Half of the length of a baton and a blink of the eye....by that much we missed having two All Americans here at the NCAA meet. Junior Sarah Grimm came up five inches short of making the finals in the hammer and being named an All American for the first time ever. She won her first Mountain West Conference title back in May before qualifying for the NCAA meet. I can't think of anyone on our current team who has improved as much as she has in the past two years. She works hard and listens to instructions from our throws coach Tapio Kuusela. This is the fifth straight year Tapio has had a hammer thrower at the NCAA meet.
Last night was another close call. Research proves that it takes .14 seconds to blink. Senior Chelsea Shapard missed the final of the 400m hurdles by .16 seconds. Coming up the home stretch and off the final hurdle she was right in the mix for the fourth and final qualifying spot. As the crossed the line however, she was edged out in a blanket finish and had to settle for seventh in her heat with a time of 58.36.
She definitely ran a much more competitive race and didn't have to come from as far behind as she did in the prelims. Like Grimm, Shapard finished 13th overall in her final collegiate track meet.
I have mixed emotions because on one hand Chelsea ran how we told her she'd need to run to even have a chance to make the final. But she just missed and so I am sad for her because her goal was to be an All American and make that final. She came agonizingly close, but that is the NCAA meet.
It was a great finish to one of the best seasons in recent Utah Track & Field history. The challenge now will be to sustain this success and continue to build on this momentum next year.
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