The proverbial hammer lay in waiting until the third to last event.

When the hammer dropped, Lucia Cannata had won the race, Sara Johnson had finished third and Ashura Powell fourth in the finals of the 200-meter dash.

That gave the Blue Streaks a 14-point lead that proved to be insurmountable as John Carroll pulled off a historical victory to capture its first Ohio Athletic Conference championship in the sport of women's track & field.

The Blue Streaks scored 174 points over the two-day event held at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Mount Union was second with 171 points and Otterbein was third at 167. No other team scored over 100.

Cannata was named the OAC Women's Sprinter of the Year and Kyle Basista and his coaches were named the OAC Women's Staff of the Year.

"Today was a great day to be a Blue Streak," said Basista. "This weekend was a culmination of our student-athletes rising to the challenge and being committed to the process. Championships are never easy to come by in this conference. This is a huge moment for our program, and has been years in the making. The student-athletes and coaches both in the past and present have committed day in and day out to building something special by pursuing excellence on a constant basis. This is a day we will never forget, and hopefully a sign of things to come in the future."

JCU had finished third in 1993 and again in 2006, but had never rested on the top rung of the ladder until today. 

John Carroll joined the Ohio Athletic Conference in 1989-90, just one year after the program won its first league track title of any kind - the Presidents' Athletic Conference crown in 1988 under Grove Jewett.

31 years later, the Blue Streaks can claim a second championship.

The 200-meter dash may have been the hammer, but there many tools in the box that helped build this his amazing achievement.

JCU began the day trailing Mount Union by a single points (61-60), but the salvo was fired early that John Carroll would be in for the battle. Maria DeLuca led off with her first career title, winning the triple jump by hitting a distance of 11.44 meters. Courtney Phoennik was the OAC runner up at 11.25 meters, and Katelyn Frandanisa placed fourth at 10.90 meters.

Proof that every point mattered was the point earned by Emoni Davis. With a final margin of three points in the team standings, Davis contributed mightily with an eighth place finish in the shot put (11.42 meters).

The same goes for Nikki Linn, who is seemingly a guaranteed point scorer for JCU at big events. In the high jump, she placed fifth by clearing 1.56 meters.

Olivia Hurtt finished off the field events by earning All-OAC honors as the runn-up in the hammer throw (48.78 meters).

The track grind began with the 4 x 100 relay, as the JCU quartet of Johnson, Powell, Izzie Penna and Cannata set a school record and captured the OAC title with a winning time of 48.02, which is 11th best in nation.

Cannata and Johnson kept the pressure on with their efforts in the 100-meter dash. Cannata won the first of her two Ohio Athletic Conference titles with a winning time of 12.33, and Johnson placed second with a time of 12.37. Both runners are freshmen for the Blue Streaks.

Karrah Spencer followed by taking sixth place in the finals of the 100-Meter Hurdles.

Another big point haul proved to be the 400-meter dash. Powell claimed yet another All-OAC honor, this time placing third in the finals with a time 57.60 that was just .11 of a second out of first place. Autumn Hale took fourth (1:00.35) and Mary Claire Smeltzer earned sixth (1:01.26).

That set the stage for the epic 200-meter dash several events later. The Blue Streaks trailed Otterbein and Mount Union when the race began. When the race ended, JCU was 14 clear of both teams. Cannata claimed her second individual title of the day with a winning time of 25.29, Johnson was third (25.69) and Powell was 4th (25.82).

With two events left, JCU simply needed points to keep the pursuers at bay. Cameron Bujaucius, who was the OAC runner-up Friday night in the 10K, earned All-OAC honors and picked up six big points by placing third in the 5000-meter run (17:44.70).

JCU still had an eight point lead heading in to the final event, the 4 x 400 Relay. A fifth place finish or higher would cement the title. 

Fittingly, the quartet had a senior anchor. Smeltzer, Cannata, Hale and Powell made it official, claiming third place to earn All-OAC status, collecting the necessary six points, and delivering JCU its first OAC championship.