(L-R): Kellen Kimes, Joshua Smith, Patasha Bryan and Allie Zealand were voted to the CUSA All-Academic Teams for men's and women's track & field.
Liberty Track & Field Quartet Voted to CUSA All-Academic Team
6/12/2026 1:00:00 PM | Track and Field
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Four of Liberty's top student-athletes were voted to the CUSA All-Academic Teams for men's and women's track & field on Friday. The Flames' honorees for this award, which spans both the indoor and outdoor seasons, included Kellen Kimes, Joshua Smith, Patasha Bryan and Allie Zealand.
Kimes is part of the CUSA All-Academic Team for the second year in a row, becoming the first Liberty men's track & field student-athlete to make multiple appearances. A junior from Ludington, Mich., Kimes is a biomedical sciences major with a 4.0 GPA. For the second year in a row, Kimes claimed the CUSA weight throw title indoors and finished as the CUSA hammer runner-up outdoors. His program-record 70-8.5 weight throw at the Virginia Tech Challenge ranked No. 32 nationally.
A senior from South Fulton, Ga., Smith owns a 3.89 GPA as he works toward a master's degree in human performance. He triple jumped a personal-best 52-2 (No. 34 nationally) to finish as the CUSA indoor runner-up. Smith also long jumped a personal-best 23-8 at the same meet to record a fifth-place finish.
A redshirt senior from Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., Bryan boasts a 3.81 GPA as she finishes a graduate certificate in leadership. She swept the CUSA indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon titles in 2026, with the latter coming thanks to a program-record score of 5,591 points (No. 30 nationally). Bryan also helped the Lady Flames clock a program-record 3:37.45 for second place in the CUSA indoor women's 4 x 400 relay.
Zealand makes her second CUSA All-Academic Team of the year (also women's cross country) thanks to a 3.79 GPA in civil engineering. The sophomore won all five of her CUSA finals, including the indoor mile, 3K and distance medley relay and the outdoor 800 and 1,500. As a result, Zealand was named CUSA Women's Track Performer of the Meet and Women's High Point Scorer of the Meet indoors. She earned a pair of All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the NCAA indoor women's 3K final and a 16th-place showing in Thursday's NCAA outdoor women's 1,500 semifinals. Zealand also set Liberty records at three different distances during the year (indoor mile – 4:28.89, indoor 3K – 8:44.71 and outdoor 5K – 15:26.38).
Kimes is part of the CUSA All-Academic Team for the second year in a row, becoming the first Liberty men's track & field student-athlete to make multiple appearances. A junior from Ludington, Mich., Kimes is a biomedical sciences major with a 4.0 GPA. For the second year in a row, Kimes claimed the CUSA weight throw title indoors and finished as the CUSA hammer runner-up outdoors. His program-record 70-8.5 weight throw at the Virginia Tech Challenge ranked No. 32 nationally.
A senior from South Fulton, Ga., Smith owns a 3.89 GPA as he works toward a master's degree in human performance. He triple jumped a personal-best 52-2 (No. 34 nationally) to finish as the CUSA indoor runner-up. Smith also long jumped a personal-best 23-8 at the same meet to record a fifth-place finish.
A redshirt senior from Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., Bryan boasts a 3.81 GPA as she finishes a graduate certificate in leadership. She swept the CUSA indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon titles in 2026, with the latter coming thanks to a program-record score of 5,591 points (No. 30 nationally). Bryan also helped the Lady Flames clock a program-record 3:37.45 for second place in the CUSA indoor women's 4 x 400 relay.
Zealand makes her second CUSA All-Academic Team of the year (also women's cross country) thanks to a 3.79 GPA in civil engineering. The sophomore won all five of her CUSA finals, including the indoor mile, 3K and distance medley relay and the outdoor 800 and 1,500. As a result, Zealand was named CUSA Women's Track Performer of the Meet and Women's High Point Scorer of the Meet indoors. She earned a pair of All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the NCAA indoor women's 3K final and a 16th-place showing in Thursday's NCAA outdoor women's 1,500 semifinals. Zealand also set Liberty records at three different distances during the year (indoor mile – 4:28.89, indoor 3K – 8:44.71 and outdoor 5K – 15:26.38).
Players Mentioned
Heptathlon
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Throws
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Jumps
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Mid-Distance
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