NCAA Championships Final Results
La Crosse, WI – Messiah's
Liz Martin took an unfortunate fall over the final hurdle of the 400-meter Intermediate Hurdles (IH) on Saturday, and did not finish her bid for a
second All-American honor in as many years in the event.
Martin was sitting in a top-eight placement as she approached the final hurdle, but appeared imbalanced in her jump. After striking the hurdle, the junior lost her footing upon landing and appeared to simultaneously leave her lane and roll her ankle in an attempt to regain her stride.
She was unable to finish the event as medical personnel met her on the track.
Martin was appearing in the NCAA finals after setting a College-record in Thursday's prelims with a time of 1:00.80.
Heather Gearity of Montclair State—the event's No. 1 seed—finished as champion with a time of 59.31 seconds. It was her second-straight national title in the event.
On the men's side Martin's teammate,
Fred Fulton, also faced adversity as he failed to qualify for the finals in the Shot Put. Fulton entered the preliminaries as the No. 4 seed with a season-best measure of 17.99 meters (59'0.25”).
The burly sophomore warmed up before the preliminaries with long throws just short of his season-best distance, but managed an official throw of just 15.96 meters in his competitive attempts.
Nick Blaatz of Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the event with a throw of 17.96 meters.
The landing for Fulton comes after he finished as the
National Runner-Up in the Shot Put at the 2012-13 Indoor Track & Field Championships. Throughout the outdoor season, he struggled through a bit of inconsistency but appeared to be righting himself in time for the NCAA event this weekend; Fulton's season-best and College-record throw of 17.99 meters came toward the end of April while his College-record Hammer toss (182'1”) and College-No. 2 rank in the Discus (156'3”) came as May was approaching.
Fulton and Martin were competing together at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second-straight season. Martin's All-American finish last season was the
seventh-straight year a Falcons' female student-athlete earned an Outdoor All-American.
See screenshots of Martin's 400-meter IH final (Lane 7).
TF: Disaster Hits Martin in 400mIH Final Gallery
