Three Liberty Track & Field student-athletes to compete at nationals

The Liberty trio of Paola Bueno (women’s hammer), Kellen Kimes (men’s hammer) and Allie Zealand (women’s 1,500) is set to compete in the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Wednesday through Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

This is the 10th consecutive season Liberty has been represented at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships and the seventh straight year a Flames thrower has qualified.

How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames

Zealand’s 1,500 races will air live on ESPN on Thursday (semifinals) and on ESPN2 Saturday (final).

Live video streaming coverage of all field events will air on ESPN+, with a dedicated stream set up for each event.

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

How He Got Here: After placing 44^th at the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet as a freshman in 2024, Kimes broke through for an 11^th-place finish this time around. His 213-4 effort in the second round in Jacksonville was sufficient to make Kimes the first Liberty sophomore men’s hammer thrower ever to reach the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Women’s Hammer – Paola Bueno (junior, Nayarit, Mexico)

**Update: Bueno reached 212-06 on her first attempt and placed 16th overall to earn 2nd team All-America honors for the second consecutive season.

Final – Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern

How She Got Here: Bueno was impressive during her three-throw series in Jacksonville, breaking her own program record in both round one (214-10) and round three (215-7). As a result, Bueno placed fifth in the competition and became the first Liberty women’s hammer thrower ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships multiple times.

Women’s 1,500 – Allie Zealand (freshman, Forest, Va.)

**Update: Zealand ran a time of 4:15.88 and placed 23rd overall in her NCAA national meet debut.

Semifinals – Thursday at 7:21 p.m. Eastern; Final – Saturday at 9:11 p.m. Eastern

How She Got Here: Zealand provided one of Liberty’s most exciting moments of the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet when she clocked a program record-shattering 4:09.76 for sixth place in her quarterfinal heat and a time qualifier to her first NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.