MARIETTA, OH. -- Eight Ephs -- five men and three women -- earned All-America status Saturday on the final day of the 2009 NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, leading their respective teams to a 14th-place finish (men) and a 15th-place finish (women) nationally.
"We felt good about the people we were bringing, but we knew they had to perform when the time came and they did," Williams head coach Fletcher Brooks said. "It's always nice when it comes together like it did because it doesn't always work like that. We had great senior leadership out here and that helped. I was proud of everyone."
Eph senior Macklin Chaffee got the day started off on the right foot when he took second in the men's 1,500-meter run. It was the second year in a row Chaffee placed second in the 1,500 at nationals. He and Ty Griffin of Mount Union were engaged in quite a battle for first place, with Griffin winning the race in 3:53.41, just .09 seconds ahead of Chaffee, who earned All-American status for his efforts.
"He ran a great race," Brooks said. "The kid (Griffin) came out of nowhere to pass him in the last meter - Mack dove at the line, he gave a great effort."
Chaffee's time of 3:53.50 was nearly a full-second faster than his time in the Friday trials. He came into the championship meet seeded 12th.
In the 400, Fitzgerald was embroiled in a four-man quest for second as Hanneus Ollison of McMurry University ran away with the title in 46.65 seconds, nearly a full second head of runner-up Alex Eaton from Thiel. Fitzgerald finished in 47.97 seconds, just three-tenths of a second away behind the third-place finisher, Kory Bucher of Manchester University. Fitzgerald's fourth-place finish earned him All-American status.
The Ephs 4x400 relay, consisting of Fitzgerald, Alex Hoerman, Viktor Nagy and Deividas Seferis, ran to a sixth-place finish in 3:13.24, slightly faster than their trial time that qualified them for the finals on Friday. The foursome earned All-America status with that finish.
On the women's side of ledger Saturday, three Ephs earned All-America Status. Senior Lauren Philbrook, was the national champion in the 10,000-meter race which took place Friday, followed that up with an eighth-place finish in the 5,000 Saturday, her second All-America finish at the championship meet.
Philbrook, who was seeded second, finished the 5,000 with a time of 17:29.92.
Williams sophomore Lizzie Danhakl became an All-American for the first time Saturday when she finished sixth in the 800. Danhakl was seeded 14th in the event, but qualified for the finals with a great trials run and then followed that up with a time of 2:13.30 to place sixth.
Danhakl, who was ninth in the 800 at the 2008 championship meet, outlegged Lauren Reich (2:14.68) and Kaitlyn Saldanha of Middlebury (2:18.53) for the sixth-place spot.
Williams junior Elise Johnson also earned All-America status Saturday by placing seventh in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.51 seconds. She had come into the championships seeded eighth overall.
