Marion, Ind. – Competing in the finals of the 800m on the last day of the three-day NAIA Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Marion, Ind., senior
Olivia Mathis (Akron, Ohio/Lourdes/St Vincent-St. Mary) from the Saint Xavier University women's track & field team broke her own program record with the best finish by a Cougar runner in team history at nationals when she placed third with a time of 2:10.12 to become the first SXU runner to earn NAIA All-American honors in the 800m. It is the second time this season that she has claimed All-American reconition in the 800m, as she was fourth overall at the Indoor National Championships in March. With the six points earned by Mathis, Saint Xavier finished in a tie for 40
th with four other schools out of 72 scoring teams. University of British Columbia won the national championship, totaling 105 points, for their fifth red banner.
Day One:
- Junior Yanira Deana Paninka (Canary Island, Spain/Central Methodist/IES Jandia) competed in the preliminaries of the 400m Hurdles, just the second Cougar to run in the event at nationals. Racing in the second heat, Deana Paninka narrowly bested her own school record with a time of 1:03.53, just missing the qualifying cut by a second.
- The 4x800 Relay team of senior Lexi Clarke (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet JC/Plainfield South), Deana Paninka, senior Kristin Booker (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) and Mathis, along with alternate sophomore Amaya Rique (St. Louis, Mo./Mineral Area/Seckman), qualified for the finals with the ninth-best time in the prelims at 9.22.70, the sixth-fastest time in team history.
Day Two:
- In the preliminaries of the 800m, Mathis broke her team record with a qualifying time of 2:11.05, fourth-fastest, while running in heat three. Clarke, also racing in the third heat, posted a time of 2:20.89.
- The 4x800 Relay team raced later that afternoon, however they did not finish.
Saint Xavier ties for its second-highest point total at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships and it's the fifth time they have scored at nationals (three points in 2011, four points in 2012, six points in 2014 and 18 points in 2017).
