Men’s Track And Field Wins Third Consecutive ASUN Title, Women Finish 2nd

After a two-day long meet Feb. 26 and 27, the Liberty men’s track and field team emerged as the 2021 ASUN Indoor Track & Field champions for the third consecutive year, continuing its domination of the ASUN since Liberty moved into the conference. However, the Lady Flames finished in second place behind second-time winners Kennesaw State. 

After the first day of the meet, both the men’s and women’s teams enjoyed comfortable leads against Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, and Bellarmine. The men’s team led all competitors by at least 28 points and never looked back. 

This outstanding performance came from a variety of athletes. Ryan Drew was one of those athletes, winning the men’s 3k for the second consecutive year with a personal best time of 8:13:56. 

“It’s just a big blessing to come back and be a repeat ASUN champion under the circumstances that have been going on with the pandemic,” Drew said. “I’m just super happy for my team to be where we are, and I couldn’t be more grateful for my coach for training me.”

Sophomore Quinton Clay had a spectacular performance in the men’s long jump. On his very first collegiate long jump attempt, Clay soared for a mark of 23-7.5. That jump alone was good enough for him to win the ASUN long jump title.

“I’ve only practiced this three or four times total throughout my entire career – I am mainly a high jumper,” Clay said. “This really came out of nowhere. I got into this event to really just get points for my team and represent the Lord. So, the fact that I got gold is out of this world.”

Clay would go on to place third in high jump, and with that outstanding performance he would be voted Co-Most Valuable  Male Performer for the meet, alongside Lipscomb’s Jonathan Schwind.

 The first day of the meet the Lady Flames were firing on all cylinders, and they would shatter seven records by the end of the night. 

Senior Naomi Mojica led the charge for the Lady Flames, throwing for her indoor personal-best mark of 51-5 in shot put, which ended up being a championship meet record and an ASUN all-time record. She also placed third in the weight throw, scoring 16 points by herself.

However, the tides turned on the second day of the meet. After the women’s 400-meter dash, the Kennesaw State Owls pushed forward to take the lead from the Lady Flames. But following Adelyn Ackley’s victory in the women’s 5k, which set a new meet record, however, the Lady Flames were within one point heading into the last event: the 1600-meter relay.

Coming into the event the Lady Flames were ranked third behind Bellarmine and Kennesaw State. As the relay started, the Liberty Indoor Track Complex erupted with clapping and cheering from the other Lady Flames and spectators. Unperturbed, however, Kennesaw State held on to win the women’s championship. 

Although the Lady Flames were runners-up, Liberty Head Coach and ASUN Coach of the Year Lance Bingham was still very satisfied with his team’s effort.

“I’m really excited because we’re really embracing the mission and vision of the team, which is honoring Christ, and I feel like we are doing that every day,” Bingham said. “So, we just have to keep that focus going into the outdoor season, and I think we’ll be in a very (good) position.”

Emmanuel Adamson is a Social Media Manager. Follow him on Twitter at @Eadamson12.