Track & Field keeps winning tradition alive
Dating back to a Mason-Dixon Conference men’s indoor track & field team championship in 1987, Liberty University’s men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field squads have been nothing short of dominant at the conference level. The Flames have racked up an incredible 102 track & field conference championship trophies within four separate conferences (Mason-Dixon, Big South, ASUN, and IC4A/ECAC).
The Liberty men’s indoor track & field team has captured 25 consecutive conference titles, a streak which began with the inaugural Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships in 1998. That is the longest active streak in NCAA Division I men’s indoor track & field. Meanwhile, the Flames’ men’s outdoor track & field squad extended its streak to 15 straight conference titles with its ASUN crown in May. Liberty is tied with Oregon (Pac-12) for the second-longest active NCAA Division I men’s outdoor track & field championship run.
Liberty took seven athletes to the 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships — the second most in program history — at the University of Oregon in June. The Flames’ six All-America honors at the meet were the most Liberty has ever attained at a single NCAA Division I championship event. The record-breaking men’s 4×100-meter relay quartet of Brandon Letts, Donald McClinton, Christian Lyon, and Diamantae Griffin placed 12th nationally, becoming Liberty’s first relay squad ever to garner NCAA Division I All-America honors.
Men’s high jumper Kennedy Sauder became Liberty’s first freshman ever to become an All-American at both the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships during the same year. He was the nation’s only freshman high jumper to accomplish the feat in 2022.
Sauder, men’s discus All-American Kevin Nedrick, and women’s cross country All-American Calli Doan all return to the team this season, where they will be joined by a highly touted recruiting class.
Liberty has won 12 of a possible 14 ASUN Conference track & field titles since joining the league, and the Flames appear poised for a successful final year of ASUN membership in 2022-23. For the sixth consecutive year, the ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place at the newly named Brant Tolsma Indoor Track at the Liberty Indoor Track & Field Complex, Feb. 24 & 25.
