Regan Wins National Title: Pitman and Smith All-Americans
GRINNELL, IOWA (March 11, 2016) – Senior
Amy Regan of the Stevens Institute of Technology women's indoor track and field won the National Championship in the 5,000 meter run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships Friday at the Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center in Grinnell, Iowa.. Ithaca juniors
Katherine Pitman and
Brandy Smith both recorded All-American performances.
Regan, who finished second in a controversial finish last indoor season, broke the Bear Athletic Center record with a time of 16:48.62. The time was nine seconds better than Ruth Steinke of Carleton College, and bested the previous facility best by 13 seconds.
"This is Amy's first national title on the track so it's really exciting," Head Coach
Justin Wood said. "She worked so hard since NCAA's last year to be ready for this."
The Green Brook, N.J. native raced out to a fast start, finishing the first lap in 1:12.70 and led the race wire-to-wire. "The race went as planned, which was to set a fast pace early and then settle into a steady rhythm," Wood said. "At one point she had a 16 second lead and then they closed that down a bit at the end."
This is the second National Championship for Regan, who also won a cross country title in the fall of 2014. Earlier this season, Regan broke the school record in the 5K, setting a new mark of 16:23.4. which also is the second fastest ever run in Division III history.
Regan isn't done yet, and will be competing in the
3,000-meter tomorrow at 5:25 eastern time.
Pitman was the runner-up in the pole vault with a mark of 3.95 meters. She cleared her first attempts at 3.70, 3.80 and 3.85 meters, before moving on after her third try at 3.90 meters. The Swampscott, Mass. native would then pass the 3.95 threshold on her second attempt, but missed all three tries at 4.00 meters.
Smith picked up her second career All-American honor with a personal-best and school-record mark of 18.46 meters in the weight throw. She measured out 18.43 meters on her first two flights, and then reached 18.46 on her third attempt. Smith fouled on two of her final three tries, but was nearly a meter ahead of the fourth place finisher.