Emory University senior Theresa Ford capped off her career as an Eagle with a pair of all-America finishes at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin, finishing second in the heptathlon and fourth in the high jump on Friday.
In addition, senior Kaele Leonard qualified for the finals of the 400-meter dash with a school-record setting performance.
Ford finished the heptathlon with a school-record 4,828 points, breaking her own Emory record of 4,729 set earlier this season. After leading through the first six events of the heptathlon, she entered the final event, the 800-meter dash, with a 143 point lead over the second-place competitor in the standings. However, despite recording a career-best time of 2:46.40 in the event, she was jumped in the standings by Hendrix's Elizabeth Krug, who moved up from fourth-place with a time of 2:26.17 to best Ford by just seven points.
Ford's second-place finish in the heptathlon was the best in the history of the Emory Women's Track and Field program. The only other Eagle to ever earn all-America honors in the multi-event was Ashley DeMarco, who finished eighth in the heptathlon at the 2007 NCAA Championships.
Ford entered the second day of competition in the heptathlon in first place with 3,040 points, holding a 66 point lead over the second-place competitor. Her lead was built on a first-place finish and school-record setting performance in the high jump (1.72 meters), in addition to career bests in the 100-meter hurdles (fifth-place, 14.94 seconds) and 200-meter dash (10th place, 26.11 seconds), and a 12th-place finish in the shot put (9.90 meters).
She would add to her lead early in the second day, finishing second overall in the long jump with a leap of 5.49 meters (the second-best mark of her career), good for 697 points towards her overall score. Ford would later claim sixth in the javelin throw with a distance of 35.91 meters, good for another 589 points.
Ford claimed her first career outdoor all-America honor earlier in the day, finishing fourth in the individual high jump by clearing the bar at a height of 1.70 meters, the third-best mark in school history. She joined Donna Edwards (1994) as the only Emory women to earn all-America honors in the outdoor high jump.
Ford scored a total of 13 points towards the Eagles' team score, gaining eight from her second-place finish in the heptathlon, and five from her fourth-place finish in the high jump. Emory stood in sixth-place in the team standings by the end of the heptathlon on Friday.
With the two All-America honors earned on Friday, Ford capped off one of the all-time careers by an Eagle. She ended her time at Emory with five all-America honors (three indoor, two outdoor) and three University Athletic Association (UAA) Most Valuable Performer Awards.
Meanwhile, Leonard was the second overall finisher in the 400-meter dash preliminaries, winning her heat with a time of 56.00 seconds. The time represented a school-record, besting the previous mark, set by former Eagle Alix Dyer last season, by .34 seconds, and Leonard's previous career-best mark in the event by .54 seconds. Leonard will compete for the National Championship in the 400-meter dash on Saturday at 4:40 PM ET.
In the 100-meter hurdles, junior Morgan Monroe ran a career-best time, but fell just one place and five-hundredths of a second short of qualifying for the finals of the event. Her mark of 14.36 seconds ranked as the fourth-best time in Emory history. In addition, her 10th-place finish in the preliminaries was a five-spot improvement from her 15th-place finish last season.
Sophomore Debora Adjibaba capped off the day with a time of 12.40 seconds in the 100-meter dash. She placed 21st overall in the event, failing to qualify for Saturday's finals.
Leonard will be the lone Eagle competing on Saturday, the final day of competition at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Ford Finishes Second in Heptathlon; Fourth in High Jump on Second Day of NCAAs
Posted: May 24, 2013