May 10, 2014

Championship Home – Complete Results – Photos

UTICA, N.Y. – The 2014 national title for NJCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field came down to the final event of the meet on Saturday on the campus of Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, N.Y.

With SUNY Delhi (N.Y.) leading the tournament field with 130 points heading into the final event of the meet – the 4x400-meter relay – Suffolk (N.Y.) trailed the Broncos by a mere four and a half points.

The Sharks rallied and captured first place with a time of 4:05.84 to finish with 135.5 team points. However, Delhi’s third place finish in the final event gave the Broncos six team points and a final score of 136 – just enough the secure the program’s second outdoor national championship (2005).

The Broncos’ run to the title was with little fanfare as Dehli produced just three individual champions – Michaela Reynolds (high jump), Meghan Fazio (pole vault) and Zhane Ridley (heptathlon). Delhi inched its way to the top of the team standings by taking fourth place or better in 12 events and Bronco athletes finished in the top eight in 16 of the 22 events on the meet schedule.

Buried in the details of the final results, but likely the biggest factor in leading Dehli to a first place team finish, was the fact that Delhi had multiple top eight finishers in nine events while Suffolk had seven.

Highlighting Suffolk’s national runner-up standing was sprinter Tori Thompson who won individual national titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash events with times of 12.42 and 25.08 while also leading the Sharks 4x400 relay team to a first place finish. She also took third place in the long jump (16’ 7.25”) and assisted in Suffolk’s runner-up finish in the 4x100 relay (50.15).

Tournament host Mohawk Valley finished third overall with 108.5 team points, followed by Prince George’s (Md.) with 94 and Gloucester County (N.J.) who earned 61.