Breaking Records: Liberty Quartet Sets New ASUN-Best Time In 4×100

No record is safe for Liberty track and field this season.

Five ASUN records fell in two days as the Flames competed in the Stanford Invitational and VertKlasse Meeting at High Point University April 1-2.

A number of distance athletes traveled to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where Liberty athletes broke the ASUN records in the men’s and women’s 5K.

Adelyn Ackley ran a time of 15:54.98, chopping 15 seconds off her own record from last season. The time ranks second in Liberty history behind Ednah Kurgat, who won an NCAA title after transferring to New Mexico.

“I definitely thought it was possible this season, but I wasn’t expecting to do it in my first race back,” Ackley said.

This was her first 5K and second race of the season. 

Ackley stayed near the leaders for most of the race but put in a burst of speed in the final lap when she saw that she had a shot at breaking 16 minutes. Her last lap of 69 seconds was the fastest in the field, nearly putting her in first place.

“I almost got her (Samree Dishon) at the end, but I wasn’t quite there,” Ackley said.

In the men’s race, Ryan Drew’s time of 13:40.82 put him at third on Liberty’s all-time list behind NCAA Liberty champions Sam Chelanga and Josh McDougall and top of the ASUN.

He finished third in between a pack of four Northern Arizona University runners, a squad that has won four of the last five NCAA cross country titles.

“Going into the race I knew it was going to be fast. I was really blessed that I was able to go to that meet and get a fast time down,” Drew said.

He currently has the top time in the East Region and has almost guaranteed himself a spot at regionals.

“Right now, I’m in a good spot,” Drew said.

Felix Kandie didn’t break his own ASUN record, but he did run 8:37 in the men’s 3K Steeplechase, a time that stands as second in the NCAA and 11th in the world so far this season.

While the distance squad was running fast times out west, the men’s sprinting team set two records of its own at the VertKlasse Meeting.

The quartet of Diamantae Griffin, Brandon Letts, Christian Lyon and Donald McClinton broke the Liberty and ASUN records in the 4×100 with a blistering time of 39.44. The previous record was set just a week before at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

“The first weekend at Texas we ran 39.6, and coming into last weekend, we thought we were going to run faster because we knew what we needed to do. We just went out and executed,” Griffin said.

Before that, the ASUN record stood for 15 years while the Liberty record stood for 25 years.

Griffin is now a double record holder after he tied the conference record of 20.63 in the 200-meter in the same day.

Lyon, Letts and McClinton also joined Griffin in the finals of the 100-meter dash, putting all four guys on Liberty’s top-10 list. Griffin enjoyed training and competing with such a deep group of sprinters.

“It’s amazing knowing that you have somebody to compete with every day at practice and just turn it over to the track meet,” Griffin said.

Liberty’s next competition is at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, April 13 and 14. The Flames’ next home meet is the Liberty Twilight Qualifier May 4.

COSENTINO is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter