Liberty sweeps Big South indoor track crowns

For the third straight year, both the Liberty men’s and women’s teams were victorious at the 2012 Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships. The meet wrapped up Saturday at Virginia Tech’s Rector Field House in Blacksburg, Va.

On the men’s side, Liberty scored 168 points to finish 70 tallies ahead of both Charleston Southern and Radford, which shared runner-up honors. The Flames have now won the conference title all 15 times this meet has been contested, marking the longest streak of consecutive championships in Big South Conference history, regardless of sport.

The Lady Flames withstood a strong second-day charge by Coastal Carolina to pull out a 187 to 174.5 victory over the Chanticleers. Liberty has now won 10 women’s titles in meet history, and this is the Lady Flames’ longest streak of championships since winning six in a row between 1998 and 2003.

Liberty also claimed quite a bit of individual hardware at the meet’s conclusion, including Jennifer Klugh’s second straight Women’s Outstanding Track Performer award. Flames teammates Leonard Robbins and Kyle Wheeler shared the Men’s Freshman of the Year honor.

Liberty head coach Brant Tolsma captured both the Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year awards, sharing the men’s distinction with Tim Langford of Charleston Southern. Tolsma has now collected 49 Big South Coach of the Year awards during his 26 years at the helm of the Flames.

The Flames’ Big South All-Academic Team honorees included Rachel Houseknecht and Caleb Edmonds. It was Edmonds’ second career appearance on the squad, while Houseknecht was honored for the first time.

• To read meet recaps and standings, go to www.libertyflames.com.