The University of Miami women’s track team had five girls compete in the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Texas A&M University. The team earned 18 points to tie with Missouri for eighth place overall.
Senior sprinter Shakima Wimbley led the way in the women’s 400m, winning her first national championship. Much like in the McCravy Invitational at the University of Kentucky earlier this season, Wimbley defeated South Florida native and USC junior Kendall Ellis in a close race to win the event. Wimbley edged Ellis in a photo finish by seven thousandths of a second. She broke her own school record and reset the fastest time in the NCAA, and the world, this season at 51.061 seconds.
Teammate Brittny Ellis finished eighth in the event at 53.13 seconds, earning First-Team All-America honors.
“I wanted it so bad. This is my fourth time at nationals, my first time making the final my senior year. I just wanted to go out with a fight, and I did,” an emotional Wimbley told ESPN immediately after the race.
Wimbley is the first Cane to win an individual national title since Ti’erra Brown, who was victorious in an outdoor performance in the 400m hurdles in 2011. Wimbley has also won Miami’s first women’s 400m indoor national championship in nine years – the last individual winner was Krista Simkins in 2008.
Wimbley and Ellis would join Aiyanna Stiverne and Michelle Atherley in the women’s 4x400m relay. The relay team finished seventh overall with a season-best time of 3:31.85 that is also the second-fastest in school history.
Atherley shined individually in the women’s pentathlon final. The sophomore finished fourth with a school-record and personal-best 4310 points.
Though Ebony Morrison did not qualify for the women’s 60m hurdles final, she earned Second-Team All-America honors.
“The young ladies really stepped up this weekend,” Coach Amy Deem told HurricaneSports.com. “To be a top-eight team in the country, I’m very proud of them and really proud of our whole indoor season. Our whole team stepped up at ACCs, and then the group that came here stepped up again. I am just really excited for them and very proud of everything they did this indoor season.”
With the indoor season in the books, the Canes look ahead to the outdoor track and field season. The first meet, the Hurricane Invitational, is at home for Miami. The competition will start Friday and end Saturday in Cobb Stadium.
To view results of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, click here.