3/10/07UW-Platteville's Marcia Taddy concluded one of the best individual weekends in Pioneer history when she won two NCAA III track titles at the national championships Saturday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
Taddy, who anchored the winning distance medley relay team Friday, won the 800-meter run and the mile runs Saturday.
She captured the mile run Saturday in 4:49.38, beating North Central's Amber Druien by exactly two seconds for the title. The Two Rivers native then won the 800-meter run in 2:10.14, finishing ahead of runner-up Kaitlin O'Sullivan from SUNY-Oneonta, who finished in 2:11.95.
On Friday, Taddy led the record-breaking distance medley relay team of Emma Dries, Bobbi Arand and Jessica Scott, who won in a new national meet mark of 11:34.46. Taddy, who now has five national titles and 13 all-American track and cross country honors, earned the track athlete of the meet for her performance.
Even though she came into the meet with the top times in both individual events and the relay race, Taddy performing at such a high of a level when the pressure is on and the other competitors were gunning for her was remarkable, Pioneer Coach Jim Nickasch said.
"That just shows how tough she is, mentally and physically," he said. "I can't tell you how many other coaches came up and said, 'this is just crazy.' She didn't falter at all during the whole weekend."
With the three first-place finishes, the Pioneers finished fifth in the team standings. Williams College won the team title with 42 points, followed by City College of New York with 35, UW-Eau Claire with 32, UW-La Crosse 31, UW-Platteville 30 and UW-Oshkosh 28. Lincoln won the men's title with 59 points, while UW-La Crosse was second with 48 and UW-Oshkosh third with 43.5
Tyler Sigl and Tony Fontanini both earned all-America honors Saturday. Sigl was fifth in the 5,000-meter run in 14:38.36, earning all-America honors in that event for the second straight national meet. He was an outdoor all-America in the 5,000 in 2006. He also earned all-American honors in the indoor mile in 2005 as well as three cross country honors. Fontanini was seventh in the pole vault at 15-7.75, earning his first all-America honor and giving the Pioneers a top eight finish in that event for the third time in five years.
"We had six athletes competing, and they all came back as all-Americans," Nickasch said. "It says a lot for the program and it was just a lot of fun."
(Photo Courtesy of Rose-Hulman)
Related Links