Liberty Continues to Excel in Director's Cup

July 27, 2010

|  Lynchburg, Va.

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Sam Chelanga's two national championships during the 2009-10 athletics season helped Liberty post at No. 115 finish in the annual Division I Learfield Sports Director's Cup.

Final 2009-10 Division I Learfield Sports Director's Cup Standings

For the third year in a row, the Liberty University Athletics Department posted a Top 125 finish in the Division I Learfield Sports Director's Cup, which is compiled annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

In the yearly listing, Liberty finished No. 115 out of 335 NCAA Division I programs (with 148.75 points), thanks to eight Big South Conference team titles, two individual national championships and numerous individual student-athletes who participated in the NCAA postseason in five different sports (men's cross country, men's and women's indoor track, men's outdoor track and men's golf).

This is the third-highest ranking for Liberty since NACDA started keeping the annual listing following the 1993-94 athletics season. Two years ago, Liberty finished No. 110 in the 2007-08 Director's Cup standings and No. 82 in the 2001-02 listing.

Finishing just ahead of the Flames in the annual listing were the Big East's Pittsburgh (No. 112/158.0), the WAC's Fresno State (No. 113/155.0) and the SEC's Mississippi State (No. 114/151.0), while Liberty edged out the Big East's Cincinnati (No. 116/148.0).

During the fall, Liberty captured Big South titles in men's and women's country and football and sent two student-athletes to the NCAA National Cross Country Championship. Sophomore Sam Chelanga individually bested the men's field of 250 athletes, winning by a 25-second margin to capture Liberty's second cross country individual national title in three years.

The winter months brought three more conference titles to Liberty (men's and women's indoor track and field and women's basketball), plus a fourth-straight NCAA East Regional title for its wrestling program.

Six grapplers advanced to the NCAA National Wrestling Championship in Omaha, Neb., while two track student-athletes represented Liberty at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Chelanga repeated as 5k indoor national runner-up, helping Liberty to a 26th-place finish at the indoor meet, the program's second-best finish at the national title event.

The men's and women's outdoor track and field programs completed the "Double Triple" sweep with Liberty's final Big South titles during the spring.

Four of the standout male student-athletes who helped Liberty capture all the Big South's running championships advanced to the NCAA Indoor Track Championships in Eugene, Ore., where the Flames were tied for 13th place.

Chelanga captured his second national title of the athletics season with a victory in the outdoor 10k race and a runner-up finish in the 5k event, helping the Flames secure the best team finish at the national event in program and Big South history.

Additionally, the best men's golf season in program history produced a pair of NCAA Regional qualifiers in Robert Karlsson and Max McKay. Karlsson finished tied for 24th place at the NCAA New Haven Regional, while McKay finished tied 16th place.

2009-10 Learfield Sports Director's Cup Standings

Big South Programs:
(Includes four schools with no points):
115. Liberty
136. Coastal Carolina
173. Winthrop
199. Radford
236. High Point
283. Charleston Southern
--- - Gardner-Webb
--- - Presbyterian
--- - Asheville
--- - VMI

Division I Programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia:
(Includes three schools with no points):
3. Virginia
38. Virginia Tech
93. William & Mary
115. Liberty
121. Richmond
125. Hampton
152. George Mason
153. VCU
165. Old Dominion
165. James Madison
199. Radford
--- - VMI
--- - Longwood
--- - Norfolk State

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