Liberty to send 18 track & field athletes to NCAA Division I East First Rounds
May 22, 2026 : By Liberty Athletics
Eighteen members of the CUSA champion Liberty men’s and women’s outdoor track & field teams have qualified for next week’s NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet (May 27-30) in Lexington, Ky. For the second time in three years, the event will take place at the UK Outdoor Track & Field Complex.
The 11 Flames who will compete in Lexington include Beau Backes (discus), Tahj Brown (110 hurdles), Christian Hicks (discus), Chase Johnson (pole vault), Kellen Kimes (hammer), Michael Long (800), Gilles Ouedraogo (triple jump), Ben Shughart (javelin), Trevor Veenstra (discus), Markus White (long jump), and Reagan Wise (pole vault).
Liberty will also send seven women to the Bluegrass State, including Isabella Frattura (javelin), Sophie Gonzalez (hammer), Mahogany Mobley (400), Alivia Rivera-Norman (100 hurdles), Katrina Schlenker (steeplechase), Bethany Tate (shot put), and Allie Zealand (1,500).
The four-day competition, which will determine the qualifiers to the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, will begin May 27 at 10 a.m. with the men’s hammer. All men’s events will be contested on May 27 and 29, with the women’s events slated for May 28 and 30. Each evening’s running events will air on ESPN+.
The 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be contested June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The top 12 finishers in each event in Lexington will advance to Eugene, along with the top 12 finishers from the NCAA Division I West First Rounds meet, scheduled for May 27-30 in Fayetteville, Ark.
