Women’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

The first final on the track quickly turned into a three woman race, with Lucy Cheadle of Wash U leading Amy Cymerman of St.Lawrence and Sophie Goobic of Heidelburg. Cheadle would break away in the final kilometer and win in 10:20.06, the sixth fastest all-time DIII performance. Goobic dropped off first, but she rallied to pass Cymerman for second in the final lap. Back in the main pack, Sammi Bruett of Wartburg won the mad dash for fourth over Kallie Nixon of Bates and fast-closing freshman Hannah Cole of Williams. Bruett’s decisive kick would become even more important as the meet went on and her Knights engaged in a tough back and forth battle for the team title with the Titans of Oshkosh.

 

Men’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

Defending champion Michael LeDuc tried to execute his plan to run the DIII record on the biggest stage, and was on 8:38 pace through 2k. Unfortunately, he began to fade, and with a lap to go Dawson Miller of UW-Whitewater was only three seconds behind, his hair flying in the wind as he attempted to reel in LeDuc. However, a second consecutive photo finish never materialized as Miller tripped not once but twice in the final lap and had to settle for a well-beaten second. LeDuc, meanwhile, would hang on to finish in 8:45.77, an improvement on his third-fastest all-time performance, but not enough to move him higher on the list.

About seven seconds behind at the mile, Bobby Over of Allegheny, Avi Bregman of Haverford, Ben Wallis of Tufts, and Andrew Rohlman of UW-La Crosse comprised the main chase pack. Rohlman would fade badly, damaging the Eagles title chances, while Wallis began to crack in the final kilometer. Over was able to fend off Bregman’s big kick, but the fastest final two laps of the entire field belonged to surprise fifth place finisher Chris Lee of Williams.

 

Women’s 4x100 Meter Relay

As she did in the prelims, Meg Heafy of UW-La Crosse got the baton in front and powered away from the field to finish. Though their time of 46.08 did not better their prelims time—which was the fourth fastest in DIII history—the victory helped keep the Eagles on track for a podium finish. In another move that had interesting tem score implications, Mallory Burnham of St. Thomas began her day with a spectacular anchor leg to drag the Tommies into second over title-hungry Wartburg.

 

Men’s 4x100 Meter Relay

Two of the top sprinters of the meet—Chancise Watkins of La Verne and Bruce Gray of Greenville—led their teams to a tight 1-2 finish, with Watkins getting the upper hand on the anchor leg. Mount Union, the slowest team to qualify out of prelims, put together a solid fifth place finish and really started putting pressure on team title favorite UW-La Crosse.

 

Women’s 1500 Meter Run

In an effort to conserve energy for her triple, Christy Cazzola of UW-Oshkosh took the race out at a fairly pedestrian 2:35 through halfway. Though the pace would pick up from there, the race for first had essentially been decided. Second seeded Tricia Serres of Luther would never mount a serious challenge as Cazzola closed in 63 to win going away. Serres held on to second, while Haddie Vawter of Wartburg finished a surprising third to keep Oshkosh from gaining too many points on her Knights. It required an impressive 67 second closing lap to secure an All-American award, and in some cases even that fast of a final quarter was not enough.

 

Men’s 1500 Meter Run

Though David Chelimo of Colby did not repeat his prelims tactic of going out in 44 seconds, the race still got out at a decent 2:05 clip through 800 meters. After going 1-2-3 in their prelims heat, St. Olaf was looking to make their presence felt, and it was sophomore Paul Escher who would mount the toughest challenge that freshman phenom McKena Ramos of UW-Oshkosh had faced all season. However, as he has done all year, Ramos cruised away in the final stretch thank to a 55 second last lap to earn his first outdoor title. Zach Haskins of Bethel just out-leaned Ole Grant Wintheiser for third, 3:48.89 to 3:48.90.

 

Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles

Less than an hour removed from her strong anchor leg in the 4x100 meter relay, Mallory Burnham of St. Thomas returned to the track to win comfortably with a stellar 14.02 performance into a light headwind. Sierra DeLeon of Kenyon duplicated her impressive prelims performance with a comfortable second place finish, while things got very close in the race for third. Tashina McAllister of Wartburg edged out team rival Jaime Ludwigson of UW-La Crosse by one hundredth of a second, with Christy Deininger of Worcester State one hundredth of a second behind her.

 

Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles

Seniors Adam Scalesse of Coast Guard and Ryan Lopez-Jordan of Marietta were looking for their first national title, but defending champion Luke Campbell of Salisbury simply didn’t give them a chance. After breaking 14 for the first time in the prelims, the sensational sophomore ran 13.82—into a headwind—making him the third fastest DIII high hurdler of all time. The race for second was shaping up to be a great battle until Scalesse hit the second-to-last hurdle, throwing him backward and solidly into third.

 

Women’s 400 Meter Dash

Defending champ and pre-meet favorite Ashante Little of Wheaton ran a 53 second relay split on Thursday, but she lost her fast prelims heat to Lexie Sondgeroth of UW-Whitewater. That finish repeated itself in the finals, as Sondegroth got out to a lead and never looked back until after she had run 53.60, the fourth-fastest DIII performance of all-time. Though disappointed, Little’s runner-up 54.17 time is good enough for seventh on the all-time lists. Sophomore Hulerie McGuffie of UMass Boston couldn’t catch the top two, but her time of 54.24 is ninth all-time, and sets the stage for another great race next year between her and Sondegroth.

 

Men’s 400 Meter Dash

With the defending indoor champion as well as the defending outdoor champion crashing out of the prelims, this was shaping up to be anybody’s race. At the end of one full lap, it was senior Alexander Tallman of Washington and Lee who had taken advantage of this marvelous opportunity. Tallman set one final PR of 47.19 on the biggest stage and held off Oneonta’s Joe Carr by just four hundredths of a second. Ross Denman of UW-La Crosse won a close race for third, and helped keep the meet close between his Eagles and the Mount Union Raiders, who had Chase Swisher finishing sixth for them in this final.

 

Women’s 100 Meter Dash

Back on the track for the third time in five events, Mallory Burnham of St. Thomas  saved her most exciting race for last: the top four were all separated by three hundredths of second. Though Carly Fehler of UW-Eau Claire would get the win—11.921 to 11.924—Burnham’s second place finish brought her contributions up to 26 points, enough to ultimately secure a fifth place finish for the Tommies. Higher up in the team race, Libbey Schubert of Wartburg held on for third and scored the Kinghts six more points in their quest to upend the indoor champion Titans of UW-Oshkosh.

 

Men’s 100 Meter Dash

Shaking off the disappointment of missing the 4x100 meter finals, Kevin Johnson of Baldwin Wallace powered away from pre-meet favorite Bruce Gray to win, 10.50 to 10.54. Sophomore Alex Koenen of UW-La Crosse would get third in 10.57 to keep the Eagles in the team title hunt.

 

Women’s 800 Meter Run

Teammates Christy Cazzola and Kylee Verhasselt of UW-Oshkosh led essentially the entirety of the race and finished 1-2 to reclaim the team lead, 47-39 over Wartburg. Though the ever impressive Cazzola won the race, it was Verhasselt who moved her way up the all-time lists to eighth place with her 2:07.05 performance. Maggie Shelton of Johns Hopkins held on for third but could never mount a serious challenge. Taylor Moore of Wartburg came in as the final qualifier, but she managed to secure a fourth place finish and some important points.

 

Men’s 800 Meter Run

We were treated to another tactical 800 today, as the men went out in a comfortable 57. Andrew Carey of Johns Hopkins made his move entering the back stretch, but McKena Ramos stayed just a step behind, covering his every move. The double took its toll on Ramos in the final 200 though, as Carey powered away for the win and left the freshman to fade all the way back to seventh. NESCAC sophomores Mitchell Black of Tufts and Jacob Ellis of Bowdoin finished 2-3 with 54 second final laps, while top freshman honors belong to Deko Ricketts of Wash U who finished fourth.

 

Women’s 400 Meter Hurdles

The thrilling matchup between the top two all-time DIII performers Ashante Little of Wheaton and Jana Hieber of Tufts never quite materialized, as Hieber busted out to a big lead and held on in the final straight to win comfortably. Though her time of 58.63 is just shy of the DIII record, Hieber will be more than happy to finish her career with her first ever national title. Doubling clearly took a toll on Little, who had only run three 400H races in the past three years. She faded to third, behind Tashina McAllister of Wartburg, who’s brilliant run tied the team score at 47 with only four events to go.

 

Men’s 400 Meter Hurdles

Defending champion Tyler Metille of Mount Union set a personal best and now ranks tenth on the DIII all-time list, but he had to settle for third in one of the best events of the day. Once again, what should have been a close race turned into a laugher, as sophomore Luke Campbell of Salisbury produced another truly dominant performance. His time of 50.36 ranks fourth on the DIII all-time list, while David Voland of Augustana ran the sixth fastest time but had to settle for a well-beaten second.

 

Women’s 200 Meter Dash

Six points down in the team race after the discus, Wartburg needed ten points from top seed Libbey Schubert, and she delivered in a big way. Schubert equaled her 23.91 time for prelims—this time into a headwind—and dominated the field by over half a second. Abigail Davis of Central College earned her second All-American award of the weekend with a second place finish, while Lexie Sondgeroth of UW-Whitewater capped an impressive weekend with a third place finish in the 200 that also secured a third place finish for her team.

 

Men’s 200 Meter Dash

Kevin Johnson of Baldwin Wallace was not done making amends for missing the 4x100 meter dash, as he once again powered away to a comfortable victory. His 20.98 time is the division’s fastest of the year. Chancise Watkins of La Verne returned to the track for the third time today and picked up a solid second place finish, while freshmen Malik Moffett of Penn State-Behrend and Eric Whipple of Spalding brough home third and fourth place trophies.

 

Women’s 5000 Meter Run

A quick early 5:15 pace began to lag after first mile, as the heat began to take its toll on the large group at the front. Nicole Michmerhuizen of Calvin, the runner-up in the 10k on Thursday, was the early leader, but with about a mile to go the tripling Christy Cazzola of UW-Oshlosh clipped her heel and then took the lead. She continued to slow the pace down until the final 800, when she used a 77 second lap to break away from everyone but crowd favorite Cara DeAngelis of host Ohio Wesleyan. DeAngelis would stick on her tail until the last 250, but she paid for her courage as Melissa Skiba of Cal Lutheran moved by her in the final straightaway to snag second. Thursday’s 10k champion, Lenore Moreno of La Verne, never put her 4:30 1500 speed on display as she struggled in the last two laps and ended up a distant ninth. Cazzola, meanwhile, made this triple look easy as she finished in 16:29.96 to win her fourteenth individual track title—tied for most all-time with Rhondale Jones of Lincoln—and seventeenth national championship. Her ridiculous thirty points also put the Titans up six on Wartburg heading into the meet’s final event.

 

Men’s 5000 Meter Run

Eli Horton of Central College, one of only five fresh competitors in the field, wasted no time taking the lead as he hurried out to an insane 62 second opening quarter. Horton and the top two in the 10k—John Crain of North Central and Chris Stadler of Haverford—quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. Through a mile, they were still on 14 flat pace, but the pace began to slow drastically from there. The rest of the pack, led by Patrick Jenkins of UW-Stout, remained nearly 100 meters behind until the final mile. With two laps to go and the chase pack within ten seconds, Crain made his move. Horton quickly faded, but Stadler smoothly followed. As they hit the backstretch for the final time, Stadler made his move, and Crain’s glance behind with 200 telegraphed that the final sprint was already over. Stadler would use his 57 second final lap to bring home a 14:11.28 victory, with Crain less than half a second behind. A surging Andrew Padgett of Wash U broke away from the chase pack in the final lap and even walked down Horton to finish an impressive third.

 

Women’s 4x400 Meter Relay

With UW-Oshkosh surprisingly failing to advance to the finals, Wartburg simply needed to finish third to tie for the team title of top two to win outright. However, with one leg to go, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire were nearly two second ahead of anchor Libbey Schubert, who had already run three races this hot Saturday afternoon. With a hungry group close behind, it seemed like Wartburg’s fortune might finally run out. However, Schubert had saved the best for last, as her 53.16 final split reeled in UW-Eau Claire and earned the Knights the outright title they desperately desired. The relay champions from La Crosse had essentially secured their place on the podium before the race began, and though they wanted to finish higher than fourth overall, the Eagles certainly take pride in winning both relays.

 

Men’s 4x400 Meter Relay

Mount Union owned the top seed heading into the finals, as well as a one point lead in the team title race over UW-La Crosse, but the meet is never over until it is over. That said, it quickly became a two team relay race, as Augustana and Mount Union had nearly two seconds on the next closest team heading into the anchor leg. Mount Union anchor Chad Gentry edged Augustana’s David Voland—3:09.81 to 3:09.85—to secure both the relay and team titles for the Raiders. UW-La Crosse anchor Ross Denman did all he could to move the Eagles up to third, but they had to settle for a disappointing second in the team competition. That said, they should take solace in the fact that their impressive 4x400 relay is comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores. After a long protest period, the original sixth place finishing team from Monmouth was disqualified for knocking the baton out of Wabash’s hands.

 

Well, that caps off another great DIII Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. After countless victories and defeats, triumphs and heartbreaks, finales and beginnings, and thrilling races, summer has officially arrived.