in Allen, Texas. Jill Wipperman’s sixth-place all-around performance paced the Lady Flames to a 13th-place finish at the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs national meet in Minneapolis. Liberty snowboarder Eden Jones finished fourth and Tim Steltzer won the Big Air event at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association National Championships in Idaho. For the first time last October, the men’s and women’s triathlon team was represented on the international stage when team members Joseph Anderson and Parker Spencer, along with coach Beth Frackleton, competed in the World Age Group Triathlon Championships held in New Zealand. On Sept. 21, Liberty hosted its first USA Triathlon-sanctioned event on campus.
MEN’S COLLEGIATE LACROSSE ASSOCIATION DII
JOE L COL EMAN
ATHLETIC FACILITIES Liberty’s Club Sports and NCAA programs are poised to expand as many of the facilities are set to receive upgrades and new ones are planned. Club Sports recently opened a refurbished athletic training and strength and conditioning facility and hired a new strength coach and graduate assistant athletic trainer to serve its 500-plus athletes. The building is located behind the LaHaye Ice Center, which also underwent significant offseason renovations in preparation for the season openers of Liberty’s five men’s and women’s
hockey teams and its budding figure skating and synchronized skating programs. The new Olympic Sports Complex, currently under construction below the LU Monogram on Liberty Mountain, should help teams achieve even more success in the future. That multipurpose facility will include an Olympic-sized pool and an indoor track, and will also house the wrestling and men’s and women’s gymnastics teams and support other Olympic sports.
K EVI N M ANGU I OB
CLUB SPORTS Meanwhile, Liberty’s Club Sports program, which expanded to 32 sports this summer with the addition of women’s equestrian, is also coming off an exceptional year and seeking to continue its unprecedented growth in 2013-14. The Flames had 10 men’s and six women’s teams represented at national competitions in 2012-13, with the men’s archery compound team winning a national championship at the Oct. 21-23 U.S. Collegiate Archery Association 3-D National Championships in Columbia, Mo. Liberty’s American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I women’s team finished as national runner-up to Minnesota, the previous season’s runner-up, ending the year with a 29-3 record after being ranked No. 1 in the nation for more than two months. The Flames men’s lacrosse team captured its first Southeast Lacrosse Conference tournament title and Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association Division II national tournament berth in late April. The Flames advanced to the MCLA DII semifinals in mid-May before falling to St. Thomas (Minn.), winner of four of the past five championships, 10-9 in overtime. Individually, senior 235-pound wrestler Andrew Wilson claimed a national championship and led Liberty to a repeat of its third-place team showing at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association tournament
SEMIFINALISTS
Liberty’s men’s lacrosse team captured its first Southeast Lacrosse Conference tournament title, placing them in the MCLA Division II national tournament where they advanced to the semifinals.
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