Liberty Track and Field Hosts Brant Tolsma Invitational, Secures Six Event Titles

Liberty University’s Track and Field team held the fifth annual Brant Tolsma Invitational Jan. 23-25, securing six event titles and delivering powerhouse performances. The Brant Tolsma Indoor Track at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex bustled with energy as the Liberty Flames hosted 33 colleges, universities and club teams for the three-day competition.
Thursday’s multi-event competition saw sophomore Paige Greenhagel finish sixth in the pentathlon securing 3,366 points. Greenhagel earned personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.51 seconds and the shot put, throwing a 32-4 3/4.
After day one of the heptathlon, sophomore Hunter Bleam sat in third place overall, thanks to a dominating 43-7 shot put performance. Bleam wrapped up the event on Saturday in fourth overall with a personal best score of 4,940. Liberty’s redshirt freshman Samuel O’Regan placed ninth with 4,658 points.
On day two of the invitational the Flames saw performances from the men’s and women’s weight throwers. Freshman Kellen Kimes secured his first collegiate victory with a 61-2 1/4 fifth-round effort. Junior Paola Bueno led the Lady Flames, finishing third overall with 60-5 1/4.
In a tight competition, redshirt junior Emory Pafford added another win for the team, claiming victory in the women’s pole vault section B clearing a season-best 11-5 3/4 on her first attempt. In women’s long jump, redshirt junior Meredith Engle leaped to a personal-best 18-11 1/4 to finish fourth.
On the track, sophomore Revell Webster made his season debut clocking a notable 21.43 in the 200-meter race. Webster took second place losing only to Liberty’s Troy McKnight, competing unattached, in a thrilling race.

Photo by Stephen Swiston | Liberty Champion
Building on the performances from the day before, Liberty closed out the invitational with four event wins on Saturday. In the women’s 60-meter hurdles redshirt senior Indea Cartwright defended her title with ease earning a time of 8.39 seconds. Cartwright pulled ahead of her competitors beating High Point’s Lindsay Cooper by .32 seconds.
Redshirt senior Kate Goodyear also repeated her 2024 Brant Tolsma Invitational victory, taking first place in the 800. In the home stretch of the race, Goodyear pulled ahead of the pack, clocking 2 minutes 11.46 seconds to solidify her win.
Defending Conference USA women’s 60 champion junior Reese Webster made her anticipated season debut finishing third in the finals with 7.38 seconds in front of the roaring crowd. Despite her second-place finish in the preliminary round, Webster was bested this time by Lenoir-Rhyne’s Alexis Brown, running 7.34 seconds, and Nike Elite’s Dana Wilson, who now holds the meet and facility record of 7.28 seconds.
“Heading into finals, I wanted to execute but also run faster than my prelim time. It wasn’t my best day in general, but I tried hard to not let it translate into my craft,” Webster said. “I was thankful I was able to push through adversity and come out with a better finals time.”
Webster’s final time made her one of three runners at the invitational to break the previous meet record time of 7.41 seconds.
“Competition is always welcome. It pushes you to be better,” Webster said. “Fortunately for them I was off my guard and was not mentally there today, but moving forward I know now nothing could break me, and I’ll always show up.”
On the men’s side, freshman Jack Holub took the win in the men’s mile in 4:15.64 narrowly beating Georgetown Running Club’s Daniel Ferrante. Fellow Flame, redshirt junior Kyle Thrush, took fourth place in the mile, running it in 4:17.46. Holub is one of many freshmen who are making their marks in the CUSA and Liberty record books.

Photo by Stephen Swiston | Liberty Champion
“We’ve got a lot of good young athletes that are competing well,” Head Coach Lance Bingham said. “For them, a lot of the time it’s just figuring out this is college. It’s a little different mindset. … It’s good that they’re kind of getting acclimated to that.”
In men’s shotput, freshman Trevor Veenstra claimed second place at 52-11, to earn his second top-three finish of the meet. Redshirt junior Christian Hicks took fourth place with a personal best of 50-10.
In a close contest, junior Joshua Smith claimed a dramatic victory in the men’s triple jump, with a leap of 49-2 1/2 on his final attempt. In their final attempts, Smith narrowly beat Virginia Commonwealth University’s Isaiah-Taji Kargbo-Owens by one centimeter.
The Flames will split up next weekend between two meets. The sprinters and hurdlers will travel to Clemson, South Carolina to compete in the Bob Pollock Invitational while the rest of the team will head to University Park, Pennsylvania for the Penn State National Open. Both meets are set for Jan. 31-Feb. 1.
Pais is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.