Nebraska Kearney redshirt junior Lily Novacek won the hammer national title Thursday afternoon in Pueblo, Colo.
The NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships began Thursday and run until Saturday night; live results and live video are available.
Novacek (Kearney H.S.) and junior Nick Abdalla (Omaha South H.S.) in the steeplechase were up first as UNK has qualifiers on each day of the meet.
To become the fourth Loper woman to win a Division II national title, Novacek dominated from started to finish. She had four of the five throws that went at least 200-0 and thus led throughout the competition. Her first toss traveled 209-3, she went 202-0 on her third attempt followed by a 202-7 effort on throw five. Finally, with the natty in the bag, she had a heave of 210-10.
Janet Boettcher (1999 indoor weight throw; 2001 outdoor hammer), Lesley Crutcher (2006 outdoor high jump) and Amber Tiedeman (2006 outdoor shot) are UNK’s previous women to have won D2 national titles. Finally, the MIAA showed its strength in this event by having five of the top 10 finishers with Grand Valley State’s Shelby Ulven the runner up (200-4).
In the evening, Abdalla ran his fifth steeple since April 11. He turned in 9:23.59 to finish eighth in heat two of the prelims and 14th overall but moved to 13th after a disqualification. Places nine through 12 earn second team All-American honors with Titouan Le Grix of Wingate (N.C.) leading prelims thanks to a 9:08.37. The top 12 run again on Friday night.
Gothenburg freshman Madison Smith tosses the discus Friday at 3 p.m. Central.
