Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Track & Field Coach
- Email:
- imwendland@liberty.edu
- Start Date:
- 01/02/2019
Former Liberty standout Isaac Wendland returned to the Flames as an assistant track & field/cross country coach in January 2019 before being promoted to head men’s and women’s cross country coach during the summer of 2021.
Wendland was voted CUSA Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2024 after leading the Flames to their first conference title in 11 years. Liberty then placed eighth at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships for their best regional performance in seven years.
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A number of Wendland’s athletes excelled in 2023-24. Nicholas Kiprotich qualified to the 2023 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Edwin Kiprop made an immediate impact after joining the team in January, claiming the CUSA Male Track Performer of the Meet and CUSA Male Freshman of the Meet honors indoors. Kyle Harkabus won the CUSA indoor mile and outdoor 1,500 titles and also lowered the 1,500 program record to 3:40.78.
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Wendland coached athletes to ASUN Conference success in a variety of events in 2023, as first-year Flame Brendan Pitcher won the indoor men’s 800 title, Tristian Merchant captured the ASUN 10K crown in his first try at the event and Pitcher and Ally Kipchirchir anchored the Flames to the ASUN outdoor 4 x 400 relay championship.
Under Wendland’s direction, Felix Kandie earned his second All-America honor in the steeplechase with a ninth-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Kandie also won two of the Flames’ four ASUN titles in the men’s mid-distance and distance events, while setting one of the men’s distance squad’s three school records on the year with his 8:32.95 steeplechase.
First-year Flame Ryan Drew swept the ASUN indoor men’s mile and 3K titles, headlining the distance crew’s abbreviated 2020 campaign.
During Wendland’s first track & field season on the staff, he coached Kandie (steeplechase) and Azaria Kirwa (10K) to All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
After graduating from Liberty in 2013, Wendland gained experience coaching high school runners in the Lynchburg area. For five seasons (2014-18), Wendland worked as an assistant coach for the Jefferson Forest boys’ and girls’ cross country teams.
The Jefferson Forest girls’ squad placed inside the top seven at the VHSL state meet every season Wendland was on staff. Meanwhile, the boys’ team placed fifth at the 2018 VHSL Class 4A state meet, recording the highest finish in school history.
Wendland began his coaching career at Liberty Christian Academy during the 2013-14 school year, working as an assistant cross country coach and the track & field team’s distance coach.
Wendland’s stellar senior track & field season at Liberty in 2013 took him all the way to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the men’s 1,500. That spring, he also won the IC4A men’s 1,500 title and swept the Big South men’s 800 and 1,500 crowns. Wendland was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team for the second time in his career (also 2010).
Wendland ranks among Liberty’s all-time top five performers for three different events, including the outdoor 1,500 (No. 4, 3:43.91), indoor 1,000 (No. 4, 2:24.74) and outdoor 800 (No. 7, 1:50.22). He was a seven-time All-Big South performer on the track during his career.
In cross country, Wendland played a key role on Liberty’s 2011 Big South championship team. He stepped up for an 11th-place finish with an 8K personal-best time of 25:09 at the event.
Wendland clocked 2:49:48 for his debut marathon in 2019, successfully qualifying for Boston.
A native of Charles City, Iowa, Wendland was one of the most decorated runners in Iowa high school history. The Lighthouse Academy graduate became the first male to win the Iowa state 1,600-meter title four years in a row. He also claimed three state 800 crowns, three state sprint medley relay championships and a trio of state cross country titles. As a result, Wendland was inducted into the Iowa Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2018.
Wendland graduated from Liberty in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in pastoral leadership. He served as youth pastor at Brookhill Church in Forest, Va., from 2012-18.
Wendland and his wife, Libby, reside in the Lynchburg area with their daughter, Eden and son, Asher.
