Host Liberty sweeps men’s, women’s ASUN Indoor Track & Field titles
February 26, 2023 : By Liberty Athletics
Hosting the ASUN Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships for the final time on Saturday, both the Liberty men’s and women’s squads claimed team titles. It was the Flames’ fifth consecutive ASUN crown, while the Lady Flames made it back-to-back championships at the Brant Tolsma Indoor Track at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.
Trailing Kennesaw State entering the second and final day of competition, the Liberty men’s team roared back to win seven of 12 events contested on Saturday. As a result, the Flames pulled out a 57-point victory (235-178) over the Owls for their 26th straight indoor conference crown overall, dating back to the inaugural Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships in 1998. Liberty has never lost a men’s indoor track & field conference meet at the NCAA Division I level and owns the longest active streak of conference titles in Division I.
Aided by Most Valuable Female Performer Calli Doan, the Lady Flames held off Kennesaw State, 171-155, for their second straight title and fourth in five years of ASUN Conference membership.
Lance Bingham was voted ASUN Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year and has now earned eight such honors in three seasons at the helm.
Doan paced all competitors, male and female, with 28 points while competing in the three longest races of the meet. The All-American clinched the Lady Flames’ team championship with her 3K victory late in the meet, coming in a program- and meet-record time of 9:24.67. She had previously won the 5K Friday evening and placed second in the mile earlier on Saturday.
Doan was one of 10 Liberty event winners on Saturday, boosting the Flames’ total to 13 first-place finishes over the course of the meet.
Omari Lewis (men’s 60, program-record 6.70) and Brendan Pitcher (men’s 800, Liberty freshman-record 1:50.94) both joined Doan in breaking records on Saturday. Other men’s champions included Anthony Bryan (heptathlon, 5,248), Prosper Ekporere (men’s 60 hurdles, 8.09), Donald McClinton (men’s 200, 21.10), Kennedy Sauder (men’s high jump, 7-2.5) and Joshua Smith (men’s triple jump, 49-7.75). Of Liberty’s seven men’s event champions, only Bryan and Sauder were active a year ago at the 2022 ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Megan Mann (women’s shot put, 48-5.5) and Makenzy Mizera (women’s triple jump, 41-5.25) won the two women’s field events contested on Saturday.
>> Read the complete report and follow the Liberty Track and Field team on LibertyFlames.com.
