Women’s Cross Country Repeats as ASUN Champions, Men Finish Second

The No. 24 Liberty women’s cross country team successfully defended its title as  the ASUN  conference champions, and the men placed second at the ASUN Cross Country Championship Oct.30.

Senior Calli Doan claimed double gold for  the Lady Flames, winning her first individual cross country title in a new program-record time of 16:57.4 for the 5K.

She edged out Jacksonville’s Hayleigh Palotti, who ran 16:58.9 and finished second. Liberty junior and reigning ASUN champion (spring 2021 5K) Adelyn Ackley came in third with a time of 17:00.4.

With the help of solid frontrunning, the team posted a team score of 36, besting second place Lipscomb University by 12 points. After racing hard at the last two meets, the team made the decision to go out more conservatively in the first leg of the race, according to Doan. 

“The plan was just to stay relaxed the first two miles, to feel it out [and] see what other teams are doing,” Doan said.

This allowed for teams like Lipscomb to challenge the Flames in the team scoring momentarily, but Liberty persisted, which pleased Head Coach Isaac Wendland.

“Luckily, our girls were very strong in the last 1K and [they] really bounced back,” Wendland said.

Liberty had one other top-10 finisher in senior Anna Hostetler, who came in sixth overall. Though she has been the number five runner on the team throughout the regular season, Wendland was not surprised at her performance.

He explained that Hostetler ran well in a series of time trials in the fall of 2020 when there was no official cross country season. 

“Then in the winter, she was having some issues with running, but we knew the potential was there, and it’s just really nice to see that potential coming through,” Wendland said.

Not too far behind her was redshirt seniors Noel Palmer and Grace Dwyer, who placed 12th and 14th, rounding out the scoring five.

The team now sets its sights to the Southeast Regional Championships Nov. 12 in Louisville, Kentucky, where they will have the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA finals for the second year in a row.

To qualify for the 32-team field, teams must finish in the top two at one of eight regional meets. The remainder of the spots are determined by a committee and based on the team’s performances throughout the season.

Now sitting at fourth in the most recent regional rankings and already securing wins over other ranked teams, the Lady Flames have the resume to make a return trip to the NCAA finals. Heading into that race, the squad is only focusing on things they can control.

“You can’t control the outcome, but you can control your attitude and what your mind is focused on during the race,” Doan said.

Sometimes in cross country, things are indeed uncontrollable, as the men’s team found out when two of its runners fell in the first few hundred yards, forcing the Flames to play catch up from the start. 

This caused the Flames’ usually number three runner senior Landon Miller to finish a little further back in 19th overall.

Miller and the Flames managed to run a solid race, taking their fourth consecutive runner-up finish at conferences. North Florida defended their title, beating the Flames 55 to 41. 

Redshirt senior Felix Kandie was the first Flame across the line in sixth place with a time of 24:18.5 over the 8-kilometer race. The Flames then showed off their depth with redshirt senior Ryan Drew, sophomore Kipruto Kogei and sophomore Kyle Harkabus finishing ninth, 10th and 11th.

All things considered, the Flames performed well in a race against four other teams. Wendland was content with the result.

“I can’t say I’m disappointed by any means because we got second in the ASUN, and then we moved up a spot in the rankings. That just kind of shows how deep our conference is on the distance side,” Wendland said.

Despite placing in second place yet again, the squad still put its top four runners under 24:30 and five under 24:50. 

“After seeing all the results after the race, we were pretty happy with the outcome,” Kandie said.

Heading into regionals, the Flames now sit at seventh in the region, and according to Kandie and Wendland, the team is peaking at just the right time.

“I believe with the training we have had the past few months, we are capable of securing a really good position, which is top five,” Kandie said.

This would match the Flames’ top finish, which they attained in 2007 and 2008, while the Lady Flames are poised to break their highest finish of seventh place, also from 2007.

With the Flames competing at the same Louisville, Kentucky, cross country course from the 2007 regionals, both teams have a shot at making school history.

Cosentino is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.