This year the team swept the women's cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field championships.
Three was the magic number for Elon University track & field on Saturday as the Phoenix won its third consecutive CAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship and the women’s team achieved its goal of completing the triple crown – sweeping the women’s cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field championships in one year – with one of the most dominant performances in CAA track & field history.
Entering the day with a seven-point lead, Elon ran away with the championship in just three events to open Saturday morning. Kalli’Ana Botelho broke the school record in the heptathlon and earned CAA runner-up honors followed by the 400 relay team’s astonishing meet record performance to win the conference title. Elon then effectively buried the competition as Leandra Lorenz, Jette Beermann and Anna Twomey placed first, second and fourth in the 1500. By the time those three events were completed, Elon’s lead was 43 points and the Phoenix was never threatened again.
Elon won the meet by 61 points, scoring 185 team points. Hampton was a distant second with 124 points and host William & Mary was third with 90 points, North Carolina A&T (87), Delaware (78.5), Northeastern (72) and Towson (70) followed, while Monmouth (41), UNCW (30.5), College of Charleston (20), Stony Brook (15) and Hofstra (6) rounded out the scoring.
Elon’s 61-point win was the largest margin of victory at the CAA Championship since William & Mary won the 2003 championship over George Mason by 66.5 points. Combined with Elon’s 41-point victory a year ago, the Phoenix have outscored CAA competition by 102 points in the past two years.
With its third consecutive CAA Championship, Elon is the first program to win three straight titles since William & Mary did the same from 2008-10. With the inaugural CAA Indoor Track & Field Championship starting earlier this year, Elon became the first program in conference history to earn the triple crown by winning the women’s cross country title in the fall, the indoor track & field championship in the winter, and the outdoor track & field crown in the spring.
Elon won four event championships on Saturday, giving the Phoenix five titles on the weekend.
The 400 relay team of Meghan Wilcox, Kalli’Ana Botelho, Piper Jons and Reese Webster set new meet and facility records to win the conference championship in 44.91 seconds. It was the fourth time this year that the quartet has broken Elon’s school record.
Leandra Lorenz doubled up on conference championships for the second year in a row, defending her titles in both the 1500 and the 5000. In the 1500, she beat out teammate Jette Beermann, the CAA’s indoor track & field champion in the event, by just over a second. In the 5000, the top four finishers were separated by less than a second as Lorenz overcame William & Mary’s Sofia Istnick as well as teammates Katie Blount and Maggie Springer down the home stretch.
Freshman Reese Webster tied her own school record in the 100 with a time of 11.70 seconds and leaned across the line just ahead of Towson’s Maya Tucker for the title.
Visit ElonPhoenix.com to find more details about the championship win.