Carleton College sophomore Amelia Campbell followed up her indoor pentathlon national title with a come-from-behind victory in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships Friday. She finished with 5,221 points, ranking her third all-time in Division III history.
Campbell entered the national meet as the top seed in the seven-event heptathlon, but she needed new personal bests on the final two events—the javelin throw and 800-meter run—as she erased a 20-point deficit and secured the victory, making her just the fifth woman in NCAA history to win a national title in both the pentathlon and heptathlon in the same year.
Each of the top four finishers at this year's NCAA Championship posted career-best point totals that rank them among the top 10 all-time in Division III history. Jessika Smith of University of Wisconsin-Stout was the runner up with 5,170 points. Defending champion Elizabeth Krug of Hendrix College was third after totaling 5,074 points, and Allie Boudreau of Illinois Wesleyan finished fourth at 5,033 points.
Smith's 20-point lead heading into the 800-meter run equated to about a two-second buffer. She posted a career-best time of her own, but Campbell's personal record 800-meter time (2:15.38) was still more than five seconds better than Smith's, completing the comeback for Campbell.
