“Fedako Flames”: Fielding Fedako Paces the Team as Current and Former Flames Battle Rainy Conditions at the Cavalier Invitational

Panorama Farms - In an early-season course preview for the 2026 NIRCA Mid-Atlantic Regional, a small convocation of Flames made the 75-mile drive to Earlysville, Virginia, to run in the Cavalier Invitational. The meet was a true Commonwealth Clash, pitting Virginia’s NIRCA juggernauts against each other on the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont. The results did not disappoint: NIRCA heavyweights from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland, and Georgetown University led to tight competition and blazing times. Audrey Fitzpatrick from Virginia Tech paced the Women’s 6k with a time of 23:18.5. VT completed the sweep of the individual winners an hour later when Chris Nunn won the Men’s 8k with a time of 26:00.7.

The Flames' day began early, when current LRC Member Matthew Petke and LRC alumni and Founding Father Angelo Cosentino squared off in the Open 5k. Under the overcast conditions and high humidity that would dominate the rest of the morning, Petke and Consentino raced as a pack and placed 23rd and 24th, respectively.

For the Women’s 6k, two Lady Flames suited up for their season debuts. Allison O’Leary placed 59th and beat her previous best time at the Cavalier Invitational by almost 30 seconds. Kinley Holl followed close behind with a 64th-place finish.

The Liberty Men also lacked a scoring team, but were paced by newcomer Fielding Fedako. The meet marked Fedako’s LRC and 8k debut, placing 64th with a time of 30:24.1. Following Fedako was Greg Rehberg, who placed 164th with a time of 35:47.3 in his 8k debut. Rounding out the Flames was veteran LRC member Jacob Dryer–the longest tenured runner on Liberty’s NIRCA squad. Despite being listed as questionable on the pre-race depth chart due to a lingering IT Band issue, Dryer chose to suit up and battled his way to a gritty 170th-place finish, narrowly beating out Appalachian State’s Josh Becker at the line.

Following the race, Dryer remarked, “It was an ugly race for me, but I am grateful to be back on the course representing Liberty University. I am super proud of how the ladies and the younger guys performed today. True class acts who represented the university well today. I am also grateful for guys like Matt [Petke] and Angelo [Cosentino] who came out to support us today. They helped make it a fun environment, one that I hope other members of the LRC will want to come out and enjoy.”

The Flames will be in action this Friday at Virginia Tech. On September 26, they will then head to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to take part in the Dashing Dukes Invitational.