WUSTL’s Tyler Jackson Wins 60 Hurdle National Championship at NCAA DIII Indoor Championships

TYLER JACKSON INTERVIEW

Grinnell, Iowa, March 10, 2012 – Washington University in St. Louis senior Tyler Jackson sprinted to a national championship in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, and seniors Erica Jackey and Elizabeth Phillips and freshman Lucy Cheadle all earned All-America honors at the 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Grinnell College.

Washington University finished the meet with five individual All-Americans, along with the national runner-up women’s distance medley relay. The WUSTL women scored 30 points, the most in school history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, to finish third in the team standings. It tied the highest finish in program history for the Washington U. women, who also finished third in 2008 with 23 points. Jackson’s 10 points put the WUSTL men tied for 18th in the final team standings, marking the third top-20 finish in school history. Wartburg College won the women’s title with 99 points, while North Central College was the men’s champion with 48 points.

Jackson became the first men’s athlete in Washington University history to win an indoor national championship, and just the fourth student-athlete in men’s program history to win an individual national championship. He got a great start out of the blocks to jump to the lead early in the race and sprinted through the finish line in 7.93 seconds, which was .08 of a second ahead of runner-up Sutton Coleman of Rose-Hulman. Jackson’s time was .14 of a second faster than his own school record in the event, which he set during Friday’s prelims.

In the women’s mile, Jackey and Phillips were both running near the middle of the pack when Jackey fell to the track with about two laps remaining. She jumped up and sprinted from ninth-place back up to amid the leaders. Heading into the final lap, another one of the leaders fell, leaving Jackey, Phillips and Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Christy Cazzola ahead of the rest of the field. The Washington U. duo closed the gap on Cazzola down the final stretch, but was unable to pass her for the national championship as Cazzola won in 4:51.99. Jackey finished second in 4:52.66 and Phillips was third in 4:53.78, as both times bettered Phillips’ previous school record of 4:54.15 in the event.

Cheadle, Washington U.’s final competitor of the meet, also had a career day for the Bears. She finished sixth in the women’s 5,000 with a career-best time of 17:19.65 to earn All-America honors. Cheadle’s time ranks third on Washington University’s all-time list, and was more than three seconds faster than her previous best in the event.

In Friday’s action, sophomore Anna Etherington earned All-America honors by finishing fourth in the women’s pole vault. Jackey and Phillips joined sophomores Shannon Howell and Elizabeth Worley to place second in the women’s distance medley relay with a school-record time. Meanwhile, sophomore Jasmine Williams just missed All-America honors by finishing 10th in the women’s high jump.