Brooke Simon, Meredith Bloss Earn Indoor All-America Honors for CMS Women's Track and Field

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Brooke Simon finished sixth in the pole vault and Meredith Bloss came in seventh in the 5000 meters, as both captured All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track on Friday.

Simon and Bloss earned All-America honors for top-eight finishes. Simon had a clearance of 3.80 meters (12 feet, 5 1/2 inches) to earn her sixth-place finish. She came through in the clutch twice, making it over the bar on her third and final attempt at both 3.75 meters and 3.80 meters to make it into the final six competitors at 3.85. Only four made it past 3.85, with Meghan Matheny of Ithaca and Sarah Voit of Oberlin finishing 1-2 by clearing 3.95. 

Bloss also had a clutch performance to hold onto All-America honors, finishing with the fastest time in the final lap (35.64 seconds) of anyone in the 20-runner field. Her time of 17:00.84 left her in seventh place, comfortably ahead of the 17:11.76 that resulted in a ninth-place finish outside of the podium spots. 

It was the second time this academic year that Bloss has earned her way onto the All-America podium, after coming in 12th at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in November, when she led CMS to a second-place finish at nationals. 

CMS also had two men's runners in the prelims on Friday, but Massimo Bertini (400 meters) and Kai Dettman (800 meters) did not make it through to tomorrow's finals. 

On the second day of the NCAA Championships, Emily Clarke just missed becoming the third Athena All-American, finishing in ninth place in the 3000 meters. Henry Pick and Miles Christensen also competed for the Stags in the 3000, but ended in 16th and 19th place, respectively.