There was non-stop excitement on the final day of the Division 3 National Championships, with many individual events and one team title going right down to the wire. Be sure to check out the entire coverage from the meet, including some race videos and various post-race interviews. All of that can be found here or linked throughout the article.

Women’s 4x100
Methodist’s Ashlynn Chavis and Ruby Blackwell gained enough of a lead on the rest of the field to ensure victory for their team, and the Monarchs would cruise across the line in 46.14, the top time in the division this year. Buffalo State, which had the best time in the prelims, finished second.

Women’s 100
Chavis and Blackwell again dominated, as the duo went 1-2 and were again the only two under twelve seconds. Combined, the two played a role in all of their team’s 48 points, which led the Monarchs to a third place finish in the team standings.

Women’s 100H
Irene Johnson of George Fox was the surprise winner, running 14.51 into a stiff headwind. Portia Jones of MIT finished second and helped lead her team to a podium finish by scoring 24 points on the day (including relays).

Women’s 200
Methodist’s Blackwell got the individual title she deserved after an impressive weekend of work by running 24.19 to Nevada Morrision’s 24.86, though Wartburg’s Morrison can’t be too displeased with a second place finish so shortly after winning the open 400.

Women’s 400
As I just mentioned, Morrison was your winner in the 400 with a time of 54.74, the division’s fastest time this year. Marcia McCord of Ithaca finished almost a second behind Morrison, though she held off Mary Mahoney of Mount Union for second place overall.

Women’s 400H (no video)
Laura Barito of Steven’s Institute won the 400 hurdles in the only sub-60 clocking of the season in D3. Her time of 59.49 ties her for sixth in divisional history. Heather Garrity, a freshman from Montclair State, finished second in 60.57.

Women’s 800
Kaitlyn Saldanha of Middlebury led the field through the 400 in 64 seconds, and unlike last night, indoor champ Keelie Finnal of Coe was content to sit back in the pack and slowly move up. As indoor runner-up Ann Tank of Platteville made her move on the backstretch, Finnel shadowed her and ultimately passed with 200 to go before running away with a 2:08.48 victory. Tank held on for second while St. Norbert’s Emily Schudrowitz, 2010 indoor champ, moved up well to claim third.

Women’s 1500
Claire Roberts of Stevens Point took the field out dangerously fast, covering the first 400 in around 68 seconds. Randelle Boots of Wellesley stuck right behind her all the way, with other favorites Margo Cramer of Middlebury and Christy Cazzola allowing a small gap to open up. However, this gap would close quickly and 800 in they were all together around 2:21. Cazzola would take the lead at 600, though she waited until the bell to make her big move. After dropping about ten meters behind, Boots stayed in contact down the backstretch, but she was never able to muster the effort required to close the gap. Cramer eventually overtook Boots in the homestretch in the race for second, but by then Cazzola had already claimed victory in 4:22.11, the fourth fastest time in Division 3 history. Cramer’s time of 4:23.15 places her sixth all time, and Boots’s new personal best of 4:23.34 moves her to seventh.

Women’s 5k (no video)
As expected, top seeded Annie Dear of Williams was unable to compete due to an injury suffered in the 10k on Thursday. The race itself went out fairly slow, though Joanna Johnson again went to the front after a few laps and opened up a small gap between a top three (consisting of herself, recently crowned 10k champ Jennifer Gossels of Williams, and Annie Lydens of Pomona-Pitzer) and the rest of the field. Similar to the 10k, the pace slowed over the course of the race, and the lead group came through 3k in 10:23. Shortly thereafter, Amanda Laesch of North Central caught them, and Johnson began to fade toward the chase pack, ultimately finishing in eighth. Gossels took over with a mile to go, but unlike the 10k she was unable to shake either Laesch or Lydens over the next three laps. Lydens kicked into the lead at the bell, and it quickly became apparent that the race was between her and Gossels, with Laesch having to settle for third, as she did in the 10k. Lydens held strong on the backstretch, but Gossels was simply biding her time until the last 100 meters, when she swung into lane two and had just enough to move past Lydens in the last 30 meters or so, securing her second victory of the weekend. Gossels covered her last mile in 5:15 and the last lap in 73 for a final time of 17:06.76.

Women’s 4x400 and Team Title
At this point the podium finishers (and even their order) were pretty well squared away, with Oshkosh sitting untouchable atop the leaderboard. Likewise, Wartburg was solidified in second, and the only way MIT could move past Methodist into third was to win the final event on the day, which did not come to pass. The division record-holding squad from Wartburg took care of business in a dominating 3:41.02, while MIT took third and Oshkosh took sixth. When all was said and done, Oshkosh won with an impressive 80 points, Wartburg took second with 59, Methodist third with 48, MIT fourth with 45, and Williams fifth with 36.

Men’s 4x100
After a fairly disappointing first two days (at least, relative to their seeds), McMurry came to play on this final day of competition. After posting the third best time in the preliminaries, they won the finals by a solid margin with a time of 40.76. Buffalo State finished second on the men’s side as well, and La Crosse edged Redlands for third by one hundredth of a second, picking up a valuable point in their quest to upend the defending champions from North Central.

Men’s 100
A slow day of sprinting continued as the wind made it difficult to post fast times. However, in a championship setting, it is the place not the time that matters. This is especially true in a race such as this one, where the difference between first and last is a scant .12 seconds. Moravian’s Eric Woodruff edged out Kenneth Turner of McMurry for the win, 10.90 to 10.92, in an incredibly tight finish across the board.

Men’s 110H
Again running into a headwind, Wash U’s Dan Davis took home the title in 14.40, with teammate Tyler Jackson finishing fifth. Ross Blanchard of Redlands, who had the top time in the prelims, finished second.

Men’s 200
Eric Woodruff returned as a champion after winning the 100 earlier in the day, though this time he left no doubt about who won. Again facing a strong headwind, he stopped the clock at 21.55 and was the only man sub-22, successfully defending his 2010 200 meter crown.

Men’s 400
Dan Benton of North Central knew that his squad would need all the help they could get, and he rose to the occasion by taking down top seeded Marcus Fortugno of La Verne with the only sub-47 clocking of the competition (46.84). Fortugno held on for second after emerging from the final turn neck and neck with Benton, with Cortland’s Gino Bisceglia unable to reel either of them in and ultimately finishing in third.

Men’s 400H (no video)
Kevin Cunningham of McMurry, the top seed and the top qualifier from the preliminaries, continued to improve and impress as he coasted to victory in 51.00, making him tied for the sixth fastest performer in D3 history. Demetrius Rooks of Rowan was second in 51.98, though he clearly saved a little for the 4x400.

Men’s 800
Jake Waterman of Wabash led for almost the entire first lap at a relatively slow 55 second pace, and at the bell, Nick Guarino of Fredonia took over it what at the time appeared to be a foolish move, given that Guarino was only 90 minutes removed from the 1500 final and was being shadowed by the top seed and very speedy Ben Scheetz of Amherst. Scheetz covered the move well, and with 200 to go the two had pulled away from the rest of the field. Scheetz would attempt to pass on the final curve, but Guarino surprisngly held him on the outside and put him away in the final straighaway to win in 1:49.89. Guarino is the first D3 800/1500 champion since Nick Symmonds of Willamette, whom I’m sure most of you have heard of. Andrew Wells-Qu of the University of Chicago hung on for third.

Men’s 1500
The field allowed Tim Schoch of Haverford to set an incredibly slow opening pace, which played right into the hands of Guarino, the top seed and the fastest 800 runner of the bunch who was attempting to stay as fresh as possible for the 800 double. The field came through in 65 and 2:12 before Guarino took over for the final 800. He would slightly increase the pace until the bell lap, and would ultimately close in 54 seconds to finish in 3:53.43 and eliminate any possibility for an upset. However, the big story of the race was Dan Sullivan, a freshman from Stevens Point, who busted his way through traffic with 400 to go and emerged as a national contender for years to come with his second place finish.

Men’s 5k
What was expected to be an incredibly unpredictable race did not disappoint in the slightest. The early pace was fairly slow (first mile slightly sub 4:50) with Mike Heymann of Plattsburgh doing most of the work. However, at the 3k mark (covered in around 9 flat), Thursday night’s 10k champ Mike Spain of North Central decided enough was enough and again made a move. Though he dropped most of the pack, he was still surrounded by a host of contenders with 1000 to go, at which point the unheralded Seth Einterz of Wabash took over. Until the final qualifying weekend, Einterz had never run faster than 14:45, and yet here he was attempting to dethrone the reigning indoor champion in the 5k, as well as a host of other contenders. With two laps to go, Thomas Brietbach of Eau Claire decided the time was ride to make another bid for a title after coming up just short in the 10k against Spain. With 600 to go, it looked as though Spain were out of contention, as he had fallen back to sixth and looked like he was hurting. With only a lap to go, Einterz retook the lead, and Spain remained in sixth, though into the backstretch he began to pick up steam and with two hundred to go he had caught up to Einterz and Nick Kramer of Calvin, who finished third in the steeple the night before and was attempting to improve on his lot today. However, Spain was not content to merely catch up, as he let his momentum carry him into the lead around the final turn, and he powered home to an incredible victory in 14:41.15. Breitbach again was second, and Einterz gamely held on for third.

Men’s 4x400 and Team Title
Spain had come through twice now for the Cardinals, and this time he gave them a one point lead over La Crosse heading into the meet’s final event. Whichever team bested the other in the 4x400 would win at least a share of the title. Despite being disqualified in their previous two 4x400’s at nationals, open 400 champ and North Central anchor Dan Benton had said that he was excited, even hoping, that it would come down to this final race. It’s a good thing that he welcomed the pressure, because I cannot imagine a more frightening scenario than the one in which he found himself with the baton: in fourth place behind Rowan, McMurry, and your leaders, La Crosse, though all were within striking distance. Benton rocketed around the first turn and had caught up by the 200 mark, though he had to swing three wide around the final turn to contend with La Crosse and Rowan. Into the final straightaway Benton was still down on La Crosse anchor Aric Hoeschen, but as they neared the finish line he continued to gain ground, ultimately edging him out by two tenths of a second. Rowan would win the race in a time of 3:11.45 with McMurry right behind them, but North Central certainly didn’t mind finishing third, as they had emerged with a two point victory over La Crosse, 58 to 56. McMurry took third with 50 points, Wash U took fourth with 34, and La Verne was fifth with 33.

Well, that’s it for this year of D3 Track and Field, a very impressive year with tons of top marks and times all around. Congrats to everyone who competed on a great nationals meet, and congrats to everyone for making this one of the best years in D3 history. Keep up the good work, and hopefully we’ll see you all again next year out in sunny California.