In the final race of her collegiate-career, Denison senior Olivia Galano was able to do what all athletes dream of doing, ending their career on a high note. The senior accomplished that feat with her first-ever All-American performance at the 2014 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship on Thursday from Selby Stadium in Delaware, Ohio.
Seeded 17th out of 22 athletes, Galano knew she had a huge mountain to climb to finish in the top eight and earn All-American status. At the start of the race, the 22 athletes were packed tightly together. As the race continued, seniors Lenore Moreno (La Verne) and Nicole Michmerhuizen (Calvin) began to pull away as the large group turned into small clusters. Galano, who was one of 11 seniors in the race, maintained a steady pace as she floated between third and seventh place. As Galano made the last turn, only one thought ran through her mind.
"I didn't run 25 laps to get beat in the last 200 (meter) and I had to go," she said.
Galano gave everything she had over the final 200 meters to finish sixth with a personal-best time of 36:00.98. That PR performance earned the senior her first All-American certificate in three trips to nationals this year, her final season with the Big Red. Galano's finish also marked the eighth All-American performance in Denison women's track & field history.
"It was a fairy tale ending," Galano said. "I didn't know that I got sixth (place) until I went to leave, I thought I got ninth. This is what Fitz and I have been trying for all year. He set me up for this, and my teammates set me up for this, and I'm so thankful and happy."
Galano wasn't the only one happy at the end of the race. As the senior crossed the finish line, Denison Head Track & Field Coach, Mark FitzPatrick, raised his hands in celebration of Galano's performance.
"I'm really excited for Olivia," he said. "It's been a great year for her. To make it to nationals in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, it's been a breakout year for her. She's always been good, but she took it to another level. Anytime an athlete can end their career on such a high note, it's a story book ending."
Sophomore Aedin Brennan also had a strong start at the national meet as she kicked off the opening day of the 2014 NCAAA Heptathlon. Brennan's strongest performance of the day came in the third event, the shot put. In last year's NCAA Heptathlon, the sophomore placed seventh in the event with a toss of 34'1.50", earning 556 points. Brennan improved that mark by 1.02 meters en route to another seventh-place performance. After opening with a mark of 10.88 meters, she closed out the event with a PR performance of 37'5.75". That toss earned Brennan 623 points and moved her from 17th to 14th place in the overall standings through three events.
In the final event of day one, the sophomore climbed one more spot following a 12th-place finish in the 200-meter (26.14). After finishing 17th in last year's race, Brennan shaved 54 hundredths of a second off her performance en route to earning an extra 46 points in the event. The sophomore's time was six hundredths of a second faster than her performance in the NCAC Heptathlon and just three hundredths of a second shy of her personal record.
Brennan opened the heptathlon with a time of 15.69 in the 100 hurdles. That time earned Brennan 753 points and landed her in a tie for 17th place, three points and two spots better than a season ago. In the high jump, the sophomore took 17th after clearing 4'11.50" en route to earning 632 points towards her overall score.
In the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash, senior Tiffany Davis (pictured left) qualified for Saturday's final for the first time in her collegiate career. After missing out on one of the top eight spots the last two season, the senior sprinter placed seventh out of 22 runners and third in her heat with a school-record time of 24.55. That mark broke her own school record of 24.58 set at the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship in Claremont, Calif. Davis will be one of five seniors in Saturday's 200 final scheduled to be run at 4:25 p.m.
Both Brennan and Davis will be back in action on Friday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship. Brennan will complete the final three events of the heptathlon. The first event, the long jump, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The long jump will be followed by the javelin and the 800-meter run. Davis will run in the prelims of the 100-meter dash at 7:30 p.m.
View Photo Gallery
