From Washington University Athletics
The Washington University in St. Louis women's track and field team raced to eight All-America finishes on the final day to finish third at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championship held at Warburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
The Bears had six top-five finishes Saturday, highlighted by senior Emily Warner's three All-America finishes, to finish third in the team standings with 39 points. It is tied for the highest finish in school history (2015), and the fourth top-10 finish in the last five years.
Illinois Wesleyan University claimed its third national title in program history with 42 points, while Baldwin-Wallace College was second with 41. WashU was third and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was fourth with 35 points.
"This weekend was unbelievable and I am so proud of every single athlete," said WashU head coach Jeff Stiles. "For us its about the process and we would not change one thing. They left their heart on the track each time. It's a great day to be a WashU Bear. These girls are something special."
Warner teamed with freshman Elise Grever and juniors Daisy Ogede and Kelli Hancock for a sixth-place finish in the 4x100 relay in a time of 47.22. The Bears were seeded eighth after a 47.34 in the prelims.
Just 90 minutes later, Warner stepped on the track for the 800 final and recorded a fourth place finish in 2:09.73. Sophomore Annalise Wagner was right behind Warner finishing fifth at 2:11.54.
In the final race of the meet, she teamed with Hancock, junior Jessica Ridderhoff and Wagner for an NCAA Runner-Up finish in the 4x400 relay with a school-record time of 3:44.06.
"Its indescribable and a little overwhelming. I really just wanted to take one race at a time and do the best I could possibly could and it turned out very well," said Warner, who concluded her career with eight All-America citations – two indoor and six outdoor. "I am so proud of everyone that competed this weekend. Getting in the top four was awesome."
Sophomore Alison Lindsay started the day for WashU finishing fifth in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 10:44.12. Lindsay was in the lead pack for most of the race, and bettered her time from the prelims by over 13 seconds.
"We really wanted to go the ball moving and get some momentum for the team," said Lindsay. "I wanted to stay conservative early. I wanted to kick a little more at the end, but it was a fun race."
Ridderhoff raced to her first individual outdoor All-America finish after posting a school-record time of 1:00.19 in the 400 hurdles to finish 3rd. Hancock also raced to a PR finishing fourth in 1:00.52.
Ogede picked up her fifth Outdoor All-America finish of her career after finishing sixth in the 200 final in 25.11. She entered the NCAA Championship as the top seed.