Roanoke Standout Finishes Second in the 800-meter Run

NAPERVILLE, Ill. --- Roanoke College senior Carmen Graves finished second in the women's 800M finals at the 2013 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday night.

Graves finished second overall in the women's 800m in a time of 2:10.75. Tara Clemens of Illinois Wesleyan was the overall event winner finishing in a time of 2:09.88.  With her second place finish, Graves earns her fourth All-American award in track and field.  It is also her best finish ever at the NCAA National Championships.

Executing race plans as usual; Graves ran a very smart race. With 400 meters to go, Carmen moved into second place in pursuit of Clemens. Clemens and Graves continued to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Despite Carmen running the last lap in 31 seconds, Clemens held on for the win in a time of 2:09.88. The next finisher after Carmen finished in 2:12.

"We are extremely proud of Carmen,” said assistant coach Carl Blickle. “She ran the race exactly as planned and left every ounce of energy out on the track today. To come home with a national runner up trophy at an event of this magnitude is quite an accomplishment."

In the prelims, Graves finished in first place in her heat, running the 800M in 2:10.96.  She defeated the nearest person to her in her heat by seven-hundredths of a second.  Graves finished second overall in the prelims to.  Clemens had the top preliminary time of 2:10.11.  In the 2012 NCAA DIII Indoor Championships, Graves finished one place higher than Clemens, beating her by more than half a second.

--- This release is courtesy of the Roanoke College sports information department. ---
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