Claire Markonic wins All-America honors at NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships

2014 Mar 24

Claire Markonic and her Bates College women's distance medley relay teammates received All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in Lincoln, Neb., on Friday, March 14.

The Bates quartet of sophomore Isabelle Unger, first-year Claire Markonic, junior Sarah Fusco and senior Kallie Nixon, who were seeded second in the women's distance medley relay race, finished in 11:44.72 -- a Bates record and 0.11 seconds faster than the team-record time they set earlier this season.

Bates finished in fifth-place, less than five seconds off of champion Wisconsin-Oshkosh, which finished in 11:39.94, with MIT the runner-up in 11:42.28 and Wisconsin-La Crosse third in 11:42.50.

The women's distance medley relay team's top-eight finish translates into All-America honors for the Bobcats. It is the first All-America award for both Unger and Markonic, and the second All-America laurel for both Fusco and Nixon, who both helped Bates finish eighth in the same event in 2012.

Unger, running the leadoff 1,200-meter leg, and Markonic in the 400, kept Bates close enough through the first two legs that Fusco was able to reach the race's front pack about halfway through her 800-meter leg. Nixon maintained Bates' position throughout her strong, consistent 1,600-meter anchor leg. Oshkosh's Christy Cazzola pulled away from the pack on the final lap, and Nixon fought off challenges from Williams and Middlebury over the final 20 meters.

Markonic, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin F. Markonic of Millerton, N.Y., is a 2013 graduate of Webutuck High School.

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates is internationally recognized as a leading college of the liberal arts, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world. Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With a commitment to affordability, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion or national origin. Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world.