Liberty’s Calli Doan (10^th in women’s 6K) and Nicholas Kiprotich (16^th in men’s 10K) each earned all-region medals at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships, contested Friday at a soggy E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park. Both the Liberty men’s and women’s squads placed ninth in the final team standings.

The Lady Flames totaled 244 team points to come in ninth of 32 women’s squads for their second consecutive top-10 regional finish. Up front, No. 1 NC State rolled to its sixth consecutive regional title, 25-76, over runner-up No. 15 North Carolina.

In the men’s 10K, the Flames’ score of 289 placed them ninth among the 32-team field. It marked Liberty’s best regional performance since a sixth-place effort in 2018. In a bit of an upset, No. 12 North Carolina (61 points) and No. 19 Virginia (83 points) claimed the two automatic qualifying berths over No. 7 Wake Forest, which came in third with 88 tallies.

By virtue of their all-region performances, Doan and Kiprotich are now in the running for individual selection to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The official list of team and individual qualifiers for the 2022 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be announced Saturday at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com.

The 2022 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will take place on Nov. 19 at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla. The women’s 6K will get started at 10:20 a.m. Eastern and the men’s 10K will take place at 11:10 a.m. Eastern. Both races will air live on ESPNU.

Women’s Team Results (32 Total Teams):
1) No. 1 NC State – 25
2) No. 15 North Carolina – 76
3) No. 12 Virginia – 109
4) No. 28 Furman – 133
5) Duke – 188
9) Liberty – 244

Men’s Team Results (32 Total Teams):
1) No. 12 North Carolina – 61
2) No. 19 Virginia – 83
3) No. 7 Wake Forest – 88
4) No. 15 NC State – 96
5) Duke – 135
9) Liberty – 289

Women’s 6K Individual Results (228 Total Finishers):
1) Katelyn Tuohy, NC State – 19:49.1
2) Kelsey Chmiel, NC State – 19:58.6
3) Samantha Bush, NC State – 20:08.0
4) Tori Herman, Kentucky – 20:10.9
5) Bethany Graham, Furman – 20:11.1
10) Calli Doan, Liberty – 20:23.7 (All-Region)
35) Kayla Werner, Liberty – 21:02.4
60) Ava Gordon, Liberty – 21:32.4
72) Priscillah Kiplagat, Liberty – 21:45.2
73) Anna Hostetler, Liberty – 21:45.5
86) Marie Hostetler, Liberty – 22:01.7
98) Catherine Farrell, Liberty – 22:16.6

Men’s 10K Individual Results (217 Total Finishers):
1) Nickolas Scudder, Charlotte – 29:42.8
2) Parker Wolfe, North Carolina – 29:44.6
3) Justin Wachtel, Virginia – 29:47.7
4) Dylan Schubert, Furman – 29:50.1
5) Antonio Lopez Segura, Virginia Tech – 29:58.2
16) Nicholas Kiprotich, Liberty – 30:08.7 (All-Region)
52) Jack Cottrell, Liberty – 30:57.1
66) Kyle Harkabus, Liberty – 31:10.4
79) Jacob Hess, Liberty – 31:30.4
80) Caleb Olson, Liberty – 31:31.4
86) Landon Dinkel, Liberty – 31:45.5
122) Jeremiah Mussmon, Liberty – 32:33.7

Race Reactions

• This is the Lady Flames’ fifth top-10 regional finish in program history.
• On the men’s side, the Flames have now finished ninth or better at four of the last six regional championships.
• Doan joins her coach, Heather (Sagan) Zealand, as the only Lady Flames ever to record a pair of top-10 regional finishes. Doan came in fourth at this meet a year ago, while Zealand was eighth in 2000 and sixth in 2001.
• If Doan qualifies to Stillwater, she would join Zealand as the only Lady Flames ever to qualify for the NCAA national meet as an individual twice.
• Every Lady Flame who has previously finished 10^th or better at this meet has successfully qualified to the national championship.
• Kayla Werner (35^th overall) was the fourth-fastest freshman in the women’s 6K, while Ava Gordon (60^th) was seventh among freshmen.
• Werner’s finish was the highest by a Liberty freshman women’s runner at this meet since Ednah Kurgat took runner-up honors in 2015.
• Kiprotich is the first Flame to collect an all-region medal since 2018, when Azaria Kirwa came in seventh.
• Jacob Hess (79^th overall) and Landon Dinkel (86^th) placed eighth and ninth, respectively, among freshmen in the men’s 10K.
• Kyle Harkabus improved from 93^rd at the 2021 regional meet to 66^th on Friday.
• Kiprotich, Hess, Dinkel and Jack Cottrell each made their cross country 10K debuts during Friday’s race.