Brooke Simon Adds Second All-America Honor in Pole Vault on Opening Day of Nationals

GENEVA, Ohio - Brooke Simon earned All-America honors in the pole vault for the second time this year, taking seventh place with a clearance of 3.80 meters on the opening day of the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute.

Caroline DelVecchio also broke her own CMS record in the 400-meter hurdles to advance through to Saturdays finals, while Meredith Bloss came in tenth place in the 10000 meters, just missing the top-eight cutoff for her third All-America award of the year, after taking it in cross country and indoor track and field season previously. 

Simon also was an All-American during the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March, when she came in sixth. She tied for sixth on Thursday as well, but officially earned seventh place due to the tiebreaker (fewer attempts needed to clear 3.80 meters). 

DelVecchio ran a 1:01.02 to take another .19 off her own personal best from earlier this year at the Bryan Clay Invitational. That time broke the previous school record by .02, which had stood for 16 years, since Jackie Muhich ran a 1:01.23 in 2006. The 1:01.02 on Thursday was the fifth-best time in prelims and puts her through as one of the nine athletes left in the finals, where the top eight earn All-America honors. 

DelVecchio will be back in action tomorrow in the 100-meter hurdles to try to reach Saturday's finals in two events. Emily Clarke and Riley Harmon will both compete on Saturday in the finals of the 5000 meters as well.