ODAC Athletes Close NCAA Track & Field Championships with Six All-American Awards

ODAC Athletes Close NCAA Track & Field Championships with Six All-American Awards

GREENSBORO, N.C. --- The 2021 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships came to a close on Saturday, but not before ODAC student-athletes made some noise with a half-dozen All-American awards earned. In total, eight stars out of the conference's contingent of 16 qualifiers competed on Saturday.

RELATED: NCAA Championship Results and Information.

Bridgewater's Adalia Coleman earned not one but two All-American awards in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. In the shorter distance, Coleman placed third at 11.96 seconds which, while not as fast as her preliminary time (11.79), was just 0.16 seconds off the winning time by Pacific Lutheran's Bailey Forsyth (11.80) and came against a slight headwind. In the 200-meter dash later on Saturday, Coleman finished fourth at 24.34 seconds. That time is faster than her ODAC Championships (24.42) posting a few weeks prior. Pacific Lutheran's Forsyth won the 200m dash (23.74) as well.

Ferrum's Dazon Harrison put an exclamation on the first track & field season for the Panthers as he earned All-American honors in the 400-meter dash. Harrison finished fifth overall at 47.560 seconds following a photo-finish review with Heidelberg's Dan Stoll (47.555). Harrison's time is the best of his career and is less than a second short of the all-time ODAC record (46.74) set by Roanoke Jesse Thomas in 1978.

Thomas' mark in 1978 is one of the two oldest active records in ODAC history. Lynchburg's Sam Llaneza reset the other one in claiming All-American laurels in the 1,500-meter run. Llaneza finished fifth at 3:47.84, eclipsling the time of 3:49.64 posted by former Hornet Ken Brady in 1978.

A pair of Hornets took part in the men's 5,000-meter run. While Frank Csorba, who earned All-America status in the 10,000-meter run on Thursday, was unable to complete the event, Max Sparks improved upon his #11 seeding by placing seventh to earn All-America recognition. Sparks posted a time of 14:24.10, the best time of his career by 3.50 seconds and less than two seconds off the ODAC record time posted by Csorba earlier this month.

Virginia Wesleyan's Geni Roberts, who competed on Thursday in the men's long jump, improved upon his #10 seeding in the triple jump by four spots on the way to claiming All-America recognition. Roberts placed sixth overall at 14.73 meters (48-4.00), the best mark in the ODAC this season and the top performance of his career.

Lynchburg's Aniya Seward and Virginia Wesleyan's Jaylyn Lane competed in the women's triple jump. Lane, slotted seventh entering the event, finshed in 13th position at 11.19 meters (36-8.50). Seward qualified for the finals as one of the top-nine finishers after the first three jumps, but she finished just outside of All-American range. She placed ninth overall at 11.52 meters (37-9.50), improving upon her initial seeding by six spots.