WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wisconsin-La Crosse captured its first NCAA Division III Indoor title Saturday at the JDL Fast Track. The Eagles won the national championship with 55.0 team points while Wisconsin-Oshkosh placed second with 49.0 and Illinois Wesleyan third with 39.0.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire and MIT tied for fourth with 34.0 points.
It is the first national crown for UW-L head coach Pat Healy after guiding the Eagles to five second-place finishes (1993, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2014) at the indoor championships. UW-L has finished in the top five in 16 of the past 33 championships in indoor and outdoor track and field under Healy, who has also guided the Eagles to 31 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) titles (15 indoor, 16 outdoor).In Saturday's action, UW-L's Bria Halama captured her second consecutive national title in the triple jump (40-9.5), becoming the seventh student-athlete in DIII history to win at least two consecutive crowns in the event. She is the only student-athlete in UW-L history to secure the triple jump title.
UW-L also took its third consecutive 4x400-meter relay (3:49.89) Saturday with Claire Gordee, Kaitlyn Francour, Halama and Shannon Klein. Halama and Klein were members of UW-L's national champion 4x400-meter relay in 2014 while Klein was also on the first-place 4x400-meter relay in 2013.
With her two DIII All-American honors at this year's championships, Halama now has five career indoor recognitions. Along with the triple jump and 4x400-meter relay titles in 2014 and 2015, Halama was fifth in the 400-meter dash in 2014. Klein has three career DIII All-American honors with the three national crowns in the 4x400-meter relay. Francour earned her first career indoor All-American award.
The Eagles' Meg Heafy placed second (24.72) in the 200-meter dash Saturday to pick up her first career indoor All-American honor.
Gordee, Jaime Ludwigson and Addie Korb each earned DIII All-American honors in the 60-meter hurdles Saturday. Gordee placed third (8.55) while Ludwigson was fifth (8.72) and Korb sixth (8.73). Gordee broke her own school record (8.63) set in Friday's preliminaries.
With her two All-American awards Saturday, Gordee now has three in her career. She was on UW-L's third-place distance medley relay in 2014. Ludwigson earned her sixth career indoor All-American accolade with the fifth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. She placed third in the 60-meter hurdles, fourth in the triple jump and eighth in the 200-meter dash in 2014 while finishing seventh in the 60-meter dash in 2013 and 2014. Korb earned her first career DIII indoor honor Saturday.
The Eagles' Bailey Alston earned her second All-American honor of this year's championships with a seventh-place finish (38-4.25) in the triple jump Saturday. She finished fifth (18-2 1/4) in Friday's long jump. Alston has earned four career DIII Indoor All-American honors, including this year's triple jump finish and three awards in the long jump (fourth in 2013, second in 2014 and fifth in 2015).
UW-L's Laura Mead earned a pair of All-American honors at this year's championships, placing fifth in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter run. She set a UW-L record in the 3,000-meter run (9:50.82), breaking Julia Rudd's record time (9:51.41) set in 2006. Mead also earned DIII All-American honors in the 5,000-meter run held Friday. No times were recorded due to a lap counting error and team points were based on where leaders began stopping at 4,800-meters. Mead now has three career indoor All-American honors after being a member of UW-L's third-place distance medley relay in 2014.
Kendra Antony finished 16th (42-2.25) in the shotput Saturday.
