In her final race as a Spartan, Emily MacLeod shattered the MSU track and field 5,000-meter run school record while clocking in a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships on Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
The senior Big Ten champion in the event finished with a 15:48.20 time, breaking the previous record set by former Spartan Nicole Bush at 15:54.26. This marks MacLeod’s second top-10 finish in the event as she placed sixth at the championships last season with a time of 16:06.75.
“I thought it was gutsy,” Director of track and field Walt Drenth said of MacLeod’s performance.
“She’s had a great year, and I was really proud of how she ended it.”
After opening in fourth place at the 600-meter mark with a 1:50.42 split, MacLeod dropped to 12th ,3,400 meters into the race. Moving back into the top 10 at the 3,800-meter mark, she ultimately pushed her way into the seventh-place spot at 4,200 meters and maintained her position, earning First Team All-American honors.
“It was fun,” MacLeod said. “I just went in trying to get as many points as I could for the team. … And, I got All-American, and I ran as hard as I could. It’s just a bittersweet feeling.”
Joining MacLeod as an All-American, sophomore thrower Lonnie Pugh recorded a career-high eighth-place finish in the men’s discus with a 55.36-meter throw Wednesday — the first day of competition.
Similarly in the women’s discus, sophomore thrower Beth Rohl posted a 55.39-meter toss in the women’s discus, earning her a sixth-place finish on Wednesday. On the final day of competition, she competed in the hammer throw and finished 13th with a 58.67-meter toss.
Along with Rohl, the weekend was freshman thrower Zack Hill’s first time at the NCAA Championships. Hill placed 13th overall in the men’s shot put at 18.01 meters.
Despite having a younger team, Drenth said the Spartans were competitive and earned their finishes, and Hill was no exception.
Capping off her Spartan career, senior thrower Ashley Lawrence posted a 52.54-meter throw as she barely missed out on qualifying for the final round by .36 meters. Lawrence finished 10th overall in the event.
In his first NCAA appearance, sophomore vaulter Codi Mattix came in 15th place in the men’s pole vault after reaching a height of 5.15 meters.
Also debuting at the championships, freshman jumper Ashley Stacey finished 23rd in the long jump, reaching a distance of 5.91 meters.
“This is a good step and a good sign for our program that we have a lot of young athletes competing at the national level,” Drenth said. “They need to carry that level of expectation back to practice in the fall and see if we can get more company in the NCAA finals.”
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