For Immediate Release
March 11, 2011
Courtesy of the New Haven Sports Information Department
Albuquerque, N.M. - University of New Haven senior women's track and field student-athlete Shannon Gagne jumped a distance of 5.95m at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championships Friday evening and won the Chargers first-ever track and field national championship.
Gagne also finished first in the 200m and 400m prelims which also took place on Friday.
Freshman sprinter Ada Udaya also posted a qualifying time in the 400m dash and will compete for the national championship with Gagne tomorrow. The freshman also competed in the 200m dash, but missed out on qualifying for the finals by two spots.
Gagne's longest jump came in the second of six rounds on Friday. The next closest jump came from Nebraska-Omaha's Nkeiruka Domike at 5.93m.
The Meriden native then headed to the track and posted a time of 54.18 seconds in the 400m dash prelims. The time was the fastest of the prelims and nearly half a second fastest than the next closest qualifier.
In her final event of the evening, Gagne recorded a time of 23.74 seconds in the 200m dash. The time was also the top time of the two prelim heats, setting Gagne up for a pair of national championship opportunities tomorrow.
On Saturday evening, the women's 400m dash final is at 6:30 p.m. (Eastern) followed by the women's 200m dash at 7:45 p.m. (Eastern). Follow the events via web stream at www.NCAA.com. To access the live stream, go to www.NCAA.com, Multimedia, NCAATV/Streaming.
Live results will also be available on www.FlashResults.com throughout the championship.
