Liberty redshirt freshman thrower Desmond Coleman was voted Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) University Division Men’s Outdoor Track & Field State Field Rookie of the Year on Thursday. He was also among the Flames’ 11 all-state honorees.

Coleman (throws) was one of Liberty’s four first team all-state performers, joined by Rayan Holmes (hurdles), Kevin Nedrick (throws) and Daniel Van Duren (multis).

Meanwhile, seven Flames made the second team, including John Hicks (throws), Anders Janes (jumps), Omari Lewis (sprints), Donald McClinton (sprints), Tristian Merchant (distance), Caleb Olson (distance) and Joshua Smith (jumps).

Capsules of each Liberty honoree are found below.

Desmond Coleman (Field Rookie of the Year, 1^st Team – Throws) – Coleman’s impressive redshirt freshman campaign finished up just one centimeter shy of qualifying for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the discus. He broke the Liberty freshman discus record twice, highlighted by his 194-3 effort at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier which was the nation’s top mark by a freshman in 2023. Coleman placed third in the discus and eighth in the shot put at the ASUN Championship. He was a two-time ASUN Men’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 22 and May 10) and a two-time ASUN Men’s Freshman of the Week (March 22 and March 29).

Rayan Holmes (1^st Team – Hurdles) – Holmes’ lone season as a Flame was a memorable one. His 50.27 clocking in the ASUN 400 hurdles prelims broke the Liberty, ASUN and meet records for the event. The Liberty 400 hurdles standard had been in place since 1995. Holmes raced to the ASUN 400 hurdles title and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in the event. He also led off for both Liberty relay teams at the ASUN Championship, including the conference champion 4 x 400 squad and the third-place 4 x 100 quartet.

Kevin Nedrick (1^st Team – Throws) – Nedrick capped off his collegiate career by placing fifth in the NCAA discus final with an ASUN all-time record mark of 203-2 to earn first team All-America honors. He also placed 14^th in the shot put at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet, two weeks after scoring in all three of his throws at the ASUN Championship (discus – second, shot put – third and javelin – sixth). The two-time ASUN Men’s Field Athlete of the Week (April 5 and May 3) leaves Liberty ranked No. 2 in program history for both the shot put (61-11) and discus (203-2).

Daniel Van Duren (1^st Team – Multis) – Van Duren scored a career-best 6,617 points to capture the ASUN decathlon title. That was one of his four events at the ASUN Championship, as he also took fifth in the 110 hurdles, sixth in the long jump and seventh in the pole vault.

John Hicks (2^nd Team – Throws) – Hicks narrowly missed qualifying to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the hammer, placing 14^th at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet. He was the ASUN hammer runner-up and took fifth in the discus with a personal-best 158-0 heave.

Anders Janes (2^nd Team – Jumps) – Janes finished off his collegiate career with a fourth-place showing in the ASUN pole vault competition and also anchored the Flames’ 4 x 100 relay quartet to third place. He pole vaulted a season-best 16-4.75 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Omari Lewis (2^nd Team – Sprints) – Lewis sprinted to the ASUN 100 title, placed third in the 4 x 100 relay and came in fourth in the 200 during his first year as a Flame. The Trinidad & Tobago native posted the No. 4 100 time in program history (10.28 at Liberty Twilight Qualifier) and the Flames’ No. 7 200 clocking (20.93 at VertKlasse Meeting).

Donald McClinton (2^nd Team – Sprints) – McClinton’s final collegiate season saw him capture the ASUN title and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals in his top event, the 200. He also came in second in the ASUN 100 final and placed third in the 4 x 100 relay.

Tristian Merchant (2^nd Team – Distance) – Merchant’s first season in a Liberty uniform culminated with NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round appearances in both the 5K and 10K. Making his 10K debut, Merchant raced to the ASUN title in a meet-record 29:26.15 (No. 6 in program history) before placing fourth in the 5K two days later. His personal-best 5K clocking of 13:57.34 at the Wake Forest Invitational ranks No. 7 all-time for the Flames.

Caleb Olson (2^nd Team – Distance) – Olson competed in the 10K at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet for the first time, thanks to a personal-best 29:11.84 (No. 4 in program history) effort at the Stanford Invitational. He came in fourth in the ASUN 10K final and took eighth in the 5K.

Joshua Smith (2^nd Team – Jumps) – Smith finished off an impressive freshman season by long jumping a season-best 23-2.75 for third place in the ASUN final. He also came in fourth in the ASUN triple jump competition after reaching 48-0.75 earlier in the season.