Liberty University
ASUN Indoor Track Championships
Liberty Tops ASUN Men’s, Women’s Team Standings After Record-Breaking Friday
2/25/2022 10:43:24 PM | Track and Field
Host Liberty got off to a roaring start on the opening day of the 2022 ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships, Friday at the Brant Tolsma Indoor Track at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex. The Flames and Lady Flames both top the team standings after a day where Liberty won seven of 12 events contested and broke records in three different disciplines.
After suffering a tight defeat to Kennesaw State at this meet in 2021, Liberty leads the Owls by 15 points (87.5 to 72.5) through six of 17 women’s events. The Lady Flames’ event winners included Adelyn Ackley (5K), Grace Artis (weight throw) and Meredith Engle (pentathlon).
Chasing its fourth straight ASUN title and 25th consecutive indoor conference crown overall, the Liberty men’s squad leads Kennesaw State, 96-73, through six events. Quinten Clay (long jump), John Hicks (weight throw), Kennedy Sauder (high jump) and the distance medley relay quartet of Kyle Harkabus, Luke Anderson, Isaiah Schulties and Ryan Drew claimed event titles.
Sauder stole the show with a 7-4.25 high jump clearance which broke the ASUN all-time, meet, facility and Liberty records and is tied for No. 3 nationally this season. Clay’s 25-0.75 long jump broke the program record of 25-0.5 which had been held by James McKnight since 1994. Meanwhile, the DMR squad’s winning time of 9:52.99 bettered the meet record.
Women’s Day 1 Recap
Engle set the tone for Liberty’s successful day by becoming the Lady Flames’ first pentathlon champion. Her score of 3,896 ranks No. 2 all-time for the Lady Flames and No. 4 in conference history.
Engle’s big event was the high jump, where she pushed her personal best from 5-5 all the way up to 5-8.5. She and Bella Jackson of Lipscomb each matched the meet and facility records for the pentathlon high jump in the process.
Artis also continued her season of significant improvement in the weight throw. After entering the year with a lifetime best of 58-5.75 and without an All-ASUN medal in the event, Artis leaves as ASUN champion with a new PR of 63-10.5.
After sweeping the ASUN indoor and outdoor 5K titles a year ago, Ackley successfully defended her 5K crown on Friday. She edged out teammate Anna Hostetler for the victory, 16:54.49 to 16:54.88, as the Liberty duo finished 1-2. Prior to Friday, no Liberty women’s runner had claimed back-to-back indoor 5K conference victories since Carol Jefferson in 2006 & 2007 (Big South).
Ayanna Johnson enjoyed a successful day, long jumping 19-9.5 for second place and clocking a personal-best 7.63 to make the 60 dash final.
Freshmen Emory Pafford and Mia Bowers each cleared a season-best 12-8.25 to place second and third, respectively, in the women’s pole vault.
The Lady Flames’ distance medley relay squad of Marie Hostetler, Nimeesha Coleman, Samantha Troup and Priscillah Kiplagat was unable to earn the team’s fourth straight ASUN title. But they finished third in the No. 4 time in program history, 11:44.93.
Hostetler and Kiplagat had earlier joined Ackley in giving Liberty three of the 10 runners who qualified to Saturday’s women’s mile final.
Men’s Day 1 Recap
As he had done 13 days earlier with his then school-record 7-2.5 clearance at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, Sauder drew considerable attention toward the end of the day with high jumping exploits. The true freshman needed to fly high in order to top teammate Clay, who joined the 7-foot club for the first time (7-0.5) on his way to a runner-up finish.
After needing a third attempt to get over 7-0.5 himself, Sauder proceeded to clear 7-1.75, 7-3 and 7-4.25 each on the second try before calling it a day. The final clearance took down the facility, ASUN all-time and meet records, the latter two of which had been held by Kennesaw State’s Andre Dorsey at 7-3.75 since 2014.
Sauder became Liberty’s first freshman to win a conference high jump title since Kyle Wheeler took top honors in the Big South final a decade ago. Sauder also locked himself into a trip to the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships with Friday’s performance.
For the second year in a row, Clay’s opening attempt was good enough to win the ASUN men’s long jump title. After falling a centimeter shy of McKnight’s long-standing program record back in December at the Liberty Kickoff, Clay beat the mark by a centimeter on Friday.
Clay, who was followed in second place by teammate Jeremy Davis (24-1.75), is Liberty’s first back-to-back men’s indoor long jump conference victor since Kevin Octave in 2002 & 2003 (Big South).
Speaking of repeating, Hicks made it three consecutive ASUN men’s weight throw triumphs with a personal-best 65-0.75 mark which just missed the meet record of 65-2.75.
The Flames prevailed in the men’s distance medley relay for the second year in a row with a totally different quartet from 2021. Drew held off Eastern Kentucky on the anchor leg as Liberty cut more than four seconds off of Lipscomb’s meet record (9:57.30) from 2019. Interestingly, the Flames’ winning time from a year ago (10:24.61) would have placed last during Friday’s speedy race.
Anders Janes was in line to win the men’s pole vault with a 15-9.25 clearance before Kennesaw State’s AJ Johnson topped him with a third-attempt make at 16-1.75. Janes ended up second with freshman teammate Hunter Flack clearing a season-best 15-5.75 for third.
Reigning 5K champion Felix Kandie was in the mix throughout before ending up third in an indoor personal-best 14:14.48.
Defending champion Anthony Bryan (2,818) and Daniel Van Duren (2,781) rank 2-3 through the opening day of the heptathlon.
Bryan was one of five Flames to move on to Saturday’s 60 hurdles final, along with Anderson, Felix Lawrence, Zach Wendt and Cole Peterlin.
Liberty’s trio of Brandon Letts, Christian Lyon and Diamantae Griffin notched three of the four fastest qualifying times at 60 meters, topped by Letts’ 6.77.
Women’s Team Scores (Through 6 of 17 Events)
1) Liberty – 87.5
2) Kennesaw State – 72.5
3) Lipscomb – 24
4) Jacksonville – 23
5) Eastern Kentucky – 18
6) Bellarmine – 3
7T) Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State & North Florida – 2
Men’s Team Scores (Through 6 of 17 Events)
1) Liberty – 96
2) Kennesaw State – 73
3) North Florida – 29
4) Eastern Kentucky – 11
5T) Central Arkansas & Lipscomb – 9
7) Bellarmine – 6
Women’s Day 1 ASUN Champions
Adelyn Ackley – 5K – 16:54.49
Grace Artis – Weight Throw – 63-10.5
Meredith Engle – Pentathlon – 3,896
Men’s Day 1 ASUN Champions
Quinten Clay – Long Jump – 25-0.75
John Hicks – Weight Throw – 65-0.75
Kennedy Sauder – High Jump – 7-4.25
Kyle Harkabus, Luke Anderson, Isaiah Schulties, Ryan Drew – DMR – 9:52.99
Other Women’s Day 1 Top 3 Finishers
2nd – Anna Hostetler – 5K – 16:54.88
2nd – Ayanna Johnson – Long Jump – 19-9.5
2nd – Emory Pafford – Pole Vault – 12-8.25
3rd – Mia Bowers – Pole Vault – 12-8.25
3rd – Marie Hostetler, Nimeesha Coleman, Samantha Troup, Priscillah Kiplagat – DMR – 11:44.93
Other Men’s Day 1 Top 3 Finishers
2nd – Quinten Clay – High Jump – 7-0.5
2nd – Jeremy Davis – Long Jump – 24-1.75
2nd – Anders Janes – Pole Vault – 15-9.75
3rd – Hunter Flack – Pole Vault – 15-5.75
3rd – Felix Kandie – 5K – 14:14.48
Women’s Day 1 Record Breakers
Shared Meet Record – Pentathlon High Jump – Meredith Engle – 5-8.5
Previous Record: 5-8.5 by Katerina Vodova of ETSU in 2013
Shared Facility Record – Pentathlon High Jump – Meredith Engle – 5-8.5
Previous Record: 5-8.5 by Sarah Glidden of the Athletic Lab Track Club on Jan. 21, 2021
Men’s Day 1 Record Breakers
ASUN All-Time and Meet Records – High Jump – Kennedy Sauder – 7-4.25
Previous Records: 7-3.75 by Andre Dorsey of Kennesaw State at the 2014 ASUN meet
Meet Record – DMR – Harkabus, Anderson, Schulties, Drew – 9:52.99
Previous Record: 9:57.30 by Lipscomb in 2019
Liberty Record – High Jump – Kennedy Sauder – 7-4.25
Previous Record: 7-2.5 by Sauder on Feb. 12, 2022
Liberty Record – Long Jump – Quinten Clay – 25-0.75
Previous Record: 25-0.5 by James McKnight on Feb. 5, 1994
Facility Record – High Jump – Kennedy Sauder – 7-4.25
Previous Record: 7-3 by Tequan Claitt of Indiana Tech in 2020 and Brenton Foster of Virginia in 2019
Day 1 Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Women’s Top 10 List
Pentathlon – No. 2 – Meredith Engle – 3,896
DMR – No. 4 – M. Hostetler, Coleman, Troup, Kiplagat – 11:44.93
High Jump – No. 4 – Meredith Engle – 5-8.5
Weight Throw – No. 4 – Grace Artis – 63-10.5
Pole Vault – Tie for No. 6 – Mia Bowers – 12-8.25
Pole Vault – Tie for No. 6 – Emory Pafford – 12-8.25
5K – No. 7 – Anna Hostetler – 16:54.88
60 – No. 8 – Ayanna Johnson – 7.63
200 – No. 8 – Janai Scott – 24.54
Mile – No. 10 – Marie Hostetler – 4:54.48
Weight Throw – No. 10 – Megan Mann – 56-11.25
Day 1 Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Men’s Top 10 List
Long Jump – No. 1 – Quinten Clay – 25-0.75
High Jump – No. 1 – Kennedy Sauder – 7-4.25
Weight Throw – No. 2 – John Hicks – 65-0.75
DMR – No. 3 – Harkabus, Anderson, Schulties, Drew – 9:52.99
High Jump – No. 4 – Quinten Clay – 7-0.5
5K – No. 7 – Felix Kandie – 14:14.48
800 – No. 8 – Isaiah Schulties – 1:52.13
Weight Throw – No. 8 – Sam Mastro – 60-9.5
5K – No. 9 – Caleb Olson – 14:21.02
Up Next
The 2022 ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships will conclude with a busy day of activity on Saturday. The heptathlon 60-meter hurdles will get things started at 8:30 a.m., and the day will wrap up with the women’s 4 x 400 relay at 3:20 p.m.
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