The Emory University Women's Outdoor Track and Field team continued its reign over the University Athletic Association (UAA) during the 2013 season, winning its fourth-consecutive conference championship and finishing tied for 16th at the NCAA Championships, the second-best national finish in the program's history.
The Eagles were led at the 2013 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships by a pair of seniors – Theresa Ford and Kaele Leonard – who combined for three individual all-America finishes. Ford captured two of the all-America honors, including a second-place finish in the heptathlon with a school-record 4,828 points, just seven points shy of the first-place finisher. During the course of the multi-event, Ford recorded career-best marks in four of the six events, including a school-record 1.72 meters in the high jump. The second-place finish was the highest by an Eagle in an individual event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2002, and just the second all-America finish by an Emory competitor ever in the heptathlon. Ford claimed an addition all-America certificate in the individual high jump, finishing fourth overall, also the best-ever finish in the event by an Eagle.
Leonard claimed Emory's first all-America finish ever in the outdoor 400-meter dash, finishing seventh overall in the event. In the process, she broke the school's 400-meter dash record twice, running a time of 56.00 seconds in the preliminaries and a mark of 55.85 in the finals, almost a half-second better than the previous school-best mark.
Ford and Leonard combined to score 15 points for Emory, good for a 16th-place finish out of 77 scoring teams at the meet, hosted by the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. It marked a two-spot improvement on the Eagles' 18th-place finish in 2012, and was second in school history only to the program's ninth-place finish in 2002.
A number of other Eagles competed but did not score at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Junior Morgan Monroe fell just shy of qualification for the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, finishing 10th in the preliminaries despite running a career-best time of 14.36 seconds. Sophomore Debora Adjibaba added a 17th-place finish in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash (24.84 seconds) and a 21st-place finish in the 100-meter dash preliminaries (12.40 seconds). Emory also had two relays in action at the meet, with the 4x400-meter relay team of Adjibaba, sophomore Electra Korn, freshman Julie Williamson and Leonard finishing 13th in the preliminaries with a time of 3:51.58, and the 4x100-meter relay team of junior Pollara Cobb, Leonard, Monroe and Adjibaba finishing 16th in the preliminaries with a time of 48.45 seconds.
In addition to Leonard and Ford's program records set at the NCAA Championships, one other school outdoor record fell during the 2013 outdoor season. At the Furman Blue Shoes Invitational, Adjibaba set the new Emory standard in the 200-meter dash, running a time of 24.64 seconds in the event. To date, she is the only Emory woman to ever break the 25-second mark in the outdoor 200-meter dash, accomplishing the feat five times during the 2013 season.
For his efforts during the season, John Curtin was named the Women's Outdoor South/ Southeast Region Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). It marked the third time in his career and second-straight season he has claimed the honor.
Emory won its fourth-consecutive conference title at the 2013 UAA Championships, hosted by New York University at Icahn Stadium, marking the second-longest streak of consecutive championships in UAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field history. The Eagles totaled 209 points during the meet, besting second-place Washington University (Mo.) by 23 points. It was the eighth women's outdoor title in the program's history.
Adjibaba was named the UAA's Most Outstanding Performer for Running Events for the second-straight season, becoming the first repeat winner of the honor in Emory history, and just the fourth in the history of the conference. She won all four events she competed in, and recorded conference-record times in both the 100-meter dash (12.14 seconds) and 200-meter dash (24.83 seconds). Ford was named the UAA Most Outstanding Performer for Field Events after scoring 46 points by herself during the meet, which would rank her sixth-place in the team standings, and just seven points behind sixth place. She set a new conference record of 5.73 meters during her win in the long jump, and added all-UAA honors in the 100-meter hurdles, triple jump, high jump and discus throw. Also, Emory's coaching staff of Curtin and assistants Carl Leivers, Mark Johnson, Aaron Campbell and Pedro Vazquez were named the UAA Coaching Staff of the Year for the fourth-straight year and ninth time overall.
Adding on an individual UAA Championship was junior Meredith Lorch, who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:15.63. Emory claimed conference titles in two relays as well, with Cobb, Leonard, Monroe and Adjibaba winning the 4x100-meter relay, and Adjibaba, Korn, Williamson and Leonard finishing first in the 4x400-meter relay. The Eagles added an additional eight second-place finishes and four third-place finishes at the 2013 UAA Championships for a total of 18 all-UAA honors.
At the start of the season, the Eagles finished atop the team standings in both of their scored home meets. At the Emory Invitational, the squad finished first out of 19 teams, and followed that a week later with a first-place finish out of 15 teams at the Emory Classic.
A number of Emory athletes were honored for their academic achievements, as well as their athletic success, during the 2013 outdoor season, as Debora Adjibaba, Stephanie Crane and Theresa Ford were each named to the Capital One Academic All-District team.
The Eagles earned the following honors during the 2013 season:
All-America |
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Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
Heptathlon, High Jump |
Kaele Leonard |
Elmhurst, IL (York Community) |
400m Dash |
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NCAA Championship Participant |
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Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
100m Dash, 200m Dash, 400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Kaele Leonard |
Elmhurst, IL (York Community) |
400m Dash, 400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
Heptathlon, High Jump |
Morgan Monroe |
Bridgewater, NJ (Bridgewater-Raritan Regional) |
100m Hurdles, 400m Relay |
Pollara Cobb |
Tamuning, Guam (John F. Kennedy) |
400m Relay |
Electra Korn |
Woodinville, WA (Eastside Preparatory) |
1600m Relay |
Julie Williamson |
Chatham, NJ (Chatham) |
1600m Relay |
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USTFCCCA South/ Southeast Coach of the Year |
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John Curtin |
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University Athletic Association (UAA) Most Outstanding Performer |
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Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
Running Events |
Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
Field Events |
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UAA Coaching Staff of the Year |
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Head Coach |
John Curtin |
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Assistant Coaches |
Aaron Campbell, Mark Johnson, Carl Leivers, Pedro Vasquez |
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UAA Champion |
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Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
100m Dash, 200m Dash, 400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Kaele Leonard |
Elmhurst, IL (York Community) |
400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Pollara Cobb |
Tamuning, Guam (John F. Kennedy) |
400m Relay |
Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
Long Jump |
Electra Korn |
Woodinville, WA (Eastside Preparatory) |
1600m Relay |
Meredith Lorch |
Concord, MA (Concord-Carlisle Regional) |
3000m Steeplechase |
Morgan Monroe |
Bridgewater, NJ (Bridgewater-Raritan Regional) |
400m Relay |
Julie Williamson |
Chatham, NJ (Chatham) |
1600m Relay |
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All-UAA (Top-Three Finisher at Conference Championships) |
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Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
100m Hurdles, Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Discus Throw |
Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
100m Dash, 200m Dash, 400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Kaele Leonard |
Elmhurst, IL (York Community) |
200m Dash, 400m Dash, 400m Relay, 1600m Relay |
Electra Korn |
Woodinville, WA (Eastside Preparatory) |
400m Dash, 400m Hurdles, 1600m Relay |
Morgan Monroe |
Bridgewater, NJ (Bridgewater-Raritan Regional) |
100m Dash, 100m Hurdles, 400m Relay |
Julie Williamson |
Chatham, NJ (Chatham) |
1600m Relay, 3200m Relay |
Barrington, RI (Barrington) |
3200m Relay |
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Pollara Cobb |
Tamuning, Guam (John F. Kennedy) |
400m Relay |
Stephanie Crane |
Annapolis, MD (Broadneck) |
800m Run |
Portland, OR (Catlin Gabel) |
3200m Relay |
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Monroeville, PA (Gateway Senior) |
3200m Relay |
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Meredith Lorch |
Concord, MA (Concord-Carlisle Regional) |
3000m Steeplechase |
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Capital One/ CoSIDA Academic All-District |
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Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
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Stephanie Crane |
Annapolis, MD (Broadneck) |
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Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
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UAA Athlete of the Week |
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Theresa Ford |
Minneapolis, MN (The Blake School) |
Mar. 25, Apr. 15, May 28 |
Kaele Leonard |
Elmhurst, IL (York Community) |
Mar. 25, May 6, May 28 |
Debora Adjibaba |
Chambersburg, PA (Mercersberg Academy) |
Apr. 1, Apr. 15 |
Electra Korn |
Woodinville, WA (Eastside Preparatory) |
May 20 |
Morgan Monroe |
Bridgewater, NJ (Bridgewater-Raritan Regional) |
Apr. 22 |
The following were the top marks by Emory athletes during the 2013 outdoor season:
100m Dash |
Debora Adjibaba |
12.14 |
UAA Championships |
200m Dash |
Debora Adjibaba |
24.64 *E |
Furman Blue Shoes Invitational |
400m Dash |
Kaele Leonard |
55.85 *E |
NCAA Championships |
800m Run |
Stephanie Crane |
2:14.66 |
Gregory Invitational |
1500m Run |
Stephanie Crane |
4:41.09 |
Duke Invitational |
3000m Run |
11:31.99 |
Furman Blue Shoes Invitational |
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5000m Run |
18:08.50 |
UAA Championships |
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10000m Run |
38:47.44 |
Emory Classic |
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100m Hurdles |
Morgan Monroe |
14.36 |
NCAA Championships |
400m Hurdles |
Electra Korn |
1:04.77 |
UAA Championships |
3000m Steeplechase |
Meredith Lorch |
11:15.19 |
Georgia Tech Invitational |
High Jump |
Theresa Ford |
1.72m *E |
NCAA Championships |
Pole Vault |
3.35m |
(Two Meets) |
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Long Jump |
Theresa Ford |
5.73m |
UAA Championships |
Triple Jump |
Theresa Ford |
11.32m |
UAA Championships |
Shot Put |
Theresa Ford |
10.55m |
UAA Championships |
Discus |
Theresa Ford |
38.95m |
Emory Classic |
Hammer |
31.16m |
Mountain Laure Invitational |
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Javelin |
Theresa Ford |
37.91m |
UAA Championships |
Heptathlon |
Theresa Ford |
4,828 pts *E |
NCAA Championships |
400m Relay |
Pollara Cobb, Kaele Leonard, Morgan Monroe, Debora Adjibaba |
47.68 |
Furman Blue Shoes Invitational |
1600m Relay |
Debora Adjibaba, Electra Korn, Julie Williamson, Kaele Leonard |
3:49.48 |
Gregory Invitational |
3200m Relay
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Marissa Gogniat, Calley Edwards, Emily Caesar, Julie Williamson |
9:21.26 |
UAA Championships |
*E – Indicates Emory record