CHARLOTTE, NC – The Northwest Nazarene Crusader track & field duo weathered the storm and managed the delays and re-draws to have a nice finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Charlotte, NC.

Michelle Phillips (Sr. Meridian, ID) ran in a timed final of the women's 800-meters due to the severe weather that shut down competition yesterday the women's 800m that resulted in a re-draw that split the finals into two heats and decided by time. With no preliminary qualifying strategies in play, the heats came down to running against the clock, with only two seconds dividing about half of the field.

Phillips ran well in the first heat, running a time of 2:11.26. Overall Phillips placed 13th and posted the second-best time in NNU school history.  Coach Ben Gall commented, ” I was proud of how Michelle handled herself with the delay and the adversity of having to compete on an unanticipated schedule. Everyone else had to deal with the weather and the changes, and we saw it get so some athletes.  I am just really proud of how well our girls responded.” Philips capped of an excellent season that included a nice cross country season, an indoor Newcomer of the Year award, and making the finals of the 800m at the outdoor national meet.



Lakiesha Nilles (So. Poulsbo, Wa) threw 131'-0”, which was her second best throw of the year, to finish in 12th place, moving up one spot from her 13th position coming into the competition. Coach John Spatz was pleased with her performance, “Lakiesha went to the National meet last year as a freshman, this year she competed and finished better as a sophomore, next year I would expect she makes the finals and has a great shot to end up in the top 8 and become an All-American.” Since Nilles has made the meet now as a freshman and sophomore, she has a chance to become the second Crusader to make the National meet four years in a row following Ashley Puga's lead.



The National Championships is the last meet in the Crusaders season and the athletes will take a short amount of time off and begin the off-season training program. Look forward to the signing of future Crusaders and previews of our upcoming Cross Country season.