The Angelo State women's track and field team recorded its best-ever finish, placing second at the 2009 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships at the LeGrand Sports Complex.
It came down to two seconds between national champion and runner-up as the Rambelles' 4x400-meter relay squad nearly pulled off the victory, placing second in the event behind meet champion Lincoln. The ASU foursome of Daunyae Harris, Celethia Byrd, Aisha Adams and Andria Nussey san a school-record 3:41.38 in the final race of the night to come within three points of Lincoln in the team standings.
The Rambelles ended the meet with 82 points, just behind Lincoln's total of 85. UC San Diego finished in third place with 56 points, Grand Valley State was fourth with 39.5 points and St. Augustine's was fifth with 38 points.
The Angelo State women came into the final day of competition with a 22-point lead over Lincoln but had just ten scoring opportunities compared to the Blue Tigers' 11. Lincoln picked up ten points with a win in the 4x100-meter relay, cutting ASU's cushion to 12 points. The Rambelles then opened their third day with two All-America performances in the javelin throw as Adree Lakey placed fourth and Culley Jo Dawson placed sixth to boost the ASU lead over Lincoln to 20 points at that time.
Lincoln then knotted the team race during the 100-meter dash as the Blue Tigers placed three runners in the top four finishers for 21 points. However, ASU's Celethia Byrd collected an eighth-place All-American finish in the event to give the Rambelles one point to force the tie.
The Blue Tigers took their first lead of the event after collecting a fourth-place finish in the high jump to take a six-point cushion with five events left on the docket. But it was Aisha Adams, who became ASU ninth female national champion Friday in the heptathlon, placed second (and Chrystal Ruiz placed seventh in the 400-meter hurdles to boost the Rambelles back into the lead, 59-54, with four events left.
The Rambelles then added 14 points in the discus throw as Lakey and Dawson placed second and third, respectively. Lakey recorded a toss of 161'10" for her fourth All-American performance of the weekend while Dawson went 160'9" for her third All-America certificate of the weekend. With three events left, and neither team having any competitors in the 5,000-meter run finals, Angelo State held a 19-point lead, 73-54.
But, Lincoln would add 21 more points in the 200-meter dash as the Blue Tigers has four runners in the finals of the event, placing finishers first, third, sixth and eighth. Byrd kept the Rambelles within one point by placing eighth in the 200 to earn another All-America honor.
The two teams traded leads in the 4x400 before the Blue Tigers pulled away to win with a time of 3:39.45.
