For newly crowned NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Champion and All-American Vashti Thomas, this past week was simply incredible. The San Jose, CA native started Academy of Art University's run at a national title on
Mar. 8 by winning the long jump competition outright (20-3.75) and qualifying for Saturday's finals in four different events (60mH, 60m, 200m, TJ).
With everything on the line on
Mar. 9, Thomas delivered a second place finish in the 60mH (8.16) then took seventh in the 60m (7.54) and fourth in the triple jump (41-0.5). But one of the biggest moments of the championships was her 23.43 photo finish to win the 200m and help assure her team its first National Championship in program history.
"There really are no proper words to properly articulate how proud I am of Ms. Thomas," head coach Charles Ryan said. "What she set out to attempt has never been done before. It's not even a rational thing to do: Five events, prelims, and finals all in one championship is just not done in this sport. She could have easily picked out one or two events, focused on those, and went out to break some records, but she wanted to do all she could to deliver history for this program."
