Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Saturday, March 28
Lynchburg, VA
1:30 PM
Liberty University Club Sports
vs
Flipping Flames Invitational
Lady Flames sophomore Mali Campbell begins her floor exercise routine cheered on by teammates at Saturday's Flipping Flames Invitational. (Photos by Ted Allen)
Gymnasts leap to record showing at Flipping Flames Invitational
3/31/2026 12:29:00 PM | Gymnastics
The host Lady Flames were awarded a season-high 115-point total and won the event for the third year in a row.
In its final tune-up for the April 8-11 NAIGC National Championships in Birmingham, Ala., Liberty University's women's gymnastics team repeated as champions at Saturday's third annual Flipping Flames Invitational in impressive fashion, recording a season-high team score of 115 points to defeat the second-place Naval Academy (101.55).
Sophomore Mali Campbell, who was named the Club Sports Female Rookie of the Year last spring, defended her All-Around title at the meet with her total of 38.45 out of a possible 40 points, on the strength of first-place finishes on the vault (9.8) and uneven bars (9.75).
"This is our all-time team-high score, so I'm really excited to see what we do in two weeks," Campbell said. "It was nice to be home, and I had so many people come to support me, which was a big contributing factor to the scores I put up today and the routines I hit. We had a lot of hit routines, a lot of confidence, and that's ideally what we want to see going into nationals."
Freshman Charis Ng landed the highest score on the floor exercise with her 9.8, edging Campbell (9.7) and junior assistant captain Sarah Dyk (9.6), who finished second to Campbell on the bars (9.65) and in the All-Around with her 36.05 total. Senior captain Annabella James, who tied senior Sarah Baugher for second on the vault with a 9.3, was a close third to Dyk in the All-Around competition with a 36.0 total.
Freshman Grace Caldwell won the balance beam with a 9.7 followed by junior Marah Robinson (9.5) and Ng (9.4). Junior Anna Messerschmidt (9.5) finished third on the bars.
"They had some pretty solid routines and definitely improved from the last meet at (the College of) William & Mary about a month ago," Liberty Head Coach Jessie Lowe said. "We've fought a lot of injuries, so there's been a lot of turnover in who's going to contribute on events from meet to meet. But we're obviously a strong team, because these girls really step up when they need to, and they support each other. Where there might be an injury in one event, there's another girl coming back strong in another. It's cool to see."
It was Senior Day for the Lady Flames' five graduating gymnasts — James and fellow senior captain Kailyn Rowland, as well as Baugher, Isabella Sierra, and Katherine Haluck.Â
"Those girls mean everything to me," Lowe said. "They were the freshmen I came in with my first year as head coach when we were really trying to turn the program around. They were so great and excited. They knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish, and they have carried it as freshmen through the last few years. It's going to be a big hole without them, for sure, but they've really left behind an amazing program."
She said the seniors have been instrumental in instilling a joyful attitude of worship to God and encouragement to teammates through their spirited enthusiasm from the sidelines during competitions.
"It is an advantage, for sure," Lowe said. "They love each other (and) compete together really well. They really push each other's confidence."
More than just her gymnasts' scores, which are subjective and can vary widely from meet to meet, Lowe focuses on other factors when filling out her lineups at each event for nationals.
"As a coach, I'm just looking to see who's stepping up to the plate, who's being confident when they approach their routines, and who's hitting consistently," she said. "That means more to me than the scores we're getting at this point."
She is optimistic of the Lady Flames' chances of landing on the podium as a team for the fourth season in a row following second-place showings to four-time-defending champion Penn State in 2023 and 2025 and a third-place finish behind PSU and Texas A&M in 2024.
"I hope we have something to celebrate at nationals," Lowe said. "We always do, because these girls are awesome no matter where they place, but we hope they do really well. All season is a build-up to that last meet."
The Lady Flames will compete in preliminary events on Thursday morning, April 9, with the top 16 qualifiers in each event and All-Around competition performing again in the finals on Saturday, April 11. The top overall six team scores after preliminaries also qualify to finals.
"We have no idea who we're competing against," Lowe said. "We know Penn State, but we really haven't seen a lot of other Level 9 teams in the country. I've seen that the level of difficulty is definitely raising, which is exciting for our (NAIGC) league. But I have no idea where we stack up against them, so that makes for a really exciting weekend."
Campbell is confident the Lady Flames can land on top for the first time in program history.
"This is the year that we've got to bring it home," she said of a national title. "The past few years, we've finished behind Penn State (but) I think we can beat them and take home the gold for all of our seniors and Jessie. I have confidence in this team. We just want to be consistent and be determined (at practice and in competition)."
Whether or not they return from nationals with a team trophy, Lowe wants the Lady Flames to reflect Christ in all of their interactions with other athletes at the meet and those they encounter along the way to Birmingham and back.
 "We really try to use every opportunity that we have when we're competing with other athletes to be a light to them and be an impact where we can and encourage them," she said. "We just hope to share the goodness of God wherever we're going so that people might see a difference in us."
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterGallery: (3-31-2026) Flipping Flames Invitational
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Sophomore Mali Campbell, who was named the Club Sports Female Rookie of the Year last spring, defended her All-Around title at the meet with her total of 38.45 out of a possible 40 points, on the strength of first-place finishes on the vault (9.8) and uneven bars (9.75).
"This is our all-time team-high score, so I'm really excited to see what we do in two weeks," Campbell said. "It was nice to be home, and I had so many people come to support me, which was a big contributing factor to the scores I put up today and the routines I hit. We had a lot of hit routines, a lot of confidence, and that's ideally what we want to see going into nationals."
Freshman Charis Ng landed the highest score on the floor exercise with her 9.8, edging Campbell (9.7) and junior assistant captain Sarah Dyk (9.6), who finished second to Campbell on the bars (9.65) and in the All-Around with her 36.05 total. Senior captain Annabella James, who tied senior Sarah Baugher for second on the vault with a 9.3, was a close third to Dyk in the All-Around competition with a 36.0 total.
Freshman Grace Caldwell won the balance beam with a 9.7 followed by junior Marah Robinson (9.5) and Ng (9.4). Junior Anna Messerschmidt (9.5) finished third on the bars.
"They had some pretty solid routines and definitely improved from the last meet at (the College of) William & Mary about a month ago," Liberty Head Coach Jessie Lowe said. "We've fought a lot of injuries, so there's been a lot of turnover in who's going to contribute on events from meet to meet. But we're obviously a strong team, because these girls really step up when they need to, and they support each other. Where there might be an injury in one event, there's another girl coming back strong in another. It's cool to see."
It was Senior Day for the Lady Flames' five graduating gymnasts — James and fellow senior captain Kailyn Rowland, as well as Baugher, Isabella Sierra, and Katherine Haluck.Â
"Those girls mean everything to me," Lowe said. "They were the freshmen I came in with my first year as head coach when we were really trying to turn the program around. They were so great and excited. They knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish, and they have carried it as freshmen through the last few years. It's going to be a big hole without them, for sure, but they've really left behind an amazing program."
She said the seniors have been instrumental in instilling a joyful attitude of worship to God and encouragement to teammates through their spirited enthusiasm from the sidelines during competitions.
"It is an advantage, for sure," Lowe said. "They love each other (and) compete together really well. They really push each other's confidence."
More than just her gymnasts' scores, which are subjective and can vary widely from meet to meet, Lowe focuses on other factors when filling out her lineups at each event for nationals.
"As a coach, I'm just looking to see who's stepping up to the plate, who's being confident when they approach their routines, and who's hitting consistently," she said. "That means more to me than the scores we're getting at this point."
She is optimistic of the Lady Flames' chances of landing on the podium as a team for the fourth season in a row following second-place showings to four-time-defending champion Penn State in 2023 and 2025 and a third-place finish behind PSU and Texas A&M in 2024.
"I hope we have something to celebrate at nationals," Lowe said. "We always do, because these girls are awesome no matter where they place, but we hope they do really well. All season is a build-up to that last meet."
The Lady Flames will compete in preliminary events on Thursday morning, April 9, with the top 16 qualifiers in each event and All-Around competition performing again in the finals on Saturday, April 11. The top overall six team scores after preliminaries also qualify to finals.
"We have no idea who we're competing against," Lowe said. "We know Penn State, but we really haven't seen a lot of other Level 9 teams in the country. I've seen that the level of difficulty is definitely raising, which is exciting for our (NAIGC) league. But I have no idea where we stack up against them, so that makes for a really exciting weekend."
Campbell is confident the Lady Flames can land on top for the first time in program history.
"This is the year that we've got to bring it home," she said of a national title. "The past few years, we've finished behind Penn State (but) I think we can beat them and take home the gold for all of our seniors and Jessie. I have confidence in this team. We just want to be consistent and be determined (at practice and in competition)."
Whether or not they return from nationals with a team trophy, Lowe wants the Lady Flames to reflect Christ in all of their interactions with other athletes at the meet and those they encounter along the way to Birmingham and back.
 "We really try to use every opportunity that we have when we're competing with other athletes to be a light to them and be an impact where we can and encourage them," she said. "We just hope to share the goodness of God wherever we're going so that people might see a difference in us."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
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