NCAA Track: All-American Weekend for Owl Women

NORTHFIELD, MINN. 3/11/06 - It was an All-American weekend for the Keene State College women’s track team as all five Owl competitors, including national champions Breanne Lucey and the distance medley relay team, returned from the NCAA Division III Championships held this weekend at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Min., with All-American honors.

Lucey raced to her national championship in the 800-meter race by finishing with a time of 2:13.78. The senior from Keene, N.H., edged out North Central (Ill.) College’s Amber Driven (2:13.80) at the wire to win the race.

“Breanne and Driven were stride for stride the entire race,” said KSC Coach Peter Thomas. “Driven made a move at the end, but Breanne was able to hold her off. She was thrilled with her performance.”

“It was a tough strategic race,” Lucey added.” Fortunately, I was able to hold her off at the end. I’m in shock. It’s going to take awhile for it to sink in.”

With little time to enjoy her win, Lucey was back on the track joining teammates Jennifer Adams (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), Sarah Miller (Walpole, N.H.), and Krystin Gavin (Brimfield, Mass.) to win the national title in the distance medley relay in a Tostrud Center record time of 11:56. 45. The Owl squad beat out Wisconsin-Platteville, which posted a time of 11:57.96.

Thomas said Gavin gave KSC the lead and Lucey brought the championship home. “Lucey knew she had the leg speed to open it up and on the final lap she just pulled away.”

“Everyone’s energy was up, Lucey said. “We wanted to do it for each other.”

Lucey and the DMR team join a prestigious list of four KSC athletes that have won national titles. Paul Trocki earned the honor in the decathlon in 1979 and Rob Edson was a cross country Division II national champion in 1989. From 2001-03, Mary Proulx and Mark Miller won a combined nine national titles. Miller claimed all four of his championships in the 1,500-meter event. Proulx, a five time national champ, won two each in the 3,000 and 5,000 races, and one in the 10,000 event.

Earlier in the day, Crystal Blamy added her name to the list of KSC All- Americans by finishing fourth in the high jump competition with a mark of 5’5.25”. The junior from Walpole, N.H., becomes the first Owl to earn All- American in the event. It is the second All-American honor for Blamy who earned the distinction in the same event competing as a freshman at Wheaton College. Jennifer Harlow of Wheaton won the event with a jump of 5’7.75”.

Adams came up short in her bid for All-American honors in the mile. The sophomore finished a disappointing last in the 10-runner field with a time of 5:03.53. Adams was hoping to add a second All-American honor after earning the recognition this fall in cross country. Marcia Taddy of Wisconsin-Platteville won the race with a time of 4:55.90.

Miller, who earned her first All-American honor by qualifying during the preliminaries of the 400-meter race on Friday night, placed eighth in Saturday’s finals with a time of 58.65. It was the second try at All-American for the Walpole, N.H., native, who didn’t reach the finals last year. Rachel Anderson of Illinois-Wesleyan won the 400 with a time of 56.35.

Keene State finished tied for fourth with 26 points.

“It was an awesome day and an awesome weekend,” said Thomas. Everyone gets an A for effort. We had one bad lap the whole weekend.”

With the combined seven All-American honors received at the meet, the list of KSC track All-Americans grows to 76 athletes.