ALLENDALE, Mich. (May 27, 2021) – Senior
Lauren Fairchild (McKinney, Texas) of the No. 20 Colorado State University Pueblo women's track and field program closed her career as an All-American on day one of the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The outdoor championships are in Allendale, Michigan at the Grand Valley State Track & Field Stadium.
Fairchild finished fifth in the long jump to claim All-American honors. Her fifth jump hit 5.97m (19' 7") to move her from eighth to fifth. In her career, she was a three-time All-American in the long jump, which included winning the 2019 NCAA Division II Indoor Championship.
"Lauren had an outstanding season and an unbelievable career," said CSU Pueblo Head Coach
Matt Morris. "We had a plan to put her in a situation to win, but those top four athletes were really good and today wasn't her day. She had a hard time getting on the board. She was able to jump 6.41m this year and over 6.30m a handful of times and finished her career with a number of school records, four All-American awards and was a National Champion. I'm super proud of her and excited for her to move on to the next part of her life."
In the 1500m run,
Hailey Streff (Jr., Madison, S.D.) raced to first in the second heat to automatically qualify for Saturday's final. She raced to a time of 4:25.83, which was sixth in the event. She will run the final at 3:25 p.m. MT.
"Hailey looked great today and executed her race plan perfectly to punch her ticket to the final," Morris said. "I'm excited to see her race in the final on Saturday."
Senior
Liz Lockhart (Los Alamos, N.M.) just missed the final of the hammer throw. Her second throw reached 53.50m (175' 6") to be third in the first flight. She finished 10th overall, as the top nine athletes advanced to the final. She entered the event, which was her first NCAA Championship, ranked 12th.
"I'm super proud of Liz," said
Scott Murray, CSU Pueblo Assistant Coach for throws. "She did so many great things this season and hit some really big numbers. We got to the meet and wanted to hit the big one to get out of the first flight. She was close and put it all out there. After missing out on her season last year it was ever more impressive to come back and qualify."
For the men, senior
Marcelo Laguera (Chihuahua, Mexico) placed 14th in the 10,000m run. He posted a time of 31:10.39. He was second for the majority of the first half of the race, but an injury force him to drop back.
"We had an aggressive race plan for Marcelo," Morris said. "We knew that most likely Ezra Mutai would go to the front and push the pace and our strategy was to cover it and put ourselves in a situation to win. Unfortunately, it didn't go the way we wanted, but we will need to regroup and get ready for the 5K on Saturday."
Friday, junior
Yasmine Hernandez (Jr., Johnstown, Colo.) will race the 800m prelim at 3:40 p.m. MT. She enters the 800m race with the second fastest time in Division II this season and an automatic mark of 2:05.95.
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