18 Flames Set for NCAA Division I East First Rounds

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A group of 18 Liberty track & field athletes is heading to the UK Outdoor Track & Field Complex in Lexington, Ky., for the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet. The four-day event, which will determine the qualifiers to the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, is slated for Wednesday through Saturday.

At both the Lexington and Fayetteville, Ark., sites, 48 athletes will compete in each individual event and 24 teams will race in each relay. The top 12 finishers in each event at each of the two locations will punch their tickets to the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, to be contested June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Kentucky is hosting the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet for the second time in three years and the third time overall (also 2017).

This year's meet will get started Wednesday at 10 a.m. with the men's hammer. Men's events will be contested on Wednesday and Friday, with women's events scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.

How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames
Live video streaming coverage of each day's running events will be available on ESPN+, with Noah Frary and Kelly Burke on the call. The broadcasts will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Live results, including lap-by-lap splits and in-progress field event updates, will be provided by Flash Results.

Weather Report
The forecast for Lexington calls for a high around 80 degrees each day with the highest chance of rain and thunderstorms coming on Wednesday.

This meet has historically experienced numerous delays and schedule changes due to thunderstorms, regardless of location.

NCAA First Rounds Event Capsules (Organized Chronologically)
Men's Hammer
Event Schedule: First Round – Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Liberty Competitor: Kellen Kimes (Jr., Ludington, Mich.)
Outlook: Kimes will look to make back-to-back trips to Eugene after finishing 11^th at this meet a year ago in Jacksonville, Fla. The only Liberty men's hammer thrower to make multiple NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships appearances (Jon Hart – 2007 and 2008) is also the lone Flame ever to throw the hammer longer than Kimes (222-4 in 2008 to Kimes' 221-8 at the Virginia Challenge on April 17). That effort has the two-time CUSA runner-up seeded No. 11 this year and tops among throwers from outside the Power 4 conferences. Liberty is aiming to send a men's hammer thrower to Eugene for the third year in a row, as John Hicks successfully qualified from Lexington in 2024. Kimes is one of five returning Eugene qualifiers from 2025 who will be part of Wednesday's competition in Lexington.
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three throws, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 213-2.

Men's Javelin
Event Schedule: First Round – Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Ben Shughart (R-Sr., Shippensburg, Pa.)
Outlook: Shughart advanced from Lexington to Eugene in the men's javelin in 2024 before missing the entire 2025 season due to injury. He made an incredible return to competition at the Virginia Opener on March 21, reaching a program-record and (at the time) nation-leading 253-11. However, Shughart sustained an elbow injury during that competition. Despite that most recent setback, the redshirt senior won the CUSA title with a big mark of 242-3. Seeded No. 5, Shughart will attempt to join Elliot Galeone (2010 and 2011) and Denzel Prattt (2018 and 2019) as Liberty men's javelin throwers to make multiple NCAA national appearances. A trio of CUSA throwers rank among the top 25 seeds in Lexington, also including runner-up Blake Orr of FIU (No. 14) and third-place Aidan Boyd of Kennesaw State (No. 25).
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three throws, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 221-1.

Men's Long Jump
Event Schedule: First Round – Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Markus White (Jr., Lynchburg, Va.)
Outlook: The CUSA runner-up who pushed the Liberty outdoor men's long jump record to 25-10.25 at the Florida Relays, White returns to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet for the second year in a row. He struggled to a 34^th-place finish in Jacksonville in 2025 during a competition delayed nearly five hours by thunderstorms but enters Lexington as the No. 11 seed. White had won four consecutive long jump competitions heading to the CUSA meet, where Louisiana Tech's Cobe Johnson (who will also jump in Lexington) overtook him in round six for the victory. White long jumped at the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships as a Virginia State freshman in 2024. Now he will try to become the Flames' first men's long jumper to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships since Chad Wilson in 2004.
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three jumps, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. During last year's thunderstorm delayed competition, 12^th place measured 24-6.25.

Men's 110 Hurdles
Event Schedule: First Round – Wednesday at 6 p.m.; Quarterfinals – Friday at 6:15 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Tahj Brown (Fr., Nassau, Bahamas)
Outlook: After clocking a program-record time of 13.58 to claim the CUSA men's 110 hurdles title, Brown will join Jovaine Atkinson and Prosper Ekporere (whose Liberty record he broke in Murfreesboro) as the only Liberty Flames ever to contest this event at the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet. The first freshman to claim the CUSA men's 110 hurdles crown since 2013 is seeded No. 15 this week, including second among rookies. Brown has made steady progress this season, lowering the Liberty freshman record from 13.87 to 13.81 to 13.78 to 13.75 to 13.58. The athlete who Brown edged to win the CUSA title (Louisiana Tech's Oscar Smith) was a Eugene qualifier a year ago. Three of Liberty's four previous NCAA Division I East First Rounds appearances in the men's 110 hurdles have seen the Flames reach the quarterfinals (Atkinson in 2017 and 2018 and Ekporere in 2023), but none of them made it to Eugene.
Road to Eugene: The top three finishers in each of Wednesday's first-round heats and the next six fastest time qualifiers will move on to Friday's quarterfinal round. On Friday, the top three finishers in each heat and the next three fastest qualifiers will advance to Eugene. Last season, it took 13.97 to reach the quarterfinals (following a lengthy delay and into headwinds) and 13.56 to advance to the national meet.

Men's Pole Vault
Event Schedule: Semifinals – Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Liberty Competitors: Chase Johnson (Fr., Flower Mound, Texas) and Reagan Wise (Jr., Cary, N.C.)
Outlook: First-year Flames Chase Johnson and Reagan Wise give Liberty multiple men's pole vaulters at this meet for the first time. Liberty nearly sent a trio of pole vaulters to Lexington, but Todd Benhase lost a tiebreaker for the 48^th and final spot. Johnson cleared 17-1.5 at the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic to break the Liberty freshman record of Anders Janes, the most recent Liberty men's vaulter to make this meet (2019). Meanwhile, CUSA runner-up Wise got over 17-1.5 at the Charlotte Invitational to secure his berth. No Flame has reached the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in this event since 2012, when Kolby Shepherd sailed over a program-record 17-8.5 to share fifth place. Five CUSA athletes will be part of the men's pole vault field Wednesday evening, also including conference champion Sam Crenshaw (Western Kentucky), Agustin Carril (FIU) and Simon Seid (Kennesaw State).
Road to Eugene: After opening at a height of 16-6.75, the pole vault competition will continue until all entrants have attempted at least one height and there are 12 or fewer athletes remaining. At that point, the competition will be halted and the top 12 will move on to Eugene, using a jump-off to determine the final qualifiers if necessary. Last season, a 17-9.75 clearance was necessary to guarantee national qualification.

Men's 800
Event Schedule: First Round – Wednesday at 7:50 p.m.; Quarterfinals – Friday at 7:05 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Michael Long (Jr., Sterling, Va.)
Outlook: First-year Flame Long brings positive momentum to Lexington, as his last three 800-meter finals have resulted in a pair of program records (1:48.22 at the Bryan Clay Invitational and 1:46.77 at The Hill City Twilight) and a CUSA title. Seeded No. 23, Long hopes to become the first Flame ever to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the two-lap event. Long has excelled in past championship races, including a 2024 USATF U20 800-meter crown in Eugene and back-to-back NAIA outdoor men's 800 national titles while representing Ave Maria in 2024 and 2025.
Road to Eugene: The top three finishers in each of Wednesday's first-round heats and the next six fastest time qualifiers will move on to Friday's quarterfinal round. On Friday, the top three finishers in each heat and the next three fastest qualifiers will advance to Eugene. Last season, it took 1:48.30 to reach the quarterfinals and 1:46.62 to advance to the national meet.

Women's Hammer
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 10 a.m.
Liberty Competitor: Sophie Gonzalez (R-So., Guatemala City, Guatemala)
Outlook: Even with two-time All-American Paola Bueno redshirting this season, Liberty still boasts a national hopeful in the women's hammer in the form of first-year Lady Flame Sophie Gonzalez. She is seeded No. 20 with a season best of 203-8 from the Virginia Challenge and recently placed third in the CUSA final. Gonzalez will make her second NCAA Division I East First Rounds appearance after placing 47^th as a Wake Forest freshman in 2023. Four different Lady Flames have successfully advanced to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in this event since 2012, including Melinda Bendik (2012), Jocelyn Williams (2015), Dasiana Larson (2018) and Bueno (2024 and 2025). Another mark to keep in mind is Gonzalez's own Guatemalan national record of 204-4.
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three throws, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 208-2.

Women's Javelin
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 1 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Isabella Frattura (Fr., Sparta, N.J.)
Outlook: Three-time NCAA Division I East First Rounds qualifier Addilae Watts is redshirting this season, but freshman Isabella Frattura has filled her shoes quite nicely. Frattura has twice broken Watts' program record, most recently with a 166-1 effort at the Florida Relays which has her seeded No. 24. Most recently, Frattura placed third in CUSA amongst a trio of NCAA Division I East First Rounds qualifiers from FIU (Isabell-Mary Luik, Arndis Oskarsdottir and Selena Calix). This marks the sixth straight year and the eighth time in the last nine seasons a Liberty women's javelin thrower has competed at this meet. However, Liberty has never sent a women's javelin athlete to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Lady Flames' top javelin finisher at this meet was Brenna Smith, who took 17^th place in 2017 in Lexington.
Road to Eugene: All 48 javelin throwers in Lexington will receive three attempts, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 162-2.

Women's 100 Hurdles
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 6 p.m.; Quarterfinals – Saturday at 6:15 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Alivia Rivera-Norman (Fr., Odessa, Texas)
Outlook: Rivera-Norman has enjoyed a history-making freshman season. She became the first freshman to claim the CUSA women's 100 hurdles title, doing so in a Liberty freshman-record time of 13.32 (No. 2 in program history overall). Now Rivera-Norman will become the Lady Flames' first freshman to contest the women's 100 hurdles at this meet, doing so as the No. 37 seed. No Lady Flame has ever advanced to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in this event, or even reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I East First Rounds.
Road to Eugene: The top three finishers in each of Thursday's first-round heats and the next six fastest time qualifiers will move on to Saturday's quarterfinal round. On Saturday, the top three finishers in each heat and the next three fastest qualifiers will advance to Eugene. Last season, it took 13.30 to reach the quarterfinal round and 13.14 to qualify for the national meet.

Women's 1,500
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Quarterfinals – Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Allie Zealand (So., Forest, Va.)
Outlook: After qualifying to Eugene in the women's 1,500 as a freshman, Zealand is back and looking to cap off a spectacular sophomore year with another trip to Oregon. She previously earned All-America honors in cross country (21^st place) and the indoor 3K (fifth place) this year. Zealand's current outdoor campaign has seen her break the long-standing Penn Relays record and the program record with a 15:26.38 in her track 5K debut, lower her 800 personal best to 2:04.17 (No. 2 in program history) and sweep the CUSA 800 and 1,500 crowns. Zealand is seeded No. 11 in this event with her season best of 4:10.57 from the Bryan Clay Invitational and is one of three returning 2025 Eugene 1,500 qualifiers in this year's Lexington field (also top seed Salma Elbadra from South Carolina and Charlotte Tomkinson of Georgetown).
Road to Eugene: The top five finishers in each of Thursday's first-round heats and the next four fastest time qualifiers will move on to Saturday's quarterfinal round. On Saturday, the top five finishers in each heat and the next two fastest qualifiers will advance to Eugene. Last season, it took 4:17.25 to reach the quarterfinal round and 4:10.92 to qualify for the national meet. Zealand clocked a program-record 4:09.76 in the 2025 quarterfinals to eclipse her mother and coach's (Heather Sagan Zealand) record and grab a time qualifier to Eugene.

Women's Shot Put
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Bethany Tate (So., Odessa, Texas)
Outlook: A year after narrowly missing this meet as a freshman, Tate will make her NCAA Division I East First Rounds debut thanks to a personal-best 52-1 shot put at the Florida Relays. The CUSA indoor shot put champion and outdoor runner-up is seeded No. 32 in the 48-member field as the first Lady Flame to shot put at this meet since 2022 (Naomi Mojica). No Liberty women's shot putter has ever advanced to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Chelsea Igberaese (19^th place in 2021) came the closest to doing so.
Road to Eugene: All 48 women's shot putters in Lexington will receive three attempts, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 55-2.75.

Women's 400
Event Schedule: First Round – Thursday at 7:25 p.m.; Quarterfinals – Saturday at 6:50 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Mahogany Mobley (R-Sr., Hampton, Ga.)
Outlook: Mobley's NCAA Division I East First Rounds debut in the 400 will come at a familiar venue, as she began her collegiate career at Kentucky. Mobley raced to a 52.76 clocking at the Florida Relays, shattering Ty'Asia Dansbury's program record from 2019. Now Mobley will be the first Lady Flame to race the 400 at this meet since Dansbury in 2019, getting in as the No. 41 seed after several athletes ahead of her scratched. Mobley placed third in the CUSA women's 400 final earlier this month, and each of the two women who defeated her will race in Lexington (champion Jamara Patterson of Louisiana Tech and runner-up Agu Chidinma of Middle Tennessee). Mobley competed at last year's NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet in Jacksonville, helping the Lady Flames lower the 4 x 100 relay program record to 44.49.
Road to Eugene: The top three finishers in each of Thursday's first-round heats and the next six fastest time qualifiers will move on to Saturday's quarterfinal round. On Saturday, the top three finishers in each heat and the next three fastest qualifiers will advance to Eugene. Last season, it took 52.71 to reach the quarterfinal round and 51.94 to qualify for the national meet. Mobley will attempt to become the first Lady Flame ever to make the women's 400 quarterfinals at this event.

Men's Discus
Event Schedule: First Round – Friday at 1 p.m.
Liberty Competitors: Christian Hicks (R-Sr., Romney, W.Va.), Beau Backes (R-Sr., Lindstrom, Minn.) and Trevor Veenstra (So., Lynnville, Iowa)
Outlook: For the fourth time in the last five years, Liberty will bring a trio of men's discus throwers to the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet. That ties Alabama and Charlotte for the most men's discus qualifiers to this year's NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet. Christian Hicks and Beau Backes will become the first two Liberty men's athletes to throw the discus at this meet four times. The only other three Liberty men's athletes to qualify for the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet four times (Ryan Smith – shot put, 2010-13, Denzel Pratt – javelin – 2016-19 and John Hicks, hammer – 2021-24) all successfully advanced to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships as seniors. Christian Hicks nearly made it to Eugene a year ago before being relegated to 13^th place following the final discus throw of the NCAA Division I East First Rounds competition in Jacksonville. He enters as the No. 14 seed this time around on the strength of a personal-best 194-7 mark from the Virginia Challenge. Backes, whose best previous finish at this meet is 28^th place in 2025, has posted personal bests in each of his last two competitions including a 182-0 heave at the CUSA meet. Trevor Veenstra rounds out the Flames' trio. He was the 48^th and final competitor to get into the NCAA Division I East First Rounds field, needing a pair of scratches to make it. He reached a personal-best 178-3 to win the Penn Relays college section. Hicks (first place), Backes (second) and Veenstra (third) produced the first 1-2-3 CUSA men's discus podium sweep in the meet's 30-year history, earlier this month.
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three throws, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 186-0, and seven of the 12 Eugene qualifiers from 2025 return.

Men's Triple Jump
Event Schedule: First Round – Friday at 6 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Gilles Ouedraogo (Jr., Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)
Outlook: First-year Flame Gilles Ouedraogo has only taken five triple jump attempts since placing 12^th in the event at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. However, the small workload has been sufficient to win both the Penn Relays and CUSA titles with matching program-record 52-4.5 efforts. That has the Burkina Faso native seeded No. 11 for his NCAA Division I East First Rounds debut. Ouedraogo will look to become the first Liberty men's triple jumper to advance to Eugene since 2018 (Darrel Jones). Ouedraogo, Kentucky's Theo Mudzengerere and Ole Miss' Sterling Scott are the only three triple jumpers from this year's NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships who will be competing in Lexington on Friday.
Road to Eugene: All 48 athletes in Lexington will take three attempts, with the top 12 finishers advancing to Eugene. Last year, 12^th place measured 51-10.

Women's Steeplechase
Event Schedule: Quarterfinals – Saturday at 5:40 p.m.
Liberty Competitor: Katrina Schlenker (Sr., Batavia, Ill.)
Outlook: Schlenker will race in the women's steeplechase at this meet for the second year in a row, joining former teammate and All-American Calli Doan as the only Lady Flames ever to make multiple NCAA Division I East First Rounds appearances in this event. Schlenker clocked a then personal-best 10:15.75 for 21^st place last year in Jacksonville. The senior has bettered that time during all three of her steeplechases in 2026, headlined by a personal-best 10:06.44 clocking at the Bryan Clay Invitational (good for the No. 27 seed) and a 10:10.76 for the CUSA runner-up spot, despite a fall on the next-to-last lap. Schlenker's senior outdoor campaign has also featured personal bests in the 1,500 (4:22.76) and 5K (16:27.14). She will battle a field which includes 14 steeplechasers who have dipped under 10:00 this season. That includes CUSA third-place finisher Madison Seiler of Kennesaw State.
Road to Eugene: Saturday will feature three heats of the steeplechase. The top three finishers in each heat and the next three fastest time qualifiers will punch their tickets to Eugene. Last season, a time of 10:01.65 was necessary to guarantee national qualification.

Schedule

18 Flames Set for NCAA Division I East First Rounds

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Players Mentioned

Beau Backes

Todd Benhase

Tahj Brown

Paola Bueno

Isabella Frattura

Sophie Gonzalez

Christian Hicks

Chase Johnson

Kellen Kimes

Michael Long

Mahogany Mobley

Gilles Ouedraogo

Alivia Rivera-Norman

Katrina Schlenker

Ben Shughart

Bethany Tate

Trevor Veenstra

Addilae Watts

Markus White

Reagan Wise

Allie Zealand

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