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Full Schedule
7 Flames Set to Compete at NCAA Meet in Eugene Image

7 Flames Set to Compete at NCAA Meet in Eugene

6/6/2022 12:22:11 PM | Track and Field

Meet Schedule (Times Listed in Pacific)

Wednesday Live Video (ESPN2)

Friday Live Video (ESPN2)

Women's Long Jump Live Video (ESPN3)

Men's High Jump Live Video (ESPN3)

Men's Discus Live Video (ESPN3)

Live Results

Eugene Weather

Liberty’s Ayanna Johnson (women’s long jump), Kevin Nedrick (men’s discus), Kennedy Sauder (men’s high jump) and the men’s 4 x 100 relay squad of Brandon Letts, Donald McClinton, Christian Lyon and Diamantae Griffin will compete in the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Wednesday through Friday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

The relay squad will get things started with a semifinal race, Wednesday at 7:32 p.m. Eastern. Johnson will long jump Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern. Friday’s schedule features Sauder in the high jump at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, Nedrick in the discus at 8:35 and the men’s 4 x 100 relay final at 9:02.

Liberty’s seven national qualifiers are the second most in program history, trailing only the nine athletes the Flames sent to Austin, Texas in 2019. This is the first time Liberty has qualified six men’s athletes to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames

The men’s 4 x 100 relay races will be televised live on ESPN2 on Wednesday (semifinals) and Friday (final).

Live video streaming coverage of the field events will be available on ESPN3 throughout the meet.

Live results, including lap-by-lap splits and in-progress field event updates, will be provided by Flash Results.

Weather Report

The weather in Eugene is supposed to be mostly cloudy during the meet, with high temperatures climbing from the low 70s on Wednesday to around 80 on Thursday and Friday.

NCAA Championship Event Capsules (Organized Chronologically)

Men’s 4 x 100 Relay

Event Schedule: Semifinals – Wednesday at 7:32 p.m. Eastern; Final – Friday at 9:02 p.m. Eastern

Liberty Competitors: Brandon Letts (R-Sr., Mississauga, Canada), Donald McClinton (R-Jr., Hinesville, Ga.), Christian Lyon (R-Sr., Fayetteville, N.C.) and Diamantae Griffin (R-Sr., Jackson, Miss.)

Season Best: 39.23

How They Got Here: The first time Brandon Letts, Diamantae Griffin, Christian Lyon and Donald McClinton ran a 4 x 100 relay together, they clocked a time of 39.65 at the Texas Relays on March 25. That took down the Liberty record of 39.86 that their coach (Pete McFadden) had helped set in the 1996 IC4A final, along with the ASUN Conference all-time standard of 39.68 clocked by ETSU in 2007.

Since then, the Flames have lowered both records four more times. The current Liberty and ASUN record of 39.23 was the Flames’ winning time at the ASUN Championship on May 14, where they halted Kennesaw State’s run of seven straight ASUN 4 x 100 titles. Later that day, Lyon, Letts, McClinton and Griffin went 1-2-3-4 in the ASUN men’s 100 final, all crossing the finish line between 10.33 and 10.38.

The quartet became the first Liberty men’s 4 x 100 relay squad ever to compete at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet. The Flames finished a close second to North Carolina A&T in their quarterfinal heat, becoming the first men’s relay squad in Liberty and ASUN Conference history to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The same four Flames have run the relay all eight times Liberty has contested the 4 x 100 this season. McClinton (moving from anchor to second leg) and Griffin (moving from second leg to anchor) switched places in time for the UNF Invitational on April 30.

Each member of the quartet has taken a unique route to Liberty. Lyon is in his third year in Lynchburg after beginning his collegiate career at Barton Community College. Griffin is in his second season at Liberty after previous stops at Hinds Community College and William Carey. Both Letts (previous stops at South Plains Junior College and Northwestern State) and McClinton (previous stops at Louisville and Kentucky) are in their first year at Liberty.

Event Breakdown: Liberty’s 39.38 clocking from its NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round race in Bloomington, Ind., is the 18th fastest among the 24 Eugene qualifiers. The Flames’ season-best time of 39.23 ranks 20th among the Eugene qualifiers, ahead of only Texas State (39.27), BYU (39.41), South Carolina (39.43) and Purdue (39.53).

Florida (38.47) owns the nation’s fastest time this season, while No. 2 seed Florida State (38.51) is the top returnee from the 2021 NCAA national final. The Seminoles finished third in Eugene a year ago, with defending national champion LSU and national runner-up Georgia not qualifying this season. In total, 12 of the 24 4 x 100 relay squads who will line up in Eugene have dipped under 39 seconds this season.

ASUN champion Liberty is one of 10 Eugene qualifiers which won its conference’s 4 x 100 relay title, along with USC (Pac-12), Houston (American), Virginia Tech (ACC), Florida (SEC), TCU (Big 12), Stephen F. Austin (WAC), Princeton (Ivy), North Carolina A&T (Big South) and Ohio State (Big Ten).

How the Event Will Progress in Eugene: There will be three semifinal heats of the 4 x 100 relay contested on Wednesday, with Liberty competing in the first heat. The top two teams in each heat and the next three fastest time qualifiers will advance to Friday’s final.

The top eight teams in Friday’s final will score team points and become first team All-Americans. The ninth-place team in the final and the seven fastest teams not advancing to the final will be second team All-Americans.

Last season, it took a time of 39.23 to advance to the final and a time of 39.51 to become a second team All-American.

What’s at Stake: A top-16 finish would make the Flames the first men’s 4 x 100 relay squad in Liberty and ASUN Conference history ever to earn All-America honors.

A top-8 finish would make the Flames the first men’s or women’s relay team in Liberty and ASUN Conference history ever to score team points at the NCAA Division I Indoor or Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

If Liberty runs faster than 39.23, it would break the program and ASUN Conference 4 x 100 records for the sixth time this season.

Women’s Long Jump

Event Schedule: Final – Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern

Liberty Competitor: Ayanna Johnson (R-Sr., New Oxford, Pa.)

Season Best/Personal Best: 20-8 (6.30m)/20-8 (6.30m)

How She Got Here: Johnson’s personal-best 20-8 long jump at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier on May 4 shattered the school record of 20-0.25 that Gina Gibson had held since 1984 and made her the first Lady Flame ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet in the women’s long jump.

After finishing second to Kennesaw State’s Jasmine Akins in the ASUN long jump final, Johnson and Akins posted matching marks of 19-11.5 into a headwind at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet. That made Johnson and Akins the final two women’s long jumpers to advance from Bloomington to Eugene.

Prior to this season, Liberty had never sent a women’s long jumper to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The most recent ASUN women’s long jumper to make it was Jacksonville’s Natasha Harvey in 2009.

The last time two ASUN women’s long jumpers reached the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships the same year was 2008 (Jacksonville teammates Harvey and Shaquania Lundy).

The only Pennsylvania native among the 24 women’s long jump Eugene qualifiers, Johnson is in her sixth and final year at Liberty. She missed the 2018 season due to an ACL injury and had the 2020 campaign nixed by COVID.

Event Breakdown: Some of the top long jumpers to watch in Eugene include top national seed Monae Nichols of Texas Tech (22-10.5 season best), reigning indoor national champion Jasmine Moore of Florida and the top returnee from last season, Tyra Gittens of Texas (second place).

The field includes two record holders at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex. Akins set the long jump standard of 20-10.75 at this year’s ASUN meet, while LSU’s Morgan Smalls co-holds the high jump mark of 6-0 from high school.

The only conferences with multiple Eugene qualifiers in the women’s long jump this season are the ASUN, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.

How the Event Will Progress in Eugene: The 24 long jumpers in Eugene will be divided into two flights, which will take place side-by-side, simultaneously. The top nine competitors after three rounds will earn three more attempts apiece.

The top eight finishers will score team points and become first team All-Americans, with finishers No. 9-16 earning second team All-America honors.

Last year, the eighth-place long jumper in Eugene reached 20-10.5, while 16th place measured 20-5.75.

What’s at Stake: A top-16 finish would make Johnson the Lady Flames’ first long jump All-American since Gibson at the 1984 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. It was at that meet where Gibson set the program record of 20-0.25 that stood until Johnson eclipsed it last month.

No Lady Flame has either earned All-America status or scored team points at this meet since 2016, when Ednah Kurgat came in fourth in the women’s 5K at the previous iteration of Hayward Field.

If Johnson sets a new personal best, it would eclipse her own Liberty record in the event. Jacksonville’s Harvey has owned the ASUN record at 21-5.25 since 2006.

Men’s High Jump

Event Schedule: Final – Friday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern

Liberty Competitor: Kennedy Sauder (Fr., Lauderhill, Fla.)

Season Best/Personal Best: 7-1 (2.16m)/7-4.25 (2.24m) (Indoor)

How He Got Here: Sauder burst onto the scene during his freshman indoor season, clearing 7-4.25 to win the ASUN indoor title and then tying for 13th place at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships to earn second team All-America honors.

After suffering an injury at the tail end of the indoor season, Sauder got a late start to his outdoor campaign. When he finally did get going (April 23 at the Virginia Challenge), Sauder cleared 7-1 to tie the program record set by Matt Parker in 2009 and equaled by Kyle Wheeler in 2012.

Sauder went on to claim the ASUN men’s high jump title before successfully qualifying from the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet to Eugene. Sauder made a clutch third-attempt clearance at 6-10.75 in Bloomington to stay alive in the competition before securing his Eugene ticket with a first-attempt clearance at 7-0.5.

The 7-1.75 high school high jumper became Liberty’s first freshman to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships since John Talbert in 2009 (men’s discus) and the Flames’ first men’s high jumper to make it since Parker in 2009.

Event Breakdown: The men’s high jump field in Eugene includes reigning indoor champion Vernon Turner of Oklahoma. Kansas State’s Tejaswin Shankar is the top returnee from last season, when the India native finished second.

Sauder is one of eight conference champions who will be high jumping at Hayward Field, along with Turner (Big 12), Nebraska’s Mayson Conner (Big Ten), Louisville’s Trey Allen (ACC), Princeton’s Jeff Hollis (Ivy), South Florida’s Romaine Beckford (American), USC’s Earnie Sears III (Pac-12) and Georgia’s Darius Carbin (SEC).

This will be the second time Sauder has high jumped at the new Hayward Field. He finished second at the 2021 Outdoor Nationals to Kason O’Riley. Sauder and O’Riley, who now competes for Oklahoma, are the only two freshmen who made it to Eugene in this event.

Sauder is one of two Florida natives in the field, along with South Carolina’s Jackson Marseille (Fort Lauderdale).

Sauder will get a look at future Conference USA foe Omamuyowi Erhire of Middle Tennessee on Friday.

Thirteen of the 16 men who high jumped at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham in March will be in action in Eugene this week.

How the Event Will Progress in Eugene: The 24 high jumpers in Eugene will compete together on one pit, going through the progression of 6-10.75, 7-0.5, 7-1.75, 7-3, 7-4.25, 7-5.25 and 7-6.5.

The top eight finishers will score team points and earn first team All-America accolades. The next eight athletes will become second team All-Americans.

Last season, a second-attempt clearance at 7-2.5 was necessary to become a first team All-American. A second-attempt clearance at 7-0.5 with no previous misses earned second team All-America honors.

What’s at Stake: A top-16 finish would make Sauder the first Liberty freshman ever to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships and the first Flame to earn outdoor men’s high jump All-America distinction at any level.

The top finish by a Flames men’s high jumper at this meet was a tie for 16th place by Parker in 2009 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Sauder currently shares the Liberty outdoor high jump record of 7-1 with Parker (2009) and Wheeler (2012). He also shares the Liberty freshman record of 7-1 with Wheeler.

Lipscomb’s Gemikal Prude set the ASUN all-time outdoor record of 7-3 in 2014. One year later, Prude placed 12th in the high jump at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the best national finish by an ASUN men’s high jumper to date.

Men’s Discus

Event Schedule: Final – Friday at 8:35 p.m. Eastern

Liberty Competitor: Kevin Nedrick (R-Jr., Westmoreland, Jamaica)

Season Best/Personal Best: 191-5 (58.36m)/191-5 (58.36m)

How He Got Here: A transfer from Minnesota, Nedrick is in his first year with the Flames. In just his third meet at Liberty, he unleashed a 186-3 discus at the VertKlasse Meeting on April 2, taking down the ASUN all-time record.

Although Kennesaw State’s Anthony Harrison has since pushed the conference record to 193-1, Nedrick defeated Harrison in an entertaining head-to-head duel to win the ASUN discus title in a meet-record and personal-best 191-5.

Nedrick’s 183-1 effort at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet held up as the 12th and final qualifier to Eugene. That made him the first Flame to qualify since John Talbert in 2009 and the first ASUN men’s discus thrower ever to advance to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

A versatile thrower, Nedrick was also the ASUN men’s shot put champion (60-3) and took third in the only javelin competition of his season (201-9). He also threw the shot in Bloomington, placing 18th at a season-best 60-7.25.

Event Breakdown: One of nine international throwers among the 24 discus entrants in Eugene, California’s Mykolas Alekna has taken the event by storm as a freshman. He reached a collegiate record 225-6 at Hayward Field to win the Pac-12 title.

The top three finishers from 2021 are all back, including champion Turner Washington of Arizona State, runner-up Roje Stona of Clemson and third-place Claudio Romero of Virginia.

Stona, Nedrick, Arizona State’s Ralford Mullings and Wyoming’s Nathan Reid all hail from Jamaica.

Nedrick will get to compete against former Minnesota teammate Kaleb Siekmeier on Friday, as the Golden Gopher junior was the 12th and final Eugene qualifier from the West Region.

Nedrick is one of seven men’s discus conference champions who advanced to Eugene, joining Alekna (Pac-12), Romero (ACC), Harvard’s Samuel Welsh (Ivy), Army’s Jamir Gibson (Patriot), Colorado State’s Jackson Morris (Mountain West) and Northwestern State’s Djimon Gumbs (Southland).

How the Event Will Progress in Eugene: The 24 discus throwers in Eugene will be divided into two flights, with Nedrick throwing in the first flight. After all 24 athletes have taken three throws, the top nine competitors will earn three more attempts.

The top eight finishers will score team points and become first team All-Americans, with the next eight garnering second team All-America accolades.

Last season, eighth place measured 186-6 and 16th place reached 178-7.

What’s at Stake: A top-16 finish would enable Nedrick to join Clendon Henderson (2008) as the only NCAA Division I men’s discus All-Americans in program history. Henderson finished third that season.

Henderson (204-3 in 2008) and Talbert (191-9 in 2009) are the only two Flames who have ever thrown the discus longer than Nedrick’s 191-5 at this year’s ASUN meet.

Nedrick will get one more shot this season to reclaim the ASUN all-time discus record from KSU’s Harrison (193-1).