Marcia Taddy made UW-Platteville athletic history at the track and field national championships Saturday when she became the first Pioneer female to win an NCAA Division III title.
Taddy, a sophomore (with freshman eligibility in the outdoor season), won the 800-meter run at the national championships, contested at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
The Two Rivers native won the title in a time of 2:11.54, setting UWP school and Wartburg stadium records. She beat the defending national runner-up, Alicia Andrews of Williamette, who finished second again in 2:12.62.
"It always forces you to get out there and go when you feel someone on your shoulder; it kind off forces you to get out there and go," Taddy told the assembled media after the race. "I had the 1,500 before so I was hoping that would be little helpful to be warmed up and stuff. The 15 didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, so I thought I'd have to try harder for the 800. It feels pretty good to be a national champion, and I'm a little surprised. I wasn't exactly expecting it. I had it in the back of my mind, though."
Taddy also placed sixth in the 1,500-meter run, finishing in a time of
4:34.18.
With two all-America honors over the weekend, Taddy now has five for the school year and completed a rare trifecta. She earned the honors in cross country, two in indoor track and field and two in the outdoor season. Only Justin Wells (2000-01), Ryan Kleimenhagen (2001-02) and Jackie Mulrooney (2003-04) have made that sweep of all-America honors.
Nick Fix also earned all-America accolades for the Pioneers over the weekend, grabbing eighth place in the triple jump at 47-8. The junior from Oconomowoc became the second Pioneer ever to earn honors in that event. His leap was his season's best jump.
"Wow special it was for the program that Marcia made school history becoming the first female track and field athlete to win nationals," Mulrooney said. "Nick Fix has been at it for a long time, knocking on the national door, and he stayed composed and it came together for him."
Kyle Stangel missed qualifying for the 1,500-meter run finals by 12-hundreds of a second, finishing his qualifying heat in 3:58.81.
Tyler Sigl was 17th in the 10,000-meter run in 32:08.36, while Carrie Morschauser tied for 11th in the high jump at 5-3. An ill Mulrooney pulled out of the 10,000-meter run Thursday and then could not run yet on Saturday for the 5,000-meter run.
"This one was really hard to swallow for me because I feel like I did everything right, and found the perfect balance in my training to peak at the right time," Mulrooney said. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be, but I am not going to 'woe is me' about it ... Both the girls and guys had a great season (the girls have never scored that many points at conference) and we're only going to get better, as we are only losing two seniors (Kristin Campbell and Jane Zine)."