Norville wins 3 more national titles
Batavia graduate Melissa Norville was mildly disappointed in the 60-meter hurdles finals of the NCAA Division III Women’s Track & Field Championships on Saturday at North Central College in Naperville.
If she didn’t clip that hurdle, she figured she would have lopped a second off her time.
As it was, Norville’s time of 8.52 seconds set a national meet record. A senior at Illinois College, Norville won the 60 hurdles as well as the triple jump on Saturday in a distance of 41 feet, ¼-inch to set the facility record at Al B. Carius Track.
Joining Friday’s title in long jump at 19-8¾ — also a facility record — Norville’s 30 points nearly single-handedly lifted the Lady Blues into second place in the overall standings. Teammate Megan Stringer’s 2 points in pentathlon provided an additional 2 points that had Illinois College a distant second to champion Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s 56 points.
“I killed hurdle five to the point where I thought I was going to fall,” said Norville, who had to hustle over to triple jump warm-ups directly after her hurdles victory. “If I didn’t hit that hurdle five I would have gone 8.4. But you know what? A win’s a win.”
Norville’s Saturday performance earned her fifth and sixth national titles spanning indoor and outdoor championships. Illinois College’s second-place finish was its highest finish in any NCAA team sport in school history.
Monmouth senior Allison Devor (St. Charles East) earned two All-America finishes, second in Friday’s weight throw and seventh in Saturday’s shot put. Illinois Wesleyan’s 1,600-meter relay that included senior Jenna Loynachan (St. Charles North) placed sixth, while Wesleyan’s Meridith Beird took 11th nationally in pole vault.
In the men’s championship, where Wisconsin-LaCrosse dethroned three-time defending national champion North Central, Augustana senior Alex Rindone (Marmion) nearly overcame a meter gap behind LaCrosse’s Aric Hoeschen in the 400 dash. A seven-time All-America, Hoeschen got Rindone with a lean at the wire, sprawling past the finish. Rindone’s second-place time of 48.21 seconds still lowered the Augustana record and surpassed the Carius Track record of 48.53.
“If there’s someone to lose to, it’s him,” said Rindone, who returned with David Voland (Batavia) on an eighth-place finish in the 1,600 relay to earn his second indoor All-America honor to go with three outdoors.
Wheaton College senior Mark Phillips (Wheaton Academy) and junior James Waterman (Wheaton North) helped the Thunder men to fifth place in the distance medley. In that same race, North Central sophomore Matt Muth (West Aurora) anchored an All-America eighth-place finish for the host Cardinals, who finished eighth in the team standings.