From Washington University Athletics
Washington University in St. Louis junior Lucy Cheadle clocked the sixth-fastest time in NCAA Division III history en route to winning the national title in the women's 3,000 steeplechase to highlight the final day of the 2014 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan University.
The Washington University women finished the meet with three All-Americans, including a pair of national champions. They scored 23 points to tie for sixth in the team standings, equaling the second-highest finish in school history. With three top-four finishers, the Washington U. men tied for 18th in the team standings with 16 points, their third top-20 finish in school history.
Cheadle, who ran at the front throughout the women's steeplechase final, pulled away from the rest of the field in the final three laps to win with a stadium- and school-record time of 10:20.06. Her time was more than nine seconds faster than her own school record in the event, and more than seven seconds ahead of the national runner-up. It also broke the previous stadium record of 10:24.22 set at the 2011 NCAA Championships.
Cheadle is the fifth national champion in Washington U. women's track & field history, joining senior teammate Anna Etherington, who won the women's pole vault title Thursday, Emily Richard (1998, 1999) and Morgan Leonard-Fleckman (2008). It is the first time in school history that Washington U. has had multiple individual national champions in the same year.