St. Aug’s wins men’s track championship

Saint Augustine’s displayed its superior depth once again in winning a third consecutive men’s national crown at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the Grand Valley State campus on Saturday. The Falcons have won 36 titles overall under coach George Williams, who now has the most NCAA track and field championships as a coach, regardless of division.

The Falcons clinched the victory in the men’s 200-meter dash late in the meet. They trailed 50-47 to the University of Findlay heading into the event, but Burkheart Ellis, Jr., who ran at Knightdale, finished third in the 200 to give the Falcons a 53-50 lead with two events left. The lead held for the Falcons’ 13th NCAA men’s outdoor title.

The Falcons tied for eighth among the women’s teams with 26 points. Central Missouri won the women’s outdoor title with 59 points.

N.C. State: For the first time, N.C. State had its season end in an NCAA Super Regional. The Wolfpack came up short in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday, as the top-ranked Oregon Ducks earned a 9-3 win.

N.C. State concludes its season with a 38-22 record, the most wins under the leadership of third-year coach Shawn Rychcik. No. 1 Oregon advances to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) for the second consecutive year with a 51-6 mark on the season.

“I’m really proud of my team and how we competed this weekend,” said Rychcik. “We were still competing in that last inning when we were down by a couple runs. It was a really good battle; Oregon’s a really good team. I like the way we handled ourselves and the moment never got too big for us.”

This story was originally published May 23, 2015 at 8:22 PM with the headline "St. Aug’s wins men’s track championship."