Liberty Indoor Track & Field Secure Conference Championships

Twenty-five years is an immensely long stretch of time.  Most people can realistically go from birth to job, a marriage and kids in that span of time. Twenty-five years also marks the same length of Liberty’s men’s indoor track and field’s conference championship winning streak. 

Both men’s and women’s indoor track and field won conference championships Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.

For the women, it’s their 16th title. For the men, it’s their 25th — the Flames have never not won a conference championship at the DI level.

Unparalleled dominance from former Head Coach Brant Tolsma, who served as Liberty’s head coach from 1986 to 2020, has continued with current Head Coach Lance Bingham. 

The men’s team won by a comfortable margin, beating second-place Kennesaw State by 90 points. The Flames swept meet award honors with Quinton Clay winning Most Valuable Male Performer for his wins in the long jump and the triple jump. Bingham won ASUN Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year. 

On the track, Ryan Drew won the mile with a time of 4:02.10, clocking the second fastest time in his career. Diamantae Griffin won the 200-meter dash with his time of 21.15. Lastly, Christian Lyon won the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.72, winning by .03.

The Flames also won the distance medley relay and the 4×400 relay.  

In the field events, John Hicks secured his third individual title on the weight throw while Kennedy Sauder put up an all-time performance on the high jump.

Sauder cleared 7-4.25, good for a program record and tied for the third-highest jump in the nation this season. He has likely booked himself a trip to nationals.

Bingham was impressed with the team’s overall effort following the win. 

“Coming in the meet, the guys were favored,” Bingham said. “Quinton Clay did an awesome job, but all across the board, sprinters and throwers — everyone did a good job.”

On the women’s side of things, the meet was close as the Lady Flames only won by eight points.

Adelyn Ackley repeated as 5K champion with a time of 16:54.49 while Meredith Engle won the pentathlon.

In the field events, Naomi Mojica won in shot put, her fifth conference title in a row. Grace Artis also won the weight throw with a heave of 63-10.5, notching the fourth-best finish in program history. 

Engles’ pentathlon efforts won her the Most Valuable Female Performer.

Bingham was elated with Engle’s performance. 

“The women were underdogs coming into the meet,” Bingham said. “She won the pentathlon, then came back in day two and got second in the high jump, which was huge for us.”

“I just love these kids,” Bingham said. “They went through the process and grew so much. I just love these kids.

CASH is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter