AUSTIN, Texas — After three days of competition in Austin, the Vanderbilt women’s track and field team walked away from the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a silver medal in the heptathlon, a top-5 finish in the 400-meter hurdles and a total of five All-Americans, first and second team. The Commodores tied for 20th place with 13 points, which is the team’s best score since 1997.
“The NCAA championship meet is by far the hardest meet in the world. There are marks in this meet that aren’t even run at an Olympic championship,” director of track and field Althea Thomas said. “There are marks in this meet that didn’t make the final that would make the final at most Olympic championships. And for Vanderbilt, the way that these ladies performed and the way that these ladies rose up and showed who they are amongst the world’s best has turned our season from emerging into greatness into being great.”
Beatrice Juskeviciute won a silver medal in the heptathlon after scoring a personal best 6,117 points and resetting the Vanderbilt record for the third time this season. She recorded the Commodores’ best placement at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since Simone Charley placed second in the triple jump in 2016. The most recent heptathlete to place in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships is Josie Hahn who finished fourth in 2003.
To begin Day Two of the heptathlon, Juskeviciute PRed in the long jump and reset the school record at the 6.11-meter mark. She threw 42.74 meters in the javelin and clocked 2:18.89 in the 800 meters on her way to earning the silver medal.
After recording a personal-best time of 55.77 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals, Brooke Overholt PRed again in the event final to finish fourth with a time of 55.50 seconds. She earned first-team All-America honors in the event for the first time in her collegiate career.
This is the first year that the Vanderbilt program has had two top-5 finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 1997 when Ryan Tolbert won the 400-meter hurdles and placed third in the 400 meters.
Jada Sims, ranked 21st in the heptathlon after the first day of competition, recorded 5.30 meters in the long jump. She did not compete in the remaining two events.
In the discus, Veronica Fraley threw 52.91 meters to finish in 17th place.
On Thursday, Taiya Shelby, Allyria McBride and Fraley earned second-team All-America honors. Shelby turned in a time of 51.63 seconds in the 400 meters to finish 15th in the semifinals. This is the third time in her collegiate career that she has earned this distinction. In the 400-meter hurdles semifinals, McBride finished first among freshmen and 15th overall with a time of 57.19 seconds. Fraley PRed three times over the course of six throws in the shot put to finish ninth with a 17.84-meter mark. She also earned the title of second-team All-American in the discus in 2021.
“The way that we fed off of each other and fed off of our goals and our focus and our drive remained the same and came together at this meet,” Thomas said. “When you’re at a meet, like any championship in any sport, you very rarely have 100 percent perfection, but it is what you do in your imperfection that really makes the team. And this team executed with such class and such resiliency and with such camaraderie. That is what makes a great program.”
