Saturday, June 13, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 13, 2009) - It has been nine years since the ETSU track and field team had a Lady Buccaneer athlete receive All-American honors, but the streak ended on Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Championships inside John McDonnell Field, located on the University of Arkansas campus.

Senior Heidi Dahl (Orem, Utah) ended the drought for the Lady Bucs after her sixth-place finish in the finals of the 1500m propelled her way to All-American honors. The Orem, Utah native had her eyes set on a championship crown in the 1500m, but after running the fastest time in the prelims on Thursday night (4:14.91) the distance runner ran out of gas in the finals and finished in 4:15.03.

Dahl, who is now a three-time All-American track athlete (twice at BYU), became the first Lady Buccaneer athlete to receive the accolade since Catherine Berry accomplished the feat in 2000.

The Atlantic Sun Conference and Mideast Regional champion will now begin preparations for the 2009 USA National Championships. Dahl competes in the first round of the 1500m at the University of Oregon on Thursday, June 25.

Senior JU track & field athlete Natasha Harvey didn't get the ultimate result she wanted in her final meet as a Dolphin after placing 12th in the long jump at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. on Thursday evening.

Harvey earned a place in her third consecutive finals after recording a leap of 20'1.5" (6.13m) to finish 11th in the [Friday] preliminaries, but fouled on her first two jumps today's competition. She recorded a leap of 19'5.5" (5.93m) on her final jump, which put her outside of the final nine to battle for the national title.

Fractions of a second was all that separated Belmont's most decorated sprinter in program history from advancing to the finals of the 200m at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday night in Fayetteville, Ark. Despite setting a new BU record in the event in both the opening and semifinal rounds, sprinter Lynette Rives (Clarksville, Tenn.) was unable to move on to become the first athlete in school history to compete in the finals of any event.

It was deja-vu all over again in the first round of the 200m for Rives. Seeded into the fifth and final qualifying heat, the Clarksville, Tenn., native burst out of the blocks to finish second with a time of 23.53 (-0.7). The mark shattered the school record she set last year in the same round by more than a tenth of a second. It was also the ninth-fastest of the day heading into the semifinals.