Davis wins national title in 110-meter hurdles
Junior Dan Davis captured the 110-meter hurdle national championship May 28 to highlight the final day of competition for the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams at the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.
The men’s team wrapped up its most successful NCAA Outdoor Championship meet in school history by tallying 34 points to finish fourth in the team standings. Prior to this year, the Bears’ best finish was 11th in 1988 when the team scored 23 points.
The women’s team tied for 37th thanks to junior Liz Phillips’ double All-America performance May 28. She finished sixth in the 1,500-meter and 800-meter races over a span of just 90 minutes to deliver six points to the Bears.
With his national championship in the 110 hurdles, Davis becomes just the third men’s student-athlete in program history to win an individual national title and is the first to do so since Marvin Williams won the 200 meter run in 1988. He is only the second student-athlete to capture All-America honors in the 110 hurdles with Dave Skiba being the other with a sixth-place finish in 2006.
As a team the Washington University men’s team saw five of its six student-athletes in competition at the NCAA Championships earn All-America honors, which also sets a new school record.
Davis was seeded second heading into the 110-hurdle final on Saturday afternoon and got off to a fast start in the fifth lane. Heading into the final 40 meters he created a little more distance between himself and Ross Blanchard of University of Redlands, the top seed heading into the day and he held him off with a first-place time of 14.40.
Junior Tyler Jackson also delivered an All-America finish in the 110 hurdles. Running in the eighth lanem he made up several places over the final 30-meters, closing from seventh all the way up to fifth place with a time of 14.57.
Voris named academic all-American
WUSTL softball player Claire Voris capped her senior year by being named to the 2011 Capital One Second-Team Academic All-America Softball Team.
Already tabbed as an Academic All-University Athletic Association (UAA) and Capital One Academic All-District selection, Voris is just the fourth softball student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors in program history, including Liz Swary (2003, ’04, ’05), Laura D’Andrea (2006) and Laurel Sagartz (2007).
Voris also is the first WUSTL academic all-America selection this season for the Bears, and the 93rd in school history.
Men’s tennis finishes third nationally
The No. 5 men’s tennis team picked up its 20th win of the season with a 5-0 victory over No. 8 Williams College in the third-place match of the 2011 NCAA Division III Championship May 26 in Claremont, Calif.
WUSTL concludes the season with a 20-6 overall record and has now won 20 or more matches in five-straight seasons under 10th-year head coach Roger Follmer.
Seniors Isaac Stein and Max Woods came up short in their quest for a doubles title. The duo fell in three sets in the semifinal against Bowdoin College’s Oscar Pena and Stephen Sullivan May 29.
Stein and Woods, the number four seed in the tourney, earns All-America honors for the second straight year after falling in the quarterfinals in 2010. Woods is a two-time All-America selection, while Stein earned three All-America accolades, becoming the sixth player in school history to achieve the feat.
The duo ends their four-year career as the two of the winningest players in school history. Woods is fifth all-time singles wins (78), fourth in doubles victories (94) and fourth on the wins list with a 172-73 record. Stein is sixth in all-time victories with a 156-67 record.