St. Hilaire Finishes Ninth in Long Jump at NCAA Championships
GENEVA, Ohio – Competing within a field of 22 participants, Fatima St. Hilaire (Dorchester, Mass.) advanced to the finals and finished in ninth place in the long jump at the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships Thursday at the SPIRE Institute.
Placed in the first of two preliminary flights, St. Hilaire started with a jump of 4.97 meters (16' 3.75") before improving on her second attempt to a mark of 5.72 meters (18' 9.25"), just 0.02 meters off her personal best and school record. After a third attempt measuring 5.54 meters (18' 2.25"), she was second overall after the first flight.
St. Hilaire waited as the remaining 11 competitors took their three attempts in the second flight. At the conclusion of the preliminaries, her top jump of 5.72 meters put her in ninth place, good enough to advance to the finals and receive three more attempts. She was one of just two jumpers from the first flight to advance into the finals.
Her best mark of the finals came on her first attempt, which was also the first attempt of the finals overall. St. Hilaire posted a mark of 5.67 meters (18' 7.25"), followed by a low mark on her next attempt. Her final attempt of the meet measured 5.55 meters (18' 2.5"), her fourth jump over 18 feet of the competition.
Lauren Wrensch of Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the national title in the long jump with a top mark of 6.07 meters (19' 11"). Two other student-athletes also hit the six-meter mark, as Isabel Maletich of the University of Chicago finished second at 6.02 meters (19' 9") and Steph Kretlow of St. Thomas (Minn.) ended up in third place at 6.00 meters (19' 8.25").
St. Hilaire's appearance in the NCAA Championships caps her 2019 outdoor track and field season, featuring four Great Northeast Athletic Conference individual titles, her second consecutive GNAC Field Athlete of the Year Award, and two top-five finishes for All-New England honors at the Division III New England Outdoor Track and Field Championships.