Liberty University’s NCAA Division I athletics program is consistently a leader in the Big South Conference (BSC) — and the 2015-16 school year was no exception.
By winning the George F. “Buddy” Sasser Cup, awarded annually to the most successful BSC athletics program, the Flames regained the all-time lead for most Sasser Cups in conference history with 12.
The Sasser Cup, awarded in June, is based on a points system for both regular-season and tournament finishes in each of the league’s 19 championships. Liberty secured its 12th cup by capturing six BSC championships on the year: men’s golf, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field.
With the Sasser Cup, the Liberty University Athletics Department swept all three year-ending awards, including the Women’s All-Sport Award (the third time for Liberty) and Men’s All-Sport Award.
Student-athletes continue to set the bar high in competition and in the classroom, taking the conference’s top academic honors.
Read the full list of Liberty’s Big South accolades below. Follow the Flames at LibertyFlames.com.
Flames Football sets program standards
Frankie Hickson (No. 23), a redshirt freshman running back. (Photo by Nathan Spencer)
Flames Football has experienced increasing levels of success in the conference ranks, winning at least a share of the Big South regular-season titles in seven of the past nine seasons.
In 2014, Liberty upset Coastal Carolina, the No. 1-ranked team in the FCS, earning the conference’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs for the first time and winning its first playoff game over host James Madison University. Head Coach Turner Gill, now in his fifth season at the helm, was named the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) Coach of the Year after that season.
Men’s, Women’s Track & Field teams are perennial champions
Liberty’s men’s outdoor track & field team celebrates its 21st Big South Championship title in May. (Photo by Kevin Manguiob)
The Flames extended impressive winning streaks in track & field under Head Coach Brant Tolsma, who has won 26 men’s and 17 women’s BSC Coach of the Year awards for indoor or outdoor track. Liberty’s men’s indoor team secured its 19th consecutive BSC Championship crown in February. As host of the May 10-12 BSC Championships, the men’s outdoor team stretched its streak of titles to 10 and brought its total to 21 in the past 23 years.
The women’s outdoor track & field team celebrates its own championship (win No. 19) at the conference title meet held at Liberty. (Photo by Kevin Manguiob)
The Lady Flames also swept indoor and outdoor championships, winning their 11th overall indoor title and first since 2012 before defending their outdoor crown to bring the total to 15.
Liberty’s men’s cross country teams have also garnered 15 conference trophies since 1991, including nine in a row from 2005-13.
Individually, cross country runner Ednah Kurgat was selected as the 2015-16 Big South Women’s Runner of the Year after capturing three BSC titles and setting five school records. She was Liberty’s and the conference’s first runner to earn NCAA Division I All-America honors in cross country, indoor, and outdoor track & field in the same athletic year. She also became Liberty’s first female since Megan Frazee in 2009 to earn the Big South Female Athlete of the Year award.
Liberty leads in academic honors
Ashley Rininger (’14,’15,’16) Big South Female Scholar Athlete of the Year (Photo by Kaitlyn Johnson)
As a whole, Liberty’s Athletic program led all Big South schools with 239 student-athletes named to the 2015-16 Big South Presidential Honor Roll by maintaining a grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale) for the recently completed academic year. It also led the conference with 23 student-athletes who maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA.
On that note, Liberty has received a record 20 George A. Christenberry Awards, the highest academic honor given to Big South senior student-athletes who have maintained perfect 4.0 GPAs throughout their collegiate careers.
Lady Flames graduate forward/center Ashley Rininger became the Big South’s first-ever three-time Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award winner for women’s basketball.
Based on her performance both on the basketball court and in the classroom, she was also selected as Liberty’s fifth Big South Woman of the Year, automatically nominating her as a candidate for the NCAA Division I Woman of the Year award (this had not been announced at the time of publication). Rininger graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2014 and a master’s degree in human services counseling, specializing in crisis response and trauma, in 2015. She recently completed her Master of Science in Criminal Justice.
Winning seasons are a hallmark of Lady Flames Basketball
Head women’s basketball coach Carey Green has been named Big South Coach of the Year five times. (Photo by Mitchell Bryant)
The women’s basketball team won 20 games or more for the 15th time in Head Coach Carey Green’s 17 seasons at the helm, narrowly missing its 17th BSC Championship with a double-overtime loss to tournament host UNC Asheville in the final in
early March.
At an awards banquet in 2009 celebrating the conference’s first 25 years, Liberty received the Best Achievement award for its 10 consecutive Big South women’s basketball titles from 1996-97 through 2005-06. The Lady Flames claimed their 16th championship in 2015 before falling to the University of North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Division I Tournament, 71-65.
Green, a five-time BSC Coach of the Year and four-time VaSID Coach of the Year in women’s basketball, has guided the Lady Flames to 13 NCAA tournaments in 17 seasons.
BIG SOUTH AWARDS
Men’s basketball Head Coach Ritchie McKay received BSC Coach of the Year accolades in March. (Photo by Joel Coleman)
SASSER CUP 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2015-16
WOMEN’S ALL-SPORTS AWARD 2007-08, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16
MEN’S ALL-SPORTS AWARD 2003-04, 2004-05, 2007- 08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2015-16
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
BASEBALL 1993, 1998, 2000, 2013
MEN’S BASKETBALL 1993-94, 2003-04, 2012-13
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
FOOTBALL 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014
GOLF 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
MEN’S SOCCER 2007, 2011
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY 1991, 1992, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016
The women’s soccer team celebrates its second Big South Championship in three seasons on Nov. 8, 2015.
WOMEN’S SOCCER 2000, 2001, 2005, 2013, 2015
SOFTBALL 2002, 2011
VOLLEYBALL 1997, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012
BIG SOUTH INDIVIDUAL HONORS
BIG SOUTH HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Anthonia Akpama – Class of 2013, Peter Aluma – Class of 2008, Jerry Edwards – Class of 2012, Katie Feenstra – Class of 2016, Elena Kisseleva – Class of 2011, Ryan Werner – Class of 2007
BIG SOUTH HOWARD BAGWELL MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Keith Butler – 1999-2000; Sam Chelanga – 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11; Josh McDougal – 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08
BIG SOUTH MEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Pat Kelly – 2012-13, Bruce Kite – 2000-01, Trey Lambert – 2013-14
BIG SOUTH MEN’S CHRISTENBERRY AWARD Jeremy Anderson – 2010-11, Daniel Darnell – 2005-06, Jeremy Graves – 2003-04, Pat Kelly – 2012-13, Panashe Nhekairo – 2010-11, Matt Pennington – 2014-15, Mats Persson – 2003-04, Karl Shoemaker – 1992-93, Patrick Walker – 2008-09
BIG SOUTH FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Anthonia Akpama – 1999-2000; Katie Feenstra – 2003-04, 2004-05; Megan Frazee – 2007-08, 2008-09; Ednah Kurgat – 2015-16; Heather Sagan – 2001-02
BIG SOUTH WOMEN’S SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Megan Frazee – 2008-09; Danielle McNaney – 2004-05; Ashley Rininger – 2014-15, 2015-16
BIG SOUTH WOMEN’S CHRISTENBERRY AWARD Natalie Beale – 2015-16, Holly Deem – 1997-98, Brooke Garman – 2002-03, Becca Haraf – 2013-14, Madi Long – 2015-16, Danielle McNaney – 2004-05, Lora Randolph – 1996-97, Megan Robinson – 2014-15, Lauren Stell – 2012-13, Cathy Williams – 1998-99, Brittany Yang – 2014-15
BIG SOUTH WOMAN OF THE YEAR Karyl Bacon – 2010-11, Karen Blocker – 2012-13, Allyson Fasnacht – 2007-08, Arlene Zelinskas – 2006-07, Ashley Rininger – 2015-16
