TWO TITLES! Muscaro Repeats as 400m Champion, Wins First-Ever 200m Title at NCAA Championships
Links: NCAA Championship Results | Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Follow @MerrimackTFXC
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Still finding ways to top herself year after year, senior captain Carly Muscaro (Ashland, Mass.) of the No. 15 Merrimack College women's track & field team successfully defended her 400m national title with the fasest time in Division II history, then followed that effort by winning her first-ever title in the 200m to take home two individual titles at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday evening.
The Basics
Event: 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships
Results: Muscaro (400m National Champion - 51.78 | 200m National Champion - 23.57)
Location: CrossPlex Complex | Birmingham, Ala.
How It Happened
- Having won two consecutive 400m titles entering the championships, in both the outdoor and indoor seasons last year, and registering the second-fastest time in Division II history in the event this season, Muscaro entered Saturday's 400m final as the clear favorite for the title. The now four-time National Champion did not disappoint, running the fastest time in Division II history in the event at 51.78 to defend her title in the 400m from the 2016 indoor season, which was the first individual championship in Merrimack College history.
- Muscaro's all-time best perofrmance in the 400m at the 2017 Indoor Championships bests the previous Division II all-time record set by Lorraine Graham at the 1997 Indoor Championships, which was a time of 52.22. Muscaro had previously run 52.27 earlier this season to rank second behind Graham at the time.
- Less than one hour after running her way to her second 400m Indoor National Championship, Muscaro would find herself lining back up on the track for the 200m final. Despite having just deliviered the best performance in Division II history not long before, Muscaro would somehow manage to post a personal-best time in the 200m at 23.57 to also garner her first-career 200m National Championship and take home two titles from Nationals for the first time.
- After falling just inches behind the leader in her heat at about the halfway mark of the race, Muscaro would find another gear in the final stretch of the 200m, closing out the small distance between her and the leader and pushing her way into the lead right at the finish line to earn her second title of the day in dramatic fashion. Her time of 23.57 ranks ninth all-time in Division II.
Up Next
Muscaro finishes the indoor season with two individual national titles for the first time in program and school history, and now holds four national titles, three in the 400m and her first-ever 200m title. She will now turn her attention to the outdoor season, which gets started next weekend with the 49er Classic at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
--
For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
