Fiamoncini Places Ninth, Earns Second Straight Second Team All-American Honor

Friday, June 7

Austin, Texas

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Fiamoncini Places Ninth, Earns Second Straight Second Team All-American Honor

6/7/2019 6:23:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Becomes First Multi-Time All-American in Bucknell History

AUSTIN, Texas – Maura Fiamoncini, competing in her second straight NCAA Outdoor Championships, earned a top-ten finish and improved four spots from last season's meet in placing ninth on Friday afternoon.

The Mt. Carmel, Pa. native became the second All-American in program history in 2018 after finishing 13th, joining Lonnie Fertik who placed fourth in the heptathlon in 1982. Laura Rycek was the last person to compete at the Outdoor Championships in the javelin, placing 23^rd in 2011.   Fiamoncini now stands alone as the only athlete in Bucknell women's track and field history to be a two-time All-American. Places 1-8 at the Championships earn First Team All-American honors, while places 9-16 earn Second-Team accolades.

Fiamoncini earned her spot into the finals on her first throw of the day (172-0) that snuck her into the ninth and final qualifying slot for the next phase. Fiamoncini then went on to improve to 172-9 on her first throw of finals, but was eight inches short of Alabama's Samantha Zelden's 173-7 that finished in eighth and the final First Team All-American spot.

The 172-9 was Fiamoncini's second-best throw of the 2019 season, behind her mark of 176-9 that she set at the NCAA East Prelims.   She improved by nearly ten feet from the 163-8 that she posted at the 2018 Outdoor Championships.

Stanford's Mackenzie Little repeated as the National Champion (195-0), followed by Kylee Carter of Auburn (185-0), Madison Wiltrout of UNC (181-1) and 2018 runner-up Jenna Gray of Stanford (179-9).

"Although Maura didn't quite place as high as she wanted, she did make a final and got in six throws," said Head Coach Kevin Donner. "She finished higher than she did last year at the NCAA East Prelims, and she placed four spots higher at the Finals than she did last year. She had a good, consistent series, and just didn't quite position herself to hit the big one to score some team points and make First Team All-American. Ninth in the country is very good and we are all very proud of her. She is only a sophomore, and with the Olympic Trials next summer, she will be motivated to break her own Patriot League Record once again, go after a higher place at this meet, and be ready for the Olympic Trials."