Charles Wins NCAA Title
June 10, 2006
Sacramento, Calif. (hurricanesports.com) – Tabia Charles (Pickering, Ontario) ended her University of Miami career in impressive fashion on Saturday by capturing the national title in the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.
Charles, who graduated a year early with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology this past May, took the lead on her second attempt with a mark of 13.70 meters (44-11.50) and was able to hold on for the title.
“I am very happy,” said Charles, who finished sixth in the event last season. “It’s been a wonderful three years and I really wanted to go out with a bang. I wanted to get a big jump, around 46 feet, but wasn’t able to put it together. But I was able to get the win and that was the most important thing.”
This marks the third consecutive year in which the Hurricanes have captured an individual event title. Only Miami, Texas and Nebraska have had at least one NCAA event champion each of the last three seasons. Kim Barrett won the shot put title in 2005 and Lauryn Williams was the NCAA Champion at 100-meters in 2004.
Charles, arguably the greatest jumper in school-history, leaves Miami as a 10-time All-American, seven-time conference champion and school-record holder in three events.
Senior Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) earned All-America honors in both the 400-hurdles and 4×400-meter relay on Saturday increasing her school-record All-America total to 15.
Darden opened the day placing third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.58 seconds. “I ran someone else’s race today and not my own,” said Darden, who entered the event with the 10th fastest time in the world this season. “I’m disappointed, but I’ll move on and do better next time.”
She returned to the track 90 minutes later to anchor the 4×400-meter relay to a second-place finish. The team of freshman Krista Simkins (Ambler, Pa.), junior Ginou Etienne (Miami Central), freshman Ena Leufroy (Atlanta, Ga.) and Darden recorded a time of 3:28.43.
Miami entered the event ranked No. 1 in the nation but was running without senior All-American Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwestern) who was suffering from a stomach virus.
Junior Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) also earned All-America honors on Saturday with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump. Faluade recorded a lifetime best jump of 13.34 meters (43-09.25) to earn All-America honors for the sixth-time.
As a team the Hurricanes finished seventh with 30 points marking the most points and highest finish in school-history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Miami recorded 13 All-America honors at the Championships, the second most in school-history, and have now recorded 129 honors in 16 seasons under head coach Amy Deem.
For the fourth consecutive year Miami earns All-America honors in both relays joining South Carolina as the only schools to accomplish the feat in each of the last four seasons.
