Wild All-American in 800; 4X400 All-American -- Ephs tie for 9th at NCAA Championships
Sara Wild punctuated her first trip to the NCAA Championships
with an individual All-American honor as she placed fourth in the
800m run. The first year standout was timed in 2:15.24. "Sara was
in the chase pack and even moved up on the third lap," commented
Eph assistant coach Mitchell Baker. "She narrowly missed out on
third, but it was a strong showing for her first Championships. Her
time yesterday was a personal best and in each of her races she
made up significant ground with a strong close over the final 50
meters, which is hard to do."
The Eph 4X400 relay team of sophomore Emily Heaslip, seniors
Carrie Plitt and Veronica Ivey and Wild finished in fifth place to
garner All-America honors. Illinois Wesleyan won the event with a
time of 3:52.21 and the Ephs crossed the finish line in 3:55.53.
"We had a good tactical race with each hand off being executed well
and putting us in a good position," noted Eph assistant coach Joel
Williams. "Carrie Plitt led off and got inside position and the
hand off from Veronica Ivey to Emily Heaslip was great."
The Eph quartet was placed in the second and slower of the two groups, but they managed to pick off one of the teams in the faster group and claim fifth place. "This may have been our best effort of the year and it was certainly our best race on a track that was not banked," said Williams.
Wild earned All-America honors for the third time at the 2008
Championships, Plitt collected her second honor and Ivey and
Heaslip were honored for the first time.
The Ephs scored 15 points at the Championships and finished in a
tie for ninth place out of 64 scoring teams. Illinois Wesleyan
captured the title with a team total of 30 points.
