Balmer places 9th in mile at NCAA championships

Balmer places 9th in mile at NCAA championships

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Haverford College's Katie Balmer placed ninth in the mile on the final day of the NCAA Division III women's indoor track & field championships hosted by North Central College.

Balmer competed in the mile five times this season prior to Saturday and each time she improved her performance, including two new program records in the last week. Looking to continue that impressive streak in Saturday's championship heat, Balmer fell short and just missed All-American honors with a ninth-place finish of 5 minutes, 00.98 seconds.

Only a sophomore, Balmer entered the finals with the eighth-best time from Friday's preliminaries due to a career-best mark of 4:55.85.

Christy Cazzola of the University of Wisconsin-Osh Kosh captured the gold in the mile with a time of 4:48.11. The next seven finishers joined Cazzola in earning All-American status.

Mile results