Samuels Earns All-America Honors At NCAA Outdoor Championship
UW-Oshkosh junior Isabella Samuels earned her first All-America honor after finishing sixth in the shot put at the NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship held this weekend (May 24-26) in La Crosse.
Samuels achieved her personal-record distance 46 feet, eight inches on her fifth of six attempts. She entered the Division III Championship seeded seventh with her previous top heave of 46-6 1/4 established at the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet on April 28.
Victoire Kothor from State University of New York at Brockport claimed the shot put title with a mark of 52-1 1/4.
Samuels accounted for all three of UW-Oshkosh's team points as the Titans placed 59th among the 80 programs that tallied points at this year's Division III Championship. UW-Oshkosh, which owns a division-record nine national outdoor championships, has scored at least three points at 31 of the past 32 NCAA meets.
UW-Oshkosh was also represented at the Division III Championship by junior Megan Leahy in the pole vault, sophomore Cara Volz in the triple jump and junior Lauren Wrensch in the long jump.
Volz finished 15th with a distance of 37-10 1/2, and Wrensch placed 21st with a leap of 17-7 1/2. Leahy did not clear a height. Taylor Driggers from University of Massachusetts Boston (Mass.) was the triple jump champion with a mark of 41-2 1/2. Illinois Wesleyan University's Amelia Glueck won the long jump title with a distance of 19-10 1/4 while Ohio Northern University's Madison Reed was victorious in the pole vault with a height of 12-11 1/2.
George Fox University (Ore.) and UMass Boston shared the 2018 crown with 44 points apiece, marking the second time two teams tied for first place since the event debuted in 1982. Illinois Wesleyan University and UW-Platteville shared the 2008 title.
This year's top five teams also included third-place Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) with 38 points, fourth-place Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College (Calif.) with 36 and fifth-place Emory University (Ga.) with 35. Washington University was the defending champion.
Rounding out the top 10 in the team standings were Williams College (Mass.) in sixth place with 31.5 points, Ohio Northern University in seventh with 30.5, Oberlin College (Ohio) in eighth with 28, and Wartburg College (Iowa) and Whitworth University (Wash.) in a tie for ninth with 24.
The Titans claimed Division III Championship titles in 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2011.
2018 NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Website