SACRAMENTO, CALIF. – Davidson’s freshman track standout
Kristen Meister concluded her impressive rookie campaign with an 11th place finish in the high jump finals, earning All-America status at the 2007 NCAA Track and Field Championships on Friday evening in Sacramento, Calif.
Meister cleared 1.77 meters to finish tied for 11th place with Lacy Wilson of Texas Tech. Destinee Hooker was the event champion with a jump of 1.92 meters and no misses to best Alabama’s Miruna Mataoanu, who also cleared 1.92 meters with a pair of misses.
Levern Spencer (Georgia), Sharon Day (Cal Poly), Rhonda Watkins (UCLA), Inika McPherson (California), Peaches Roach (Iowa) and Kaylene Wagner (Kansas State) were the top eight in the event, earning All-America status.
Meister, who became just the second Davidson woman to qualify for the NCAA track championships, concludes an impressive rookie campaign with a pair of conference titles and conference and school records.
Meister also became the school's first track All-American with her 11th place finish. In Division I field and track, the top eight finishers in each event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships are eligible for All-America status. In the individual events, if one or more of the top eight finishers are of another nationality, eight American-born athletes are selected in addition to any foreign-born All-Americans.
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This is obviously a major achievement. This is THE All-American list; Kristen is in elite company. Keep in mind that Kristen was competing with the big-time schools (UCLA, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, etc.) Here's the list of other high-jump athletes that received All-American honors, which helps illustrate how major this is for her and Davidson:
High Jump
Kristen Meister, Davidson College
Miruna Mataoanu, University of Alabama
Inika McPherson, University of California
Rhonda Watkins, University of California Los Angeles
Levern Spencer, University of Georgia
Peaches Roach, University of Iowa
Destinee Hooker, University of Texas
Sharon Day, California Polytechnic State University
Rebecca Christe, Harvard University
Kaylene Wagner, Kansas State University
Kristina Bolter, Miami University (Ohio)
Lacy Wilson, Texas Tech University
Congratulations, Kristen!!
Yeah, it's early, but this is fun stuff anyway. Here's what Andy Katz of ESPN.com has to say about the Wildcats in his preseason Top 25 poll:
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