| Senior Ryanne Dupree finished her sterling career with her fourth All-America certificate on Friday. |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? UTSA senior Ryanne Dupree added a fourth All-America certificate to her collection with a sixth-place finish in the heptathlon on Friday at the NCAA Outdoor Championships held at Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.
Dupree posted a top-eight finish in this event for the third time in her career, scoring 5,773 points for sixth among 27 student-athletes in the grueling, two-day competition. The San Antonio East Central product finished seventh in 2004 and eighth in 2005 and also registered a career-best fourth-place showing in the pentathlon at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships.
“My goal coming in to the meet was to at least earn All-America honors again,” Dupree said. “ I started off very well in the hurdles and I still had a first-day PR thanks to the 200 even though I did not do that well in the shot put. I knew I was still in the mix for possibly top three during the javelin and I did pretty well in my last two events, but the field was very strong. Overall, I am proud of my performance.”
Dupree entered Friday in fifth place with 3,537 points scored in the first four events on Thursday. She remained in fifth after a 19-5 1/4 effort in the long jump that was 12th among the field. Dupree moved into fourth place after uncorking a 122-0 throw in the javelin, which gave her 4,975 points through six events.
A neck-and-neck competition throughout, Dupree covered two laps on Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium track in 2:21.90 to earn 798 points. Her final tally of 5,773 points put her sixth in the standings, just 21 points behind Ashley Selig of Nebraska (5,794) and 24 behind day-one leader Gaelle Niare of SMU (5,797).
Jacquelyn Johnson of Arizona State successfully defended her title with 5,984 points, while Julie Pickler of Washington State used a strong 800m to vault into second with 5,831. Jillian Drouin of Syracuse took third with 5,822. A mere 88 points separated places three through eight as Bettie Wade of Michigan (5,724) and Gayle Hunter of Penn State (5,711) were right behind Dupree. National leader Diana Pickler of Washington State (6,204) was disqualified in the 200m on Thursday, but still finished the competition in 24th with 4,926.
“It was an amazing field of competitors,” Dupree said. “Since I have been doing this, I’ve never seen the top eight at NCAAs score over 5,700. This was a great meet to be a part of."
With her sixth-place finish, Dupree picked up her third outdoor and fourth overall All-America certificate. That ranks second all-time in track awards among UTSA female athletes behind seven-time All-American Tameka Roberts (1995-97) and just ahead of three-time winner Jody Dunston (1989), who also earned two All-America nods in cross country in 1987-88.
“Ryanne just continues to show she’s a competitor through and through,” head coach James Blackwood said. “She was outstanding in the hurdles and the 200, and she overcame a stiff back on Thursday and still had a solid overall day.
“Today she stuck with a great field of athletes throughout. She had a good first long jump and fouled on two bigger jumps. She’s already amazing and capable of even more. If she ever puts it all together, look out. We’re very proud of what she’s done during her career, and hopefully she can build on this for USA Outdoor in a couple of weeks.”
Dupree will compete in the USA Outdoor Championships on June 21-24 in Indianapolis, Ind.