From wilmingtonquakers.com
(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) – For the fourth time in her short Quakers career, Faith Duncan can call herself a National Champion. She dominated the field by nearly eight seconds Friday evening in the 5000 Meter Run at the NCAA Division Indoor Track & Field Championships, winning with a time of 16:31.42. Penelope Greene of SUNY Geneseo finished second at 16:39.36 while Lewis & Clark College's Riley Buese took third at 16:42.08. Duncan has now won a National Championship during the outdoor season, cross country season, and indoor season.
The group of Duncan, Greene, Buese, and University of Chicago's Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel hung together through the first 2800 meters before Duncan made her move. At the 3000-meter mark, she grabbed a two second lead over the field and never looked back, holding a nearly five second lead by the 3200-meter mark.
She cruised into the finish line and continues to rewrite the Quakers record books. Duncan was the first cross country and track & field athlete to win two national championships, and now becomes the first three-time national champion.
In the 3000 Meter Run, Duncan put herself in rare company, winning her second National Championship of the meet with a meet record time of 9:22.45. This win gave the Quakers an eighth-place finish as a team with 20 total points.
Not only does winning two national championships at a single championship event put you in elite company, doing it the 3000- and 5000-meter runs is almost unheard of. There aren't many runners in collegiate history that have been able to pull off what Duncan did tonight, lots try, but many fail and Duncan showed she was up to the task.
Much like last night's 5000-meter race, Duncan had some company early. Through 1800 meters, Jules Bleskoski of RPI and Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel of the University of Chicago were neck and neck with her. Battleson-Gunkel even led the race for the first several minutes.
However, much like last night, Duncan kicked it into another gear at the 2000-meter mark and grabbed a two second lead before holding a five second advantage at 2200 meters and never looking back. She ended up winning the race by over four seconds as Bleskoski took second at 9:26.55 and Battleson-Gunkel was third in 9:28.94.
Duncan has now won the last four national championships she has competed in, dating back to the 5000 Meter Run in last season's outdoor championships.
