Liberty University
Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup
Flames 4th, Lady Flames 9th at Penn State
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
In Liberty's first team-scored competition of the 2010-11 indoor track & field season, the men's squad placed fourth and the Lady Flames came in ninth at Saturday's Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. Individual highlights included two event victories, three IC4A qualifications and an ECAC qualification.
Aided by Anthony Bryant's high jump victory and Ryan Smith's triumph in the weight throw, the Liberty men's squad racked up 63 points on the day. The Flames finished just one point behind third-place Princeton. Everyone was chasing the host Penn State squad, which won the 11-team event with 171 points.
The Nittany Lion women were also victorious, defeating runner-up Cornell, 154 to 130.5. Further down in the standings, a Big South Conference battle was taking place. Coastal Carolina ended up getting the best of the Lady Flames, scoring 32.5 points for eighth to Liberty's 27 points for the ninth position.
Men's Meet Recap
Bryant and Smith highlighted Liberty's strong effort in the men's field events. The Flames recorded top-five finishes in the long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot put and weight throw.
Bryant did not miss a single high jump attempt through his winning height of 6-10.25. He equaled his season-best clearance and became a two-time Sykes-Sabock high jump champion. Bryant also won the event in 2009.
Complementing Bryant's effort in the high jump were those of Clarence Powell and Taylor Schmidt. Powell tied for sixth at 6-6.25, while Schmidt shared eighth place at 6-4.25.
Bryant also led Liberty's 3-4 finish in the triple jump, thanks to a 48-2 leap. Teammate Chris Johnson hopped, skipped and jumped to fourth place, sailing out to an indoor personal-best distance of 48-0.5. Johnson is now tied with L.G. Parrish for fifth place on Liberty's all-time indoor triple jump list.
Johnson's brother Aaron Johnson added a fifth-place finish in the long jump, leaping 23-2.5. Kevin Reddington followed in eighth place at 23-0.5.
Smith had a successful day in the throwing events, recording indoor personal bests in both of his disciplines. His winning weight throw of 61-1.25, which came on his sixth and final attempt, added nearly three feet to his previous best. Smith is the fourth Liberty weight thrower ever to reach the 60-foot mark.
Smith's 57-1.5 shot put also came on his sixth throw, placing him fifth in a very competitive event.
Despite all of Liberty's fine accomplishments in the field events, all three of the Flames' new IC4A qualifiers came from running events.
The redshirt senior distance duo of Evans Kigen and Josh Edmonds both hit the IC4A standard in the 3K, placing fourth and sixth, respectively. Kigen ran an 8:22.66, while Edmonds sliced his personal best from 8:40.16 all the way down to 8:26.55.
Jacey Bailey raced to an indoor-personal best 200-meter time of 22.21, accounting for Liberty's other IC4A qualification. The effort netted 12th place in the event.
The Flames' other noteworthy efforts came in middle-distance events. Taylor Courtney came in second in the 600-meter run, at 1:20.28. Meanwhile, Isaac Wendland's personal-best 4:16.95 mile clocking earned an eighth-place finish in the event and the No. 10 spot on Liberty's all-time mile list.
Women's Meet Recap
The Lady Flames found their greatest success in the mid-distance and distance events, thanks to the All-Big South cross country trio of Jennifer Klugh, Hailey Neal and Dacia Bushman.
Klugh qualified for the ECAC Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in a third event, after placing third in the mile at 4:57.33. The junior had previously qualified in both the 3K and 5K events.
Neal's personal-best 5:00.07 just missed the ECAC mile standard, but placed her sixth in the event and sixth in Liberty women's track & field history.
Bushman competed in the 5K Saturday, taking home a third-place finish in a personal-best time of 17:37.42. The senior now sits No. 7 in program history for the 5K distance.
Also moving up to No. 7 in program history in their respective events were Alyssa Pegues in the 200-meter dash (25.26) and Rachel Barnes in the shot put (40-7). Pegues came in 15th in the 200, while Barnes' shot put was good for the 10th position.
Mia Aghaji finished up third in the triple jump, stretching the measuring tape to an indoor personal-best distance of 39-3.25. She also shared seventh place in the high jump with freshman teammate Kristen Willeford. Both Lady Flames were able to clear 5-3 on Saturday.
Krystle Matthews added more than 200 points to her previous season-best pentathlon total. Her score of 3,244 netted a fourth-place finish.
Liberty athletes will compete in three different meets next weekend. The Flames will host their final home indoor meet of the season, the Liberty Quad, Friday at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center. The one-day meet will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Some of the Flames' top distance runners will venture to Washington's 307-meter track for the Husky Classic. The meet at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle, Wash., will include both Friday and Saturday events.
Other Liberty competitors will take part in the prestigious Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
