By securing its third straight Colonial Athletic Association outdoor championship on Saturday, the Elon University track and field team made history, becoming the first program in the CAA to sweep the womens’ cross country, women’s indoor track and field and women’s outdoor track and field titles in the same season to win the “triple crown” of conference championships.
The Phoenix won the event with 185 points to become the first CAA team to win three straight women’s outdoor titles since William & Mary in 2008-10. Elon beat runner-up Hampton University by 61 points to secure the largest margin of victory in the championship since 2003. The event was hosted by William & Mary.
Elon won championships in five events in the event, including four on Saturday. The 400-meter relay team of sophomore Meghan Wilcox, graduate student Kalli’Ana Botelho, junior Piper Jons and freshman Reese Webster highlighted Elon’s dominant day, as the group set a new championship, school and facility record with a time of 44.91 seconds. It was their fourth time breaking Elon’s school record this year.
For the second straight year, sophomore Leandra Lorenz won a pair of conference titles, as she defended her championships in both the 1,500 and 5,000-meter races. Sophomore Jette Beermann, who won the 5,000-meter at the CAA indoor championship, placed second.
Webster also won an individual title, breaking her own school record in the 100-meter with a time of 11.70 seconds. Redshirt junior Kaitlin McGoogan won Elon’s lone event on Friday in the hammer throw, as she became the first Elon thrower to win the event since Kimberlyn Holt in 2013 when the Phoenix was in the Southern Conference.
Junior Grace Dieleman finished runner-up on Friday in the javelin throw and senior Hannah Miller placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the second straight year at the championship.
Botelho broke Elon’s record in the heptathlon with 5,091 points to finish second. Junior Linn Hertz Saebboe also finished second in the triple jump to round out Elon’s runner-up finishes for the championship.
The Phoenix has won by an increasing margin each of the last three years. In the last two CAA outdoor championships, Elon has finished a combined 102 points ahead of second place.
This was the final leg of Elon’s “triple crown,” as the Phoenix won its fourth consecutive women’s cross country championship in October and the inaugural CAA indoor championship in February.