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Triton Women Bring Home Three NCAA
Individual
Titles, Finish Third in Team Championships
June 1, 2009
Three UC San Diego students won individual national championships, while the women's track and field team finished in third place last month in the 2009 Division II National Championships in San Angelo, Texas.
Junior Christine Merrill was one of three Triton women to win a national championship this weekend.
(Photo / Michael Foo/Sideline Studios)
Christine Merrill won the national championship in the women's 400-meter hurdles. Linda Rainwater placed first in the women's high jump. Danielle Thu won the women's hammer throw on the opening day of competition May 21. The three athletes helped guide the Tritons to their highest national finish at the Division II level—one place better than their finish in 2008.
UCSD finished with a total of 56 points behind Lincoln University, which won its sixth national title in a span of seven years, and host Angelo State University.
Merrill, who entered the national meet as the top seed in the 400 hurdles, lived up to that billing May 23, besting the field with a time of 58.59. Her mark surpassed her previous personal best and school record time of 58.86 set earlier this season.
After setting a new school record in the heptathlon May 22, Rainwater established another program standard in the high jump, winning the event with a mark of 5'9.75." She won a tiebreaker with Central Missouri's Jenna Schimdt, who also hit 5'9.75," by reaching the mark on her first attempt. The jump was an inch higher than her previous best.
Laiah Blue took fifth in the women's 100 meter hurdles with a time of 13:70, while her time of 1:02.80 in the 400 hurdles was good enough for eighth place.
The Tritons' 4x100 relay team of Merrill, Katie Skorupa, Kelly Fogarty and Blue finished fifth with a time of 46.42, marking the program's highest finish in the event at the Division II level. Merrill, Skorupa, Anna Lee McGregor and Deyna Roberson placed fourth in the women's 4x400 relay, clocking in at 3:43.66.
In other events, senior Sarah Hendy posted a fifth place finish in the women's discus with a toss of 152'11", while sophomore Bre Schofield placed seventh in the women's 1500 meter run, crossing the finish line with a time of 4:34.20. Nick Howe, who was UCSD's only male competitor on the day, placed 11th in the javelin throw with a toss of 195'11".
In addition to winning three national championships on the women's side, a total of eight new records were set during the three-day event.
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