May 30, 2010

Eight Women All-American; Hoffler National Champ in Triple Jump

Cleveland, OH -- Freshman Tanasia Hoffler (New Haven, CT) had jumped far enough by her third attempt in the triple jump to win the NCAA Championship in that event. She jumped twice more, however, to make sure that her mark would stand up. By the time she finished, Hoffler had set a lifetime best, was National Champion in the triple jump, had set a stadium record, and had recorded a school record, breaking Caroline Doctor's '07 former mark. Just a freshman, Hoffler's jump of 12.46m (40' 10.5") now stands alone as the best in Williams College history. To see Hoeffler's post-event interview, click here.

Hoffler was not the only Eph to set a school record at the NCAA Championships. Lizzy Danhakl '11 (Pacific Palisades, CA) broke her own school record in the preliminaries of the 800m and Elise Johnson (Cleveland, OH) bettered her own school record in the 100m hurdles in the finals of that event.

Elise Johnson '10

The Ephs finish the season 6th at the NCAA Championships with 33 points and by annointing eight new All-Americans, setting three new school records, and tying one more. For more details on the specific events as well as the thoughts of athletes and coaches, stay tuned. For photos from the Championships, click here.

Julie Paschal '13

Danhakl ran the new school record time of 2:10.54 in her preliminary heat on Friday, then came back one day later and ran 2:10.68 in the final. The latter effort was good for third place in the 800m final, behind only Marie Borner of Bethel University, who set an NCAA Championships record of 2:06.87 and Jianna Spadacinni of the College of New Jersey, who ran a blistering 2:08.05.

Racing in her final ever college meet, Johson first broke the 100m hurdles record in the preliminaries when she ran 14.11 seconds and finished 2nd in her heat. In the final, she dropped that mark even lower by running 14.06. She finished 2nd in the Championships behind only Kristen Bates of Messiah College, who ran the best time for Division III in all of 2010, 13.83 seconds.

Freshman Julie Paschal (Painted Post, NY) jumped better in each of her successful attempts in the high jump, finally settling on a jump of 1.70m. Paschal finished 4th in the high jump and also tied the school record.

Lizzy Danhakl '11

After just missing the finals in the 400m, Hillary Higgs (Springfield, MA) returned to help the 4x400m team to a 7th place finish and All-American status in that relay. Higgs was joined by National Champion Tanasia Hoffler as well as senior Nora Mitchell (Rochester, NY) and freshman Rebecca Fine (Weston, CT). The team ran 3:49.60 in the final. Wartburg College won the event in a D-III season's best time of 3:43.35.

Running on Thursday, freshman Jennifer Gossels (Sudbury, MA) authored a 36:30 performance in the 10000m to claim sixth in that event and All-American status. With three years left to compete, Gossels hopes to follow in the footsteps of Lauren Philbrook '09, who won the 10K as a senior.

Tanasia Hoffler '13 (l.) & Rebecca Fine '13

Triple Jump Champion Tanasia Hoffler '13