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Schedule

at

TRACK

at Florida Relays

Friday, March 29,

11:00 AM ET

at

TRACK

at Hornet Open

Friday, March 29,

12:00 PM ET

at

WLAX

at Stetson

Friday, March 29,

12:00 PM ET

vs

WTEN

vs Radford

Friday, March 29,

1:00 PM ET

at

TRACK

at Raleigh Relays

March 28,

Final

vs

SB

vs Louisiana Tech

March 28,

Final

2

0

vs

BB

vs Sam Houston

March 28,

Final

6

4

at

MTEN

at Florida Atlantic

March 27,

Final

4

3

Full Schedule
Saturday, April 9
San Diego, Calif.
12:30 PM

Liberty University

at

Triton Invitational

Liberty Men’s Throwers Take Center Stage in San Diego Image

Liberty Men’s Throwers Take Center Stage in San Diego

4/9/2022 11:16:40 PM | Track and Field

Liberty’s men’s throwers enjoyed a successful Saturday at the Triton Invitational. Jose Ballivian led a 1-2-3 Flames sweep of the open men’s discus, Liberty boasted the top four collegiate finishers in the men’s shot put and John Hicks moved into the NCAA’s top 25 with his big personal-best 214-6 hammer throw.

Liberty also swept both long jump titles at UC San Diego’s Triton Track & Field Stadium, courtesy of Quinten Clay (24-2.25) and Ayanna Johnson (outdoor personal-best 19-8.75). Johnson became just the third Lady Flame ever to jump six meters outdoors.

Hicks set the tone for the day during the morning’s opening event, the men’s hammer. After entering the meet with a 206-5 personal best, the Romney, W.Va., native improved it to 207-7 in round 3, 208-10 in round 4 and 214-6 in round 6. He placed fourth overall, including second among collegiate competitors, and climbed to No. 25 in the NCAA this season.

Kevin Nedrick was named ASUN Men’s Field Athlete of the Week after his conference-record 186-3 discus throw at last weekend’s VertKlasse Meeting. He reached a solid 179-10 on Saturday but was defeated by teammates Jose Ballivian (personal-best 182-6) and Beau Backes (personal-best 180-5) as the Flames swept the event’s three podium positions.

Ballivian took down his personal best which had stood since 2017, while Backes set a new personal best for the fourth consecutive meet to begin his redshirt freshman campaign. Nedrick, Ballivian and Backes now rank No. 3, 5 & 6, respectively, on Liberty’s all-time discus list and all three will be heading to the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet next month.

Warren Barrett (168-5) also set a discus personal best for 10th place, while Kyle Mitchell’s season-best 161-2 effort was good for 16th in the event.

It was Mitchell who led the way for the Flames in the men’s shot put, where they finished 3-4-5-6 behind two post-collegiate entrants. The All-American reached a season-best 60-5.25 and was followed in succession by Nedrick (58-10.75), Ballivian (season-best 56-9.25) and Barrett (56-8.5).

Other Flames to post top-five finishes on the West Coast included Felix Lawrence (second in men’s 400 hurdles, season-best 53.58), Naomi Mojica (fourth in women’s shot put, 50-10), Clay (fifth in men’s triple jump, 47-0.75) and Gabriel Willis (fifth in men’s high jump, season-best 6-7).

Women’s Event Winners

Ayanna Johnson – Long Jump – 19-8.75

Men’s Event Winners

Jose Ballivian – Open Discus – 182-6

Quinten Clay – Long Jump – 24-2.25

Other Men’s Top 3 Finishers

2nd – Beau Backes – Open Discus – 180-5

2nd – Felix Lawrence – 400 Hurdles – 53.58

3rd – Kyle Mitchell – Shot Put – 60-5.25 (1st collegiate finisher)

3rd – Kevin Nedrick – Open Discus – 179-10

New Men’s NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round Qualifiers

Beau Backes – Discus – 180-5

Jose Ballivian – Discus – 182-6

Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Women’s Top 10 List

Long Jump – No. 3 – Ayanna Johnson – 19-8.75

Updates to Liberty’s All-Time Men’s Top 10 List

Hammer – No. 2 – John Hicks – 214-6

Discus – No. 5 – Jose Ballivian – 182-6

Discus – No. 6 – Beau Backes – 180-5

Up Next

A group of Liberty decathletes and heptathletes will travel to Azusa, Calif., for the Bryan Clay Invitational, Wednesday and Thursday.