EUGENE, Ore. -- Washington State's Liz Harper placed 16th in the women's heptathlon at the NCAA Track & Field Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene.
Harper, a junior from Missoula, Mont., scored 5,446 points in only her third heptathlon in her career and her finish will accord her All-American second team honors. Her score was below her lifetime-best of 5,564 points tallied last month in her fourth place finish at the Pac-12 Championships.
Saturday Harper long jumped 17-feet 9 1/2 inches (5.42m) and threw the javelin a PR distance of 105-9 (32.24m) but dropped down to 19th place.
At the conclusion of the heptathlon javelin and while the other competitors rested for the final event several hours later, Harper went to the high jump competition. Unfortunately she could not clear the opening bar at 5-8 (1.73m) and returned her concentration to the heptathlon.
Harper was the second to cross the finish line in the first heat of the heptathlon 800m with a time of 2 minutes 17.94 seconds.
Kendell Williams of Georgia won the heptathlon with 6,225 points.
“It was a battle all day for Liz,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “She had some problems in the long jump but rebounded with a huge PR in the javelin. And then moved up three places on the strength of her 800m to secure the final All-American position. In the middle of all of this, she competed in the finals of the high jump; however, by that point she just didn't have her usual pop. Very exciting to see Liz make the NCAA finals in the high jump and become All-American in her very first year doing the heptathlon.”