Vu, Troy McKnight, Revell Webster, Omari Lewis (No. 15)
Men's Long Jump – Markus White (No. 43)
Men's Triple Jump – Joshua Smith (No. 22)
Men's Discus – Christian Hicks (No. 16), Beau Backes (No. 36)
Men's Hammer – Kellen Kimes (No. 9)
Women's 100 – Reese Webster (No. 26), Akilah Lewis (No. 44)
Women's 200 – Reese Webster (No. 19)
Women's 1,500 – Allie Zealand (No. 33)
Women's 5K – Adelyn Fairley (No. 40)
Women's 10K – Adelyn Fairley (No. 21)
Women's 100 Hurdles – Indea Cartwright (No. 20)
Women's Steeplechase – Katrina Schlenker (No. 35), Marie Hostetler (No. 37)
Women's 4 x 100 Relay – Indea Cartwright, Reese Webster, Mahogany Mobley, Akilah Lewis (No. 19)
Women's Shot Put – Bethany Tate (No. 41)
Women's Hammer – Paola Bueno (No. 11)
Women's Javelin – Addilae Watts (No. 21)
On the Way to Eugene?
The only events not contested at the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet are the decathlon and heptathlon. The top 24 declared decathletes and heptathletes will advance directly to the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, set for June 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.
Meredith Engle currently ranks No. 21 nationally with her heptathlon score of 5,414.
Up Next
The Flames will prepare for their lone home meet of the outdoor season (Liberty Twilight Qualifier) on Tuesday. The one-day competition at the Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex will include a ceremony to honor Liberty's seniors.
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