CINCINNATI - The 2017 indoor season has come to an end for the University of Cincinnati track and field program with the Bearcats having plenty to celebrate, including the program’s first national champion, the women’s first Top 25 finish and a pair of All-American highlighting yet another successful campaign. Annette Echikunwoke was crowned the champion of the women’s weight throw at the NCAA Championships to help the women’s team into the Top 25 as she also joined Adrian Valles as 2017 USTFCCCA All-America First Team honorees based on their Top 8 finishes.
// TOP 25 FINISH
With 10 points scored through Echikunwoke’s victory in the weight throw, the UC women placed in a tie for 21st place at the national meet, the best finish in program history. Previously, the best the women had finished came one year ago after the four points scored (three from Erika Hurd in the high jump for her sixth-place finish and one point from Echikunwoke after she placed eighth in the weight throw) gave the Bearcats a tie for 42nd-place nationally.
// NATIONALS HISTORY
With their finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the women added to their list of historical accomplishments as it relates to the program. Looking at the indoor national meets, the tie for 21st is the first Top 25 placement in program history and just the second in the Top 35 after the women were 34th in 2012. When combining the men’s historical results, the women’s 2017 indoor finish is tied for the second-best in program history after the 1973 men’s outdoor squad placed in a tie for 16th. The 1972 men’s outdoor squad also was tied for 21st. Those three finishes are the only Top 25 placements the UC program has achieved.
// CONFERENCE SIGNIFICANCE
Not only is the Top 25 finish for the Bearcats their first in indoor history, it also is the first for any women’s team in the American Athletic Conference since the league’s formation in 2013-14. Along with UC scoring in the past two meets, UCF tied for 56th this year for the only other AAC women’s team to score at nationals. When added to the finishes the men’s teams in the American have posted since the 2014 meet, this year’s edition of the UC women would rank tied the fifth-best placement of any school in the American after Tulsa placed 13th this year, Houston was tied for 16th both in 2016 and 2017 and Tulsa tied for 18th in 2015.
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