Liberty Women’s XC Finishes as CUSA Runners-Up, Men Take 3rd

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A dozen Liberty runners earned all-conference honors at Saturday's 2026 CUSA Cross Country Championships at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala., leading to a team runner-up finish for the Lady Flames and a third-place showing for the Liberty men's squad.

Defending champion Allie Zealand came in third in the women's 6K, pacing five Lady Flames who collected All-CUSA recognition. Headlined by individual champion Evalyne Wambui, Middle Tennessee ended Liberty's two-year run as CUSA women's team champs by 40 points, 25-65.

Andrew Schultz's sixth-place performance in the men's 8K led the way among the Flames' conference-best seven All-CUSA runners. Middle Tennessee (31 points) made it back-to-back men's team titles, with individual champion Shadrack Kipkurgat helping Jacksonville State finish a program-best second (56 points). Liberty (70 points) ended up third among the eight-team men's field.

Women's Team Results:
1) Middle Tennessee – 25
2) Liberty – 65
3) Kennesaw State – 105
4) Delaware – 119
5) New Mexico State – 119
6) Jacksonville State – 123
7) Missouri State – 128
8) Western Kentucky – 253
9) FIU – 265
10) Sam Houston – 298

Men's Team Results:
1) Middle Tennessee – 31
2) Jacksonville State – 56
3) Liberty – 70
4) New Mexico State – 100
5) Western Kentucky – 107
6) Sam Houston – 192
7) Kennesaw State – 206
8) FIU – 226

Women's Freshman of the Meet
Mercy Sergon, Jacksonville State

Men's Freshman of the Meet
Shadrack Kipkurgat, Jacksonville State

Liberty Women's All-CUSA Finishers
1^st Team – Allie Zealand
2^nd Team – Rachel Hill, Ryann Aycock
3^rd Team – Ava Gordon, Eden Alexander

Liberty Men's All-CUSA Finishers
1^st Team – Andrew Schultz
2^nd Team – Tristian Merchant
3^rd Team – Ethan Pedersen, Malachi Burnett, Edwin Kiprop, Eric Duncan, Grattan O'Neill

Race Reactions

The Lady Flames' runner-up team finish marked the ninth straight year Liberty women's cross country has placed first or second at its conference championship. The streak began in 2018, the Lady Flames' first year in the ASUN Conference, and includes four team titles and five runner-up placements.
Allie Zealand's season-best 6K time of 19:36.5 was 16.5 seconds faster than her winning time from 2025, achieved on the same John Hunt Park course. Zealand was one of three runners on Saturday (also Middle Tennessee's Evalyne Wambui – 19:25.2 and Jacksonville State's Mercy Sergon – 19:29.4) who eclipsed the meet record of 19:44.5 which had been set by TCU's Gladys Keitany in 2001.
Zealand joins Katrina Schlenker (2023-25) as the only Lady Flames to earn three All-CUSA honors in cross country. The junior All-American has now placed third in 2024, first in 2025 and third on Saturday.
Zealand made the first team All-CUSA squad, while Rachel Hill (ninth, personal-best 20:43.9) and Ryann Aycock (14^th, 20:56.3) each earned second team honors. Ava Gordon (19^th, 21:04.1) and Eden Alexander (20^th, personal-best 21:04.4) crossed the line side by side in third team All-CUSA positions.
Hill (14^th in 2025) and Aycock (16^th in 2025) both improved their placement from a year ago at this meet.
Gordon garnered her third carer cross country all-conference medal, also including a seventh-place finish at the 2022 ASUN Cross Country Championships and a ninth-place effort at the 2024 CUSA Cross Country Championships.
Alexander provided arguably the Lady Flames' biggest positive surprise of the meet, slicing her 6K personal best from 22:12.5 to 21:04.4 to place 20^th in her CUSA Cross Country Championships debut.
Unfortunately for the Liberty men's squad, the Flames saw a lengthy streak halted on Saturday. Liberty had finished first or second at 23 straight men's cross country conference championships, beginning with the 2003 Big South Championship. The Flames were edged by Jacksonville State for second place despite having seven runners finish before the Gamecocks' No. 5 man.
The Flames' conference-best seven All-CUSA runners included one on the first team (Andrew Schultz – sixth, personal-best 23:45.0), one on the second team (Tristian Merchant – 12^th, 24:24.1) and five on the third team (Ethan Pedersen – 16^th, 24:36.4, Malachi Burnett – 17^th, personal-best 24:42.7, Edwin Kiprop – 19^th, 24:46.8, Eric Duncan – 20^th, personal-best 24:46.9 and Grattan O'Neill – 21^st, personal-best 24:53.5). Michael Fritz made it eight Flames inside the top 22 with a personal-best time of his own (25:04.0), just missing the all-conference teams.
Schultz, Merchant and Pedersen join Nicholas Kiprotich (2023-25) as the only Flames to collect three career All-CUSA distinctions in men's cross country. Schultz was previously 20^th in 2024 and sixth last season, Merchant came in third in 2024 and 21^st a year ago, while Pedersen took 17^th in 2023 and 11^th in 2025.
Six was the number of the day for Schultz. The junior has now finished sixth at each of the last two CUSA Cross Country Championships and moved up to No. 6 in program history with his 23:45.0 8K clocking.
Burnett, Duncan, Fritz and William Zealand (28^th, 25:14.0) were the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh-fastest freshmen on the day.
Duncan and O'Neill both broke 25 minutes for an 8K for the first time on Saturday. O'Neill, who hails from Huntsville, continued a stellar return from injury which sidelined him for his entire freshman year in 2025-26.

Up Next
Liberty will compete at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 13. The meet, which will determine the team and individual qualifiers for the 2026 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, will take place at Milliken Research Park in Spartanburg, S.C.

The women's 6K will begin at 10 a.m., with the men's 10K to follow at 11 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Eden Alexander

Ryann Aycock

Malachi Burnett

Eric Duncan

Michael Fritz

Ava Gordon

Rachel Hill

Edwin Kiprop

Nicholas Kiprotich

Tristian Merchant

Grattan O'Neill

Ethan Pedersen

Katrina Schlenker

Andrew Schultz

Allie Zealand

William Zealand

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