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News release
(Photo/Doug Padilla) FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- BYU junior Cecily Lemmon earned All-America honors in the 10,000-meter event on Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.
"Cecily is one tough competitor and I'm incredibly impressed with what she did," said BYU women's distance coach Patrick Shane. "Mid-season I told her she could win this race and she was right there tonight. She is a very hard worker and will only get better."
Lemmon's second place time of 33:39.97, earned BYU its first points of the meet. The Vacaville, Calif. native finished second only to eventual National Champion Danette Doetzel of Providence, who recorded a time of 33:25.71.
"I'm really excited," Lemmon said. "I had prepared well and was excited to compete on a bigger stage. Coach and I talked about it before the race and we were confident that I could finish in the top four, but to come in second is just an amazing experience."
Lemmon held her own in the lead pack for the entire race and made a strong kick with 800-meters to go, moving her from fifth to second.
Lemmon helped propel the Cougars into a tie for fourth-place in the overall standings heading into Friday's competition. Rounding out the top seven are Florida (13 points), Florida St. (12), Providence (10), BYU (8), San Diego St. (8), Arizona St. (8) and Oregon (8).
Another top performance came from 800-meter Indoor National Champion Lacey Cramer. Cramer ran a solid 2:05.33, in the first round and came back a day later with an even more impressive semifinal performance of 2:03.41.
Five of the same athletes Cramer beat for her indoor title will be competing against the freshman sensation again for Saturday's Championship. The former Lone Peak High School standout will be in a field that boasts four National Champions including her own Championship title.
BYU's other Indoor National Champion, Amy Menlove, heads into Friday's final events of the heptathlon with four events completed. Menlove took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 13.54 and will look to gain ground on the competition in her long jump event where she has previously earned All-America honors.
Menlove will begin the long jump at 1:45 p.m. CT. Freshman high jumper Ada Robinson will also be in action on Friday starting at 4:00 p.m. CT.
(Courtesy BYU)
