After posting a NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championship provisional qualifier in the heptathlon over the weekend, Liberty senior Daniel Newell has earned the first Big South Conference Choice Hotels Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week honor of his collegiate career.

Newell (Roanoke, Va.) scored a career-best 5,346 points to win the heptathlon at the Liberty Open and move up to No. 2 on the current NCAA national performance list. The senior outdistanced runner-up Matt Boruff of Appalachian State by 494 points, after running the 60-meter dash in 7.05 seconds, long jumping 22-3, shot putting 43-3.25 and high jumping 6-4.25 on day one. Newell then wrapped up his title by clocking 8.87 for the 60-meter hurdles, pole vaulting 14-3.25 and running 1,000 meters in 2:46.78 on the second day.

Newell has now won two heptathlon titles this season, after also finishing first at the Liberty Kickoff (Dec. 3-4). The Commonwealth native has been victorious in four of the six heptathlon competitions Liberty has hosted over the past three seasons, including two Liberty Open championships (2008 & 2009) and a pair of Liberty Kickoff crowns (2006 & 2008).

Newell and the rest of the Liberty men's and women's track & field teams will be back in action Feb. 6-7, when they travel to University Park, Pa. for the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup.