Five Flames and Lady Flames earn All-America status at outdoor track & field nationals
June 13, 2026 : By Liberty Athletics
Five Liberty University Track & Field student-athletes earned All-America honors at the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., this past week, eclipsing the previous program record of four All-Americans in 2019.
Markus White (first team) finished fifth place in men’s long jump; Ben Shughart (second team) finished ninth in men’s javelin; Katrina Schlenker (second team) finished 13th in women’s steeplechase; Allie Zealand (second team) landed in 16th place in the women’s 1,500; and Christian Hicks (second team) closed out Liberty’s stay at nationals on Friday at 10th place in discus.
All but Zealand collected their first career NCAA Division I All-America honors in Oregon. White (26-0.25 long jump) and Schlenker (9:45.90 steeplechase) each broke program records.
The Liberty women’s outdoor track & field team closed out its season on Thursday. Schlenker was the closest of the two Lady Flames to qualify for Saturday’s final, as the senior’s 9:45.90 effort fell just nine hundredths of a second behind the last time qualifier (BYU’s Raygan Dimond, 9:45.81). Liberty has now boasted a women’s steeplechase All-American in three of the last four years, following Calli Doan’s honors in 2023 and 2024. On Thursday, Schlenker shaved four seconds off Doan’s program record of 9:49.54 from the 2024 NCAA final on the same Hayward Field track. She wrapped up her four years as a Lady Flame with a pair of memorable steeplechase races. After entering the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet ranked No. 44 nationally at 10:06.44, Schlenker blazed a 9:50.85 in Lexington to punch her ticket to Eugene. She then trimmed off five more seconds with her record-breaking 9:45.90 performance on Thursday.
Zealand ran aggressively during her second consecutive NCAA women’s 1,500 semifinal appearance, leading for much of the first three laps. She ended up eighth in her section and 16th overall in 4:11.21, improving upon her 23rd-place showing a year ago as a freshman. Her All-America distinction was the third of her stellar sophomore campaign, following a 21st-place finish in cross country and a fifth-place showing in the indoor 3K final. She joins Ednah Kurgat (2015-16) as the only Lady Flames ever to become NCAA Division I All-Americans in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field in a single year.
On the men’s team, White’s long jump effort on Wednesday earned four team points for Liberty. That put the Flames in a tie for 47th place with Appalachian State, Samford, and Wisconsin in the final men’s team standings. Making his NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships debut, White quickly made his presence known. The junior from Lynchburg reached a wind-aided 25-5.5 on his first attempt, a mark which ultimately secured him a spot in the nine-member final. White then improved to 26-0.25 on his opening long jump of finals (round four), catapulting from eighth place to his fifth. That clutch effort added two inches to White’s own Liberty record of 25-10.25, which won him the Florida Relays title on April 3. White remained in fifth place the rest of the way, becoming Liberty’s first-ever NCAA Division I long jump All-American (men or women). White is now a three-time All-American for his career, also including a pair of NCAA Division II long jump All-America trophies he collected as a Virginia State freshman in 2024.
Shughart recorded the best-ever showing by a Liberty men’s javelin thrower at this meet. He overcame a considerable amount of adversity to make his second appearance there in three years, including a torn labrum during his last trip to Eugene (2024 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where he placed 21st) and a torn UCL in his right (throwing) elbow during this year’s season opener on March 21. All six of Shughart’s javelin attempts on Wednesday landed past the 70-meter arc, including a 242-6 heave in round two (his longest since suffering the elbow injury). That mark sent the redshirt senior from Shippensburg, Pa., to finals. After arriving at Liberty as a walk-on with a high school personal best of 159-5, Shughart leaves as an All-American with the program record of 253-11, a pair of CUSA titles and the 2024 NCAA Elite 90 Award to his credit.
Hicks reached 197-1 on the second attempt of his NCAA national debut, adding 2.5 feet to his previous personal best and becoming the fourth Flame ever to throw the discus over 60 meters (60.09, to be exact). The Romney, W.Va., native nearly made the final but was bumped out of ninth place by USC’s Mico Lampinen on the penultimate throw of Flight 2. He finished 11th at the NCAA Division I East First Rounds meet in Lexington two weeks earlier and joins Clendon Henderson and Kevin Nedrick as Liberty men’s discus throwers who have earned NCAA Division I All-America honors.
Gilles Ouedraogo also competed for the men’s team on Friday, triple jumping 51-2.25 for 20th place, the best-ever finish by a Liberty men’s triple jumper at this meet. The Burkina Faso native finishes his first year at Liberty as an indoor triple jump All-American, the CUSA indoor and outdoor triple jump champion, and the indoor (53-1) and outdoor (52-4.5) program record holder for the event.
Liberty’s 2026 outdoor track & field season is officially complete, but a number of current and future Flames will participate in meets this summer. One of the first meets on the summer docket is the 2026 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, slated for June 18-19 at Hayward Field.
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