Final NCAA heptathlon results chart (PDF)
        4x400 relay earns spot in finals 
       Complete meet results
        VIDEO:   Heptathlon 800-meter run
                       Heptathlon trophy presentation

PUEBLO, Colo. – Five years.
 
Five years of hanging in when different injuries tried to tell her she shouldn't. Five years of always wanting one more try to beat what she did on the previous try.
 
Five years. … and on a Friday afternoon, in 80-degree heat, on an even hotter red track surface in the Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl, here was Ali Worthen … down to her final 800 meters as a college athlete, a national title hanging in the balance.
 
The Seattle Pacific senior, who led the country in the women's heptathlon from the very first meet of the season, also was on top after the last meet of the season, claiming the crown in the two-lap finale at the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships.
 
Worthen finished with 5,340 points, beating Jesseka Raymond from Academy of Art (5,166) and Zoe Sharplin of Central Missouri (5,161). Raymond had been the leader for most of the competition, and in fact was five points in front of Worthen, 4,536-4,531, heading into the 800.





“It was so perfect , really, to end this way, because I feel like the last five years have been a struggle,” an emotional and drained Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) said several breath-catching minutes after mounting the top step of the awards podium and accepting the first-place trophy. “It has always come down to the last event.”
 
“Going into the 800, it was like, 'OK, you've got to leave it out there, not just go walk in the park because you've already got it. You're going to have to work for this,'” Worthen said of her pre-race mindset.
 
Worthen, a third-place finisher at last year's nationals in the ThunderBowl, wasn't the only Falcon hauling off some heptathlon hardware on Friday.
 
Fellow senior Katy Gross, who began Day 2 in 13^th place, came up big in the long jump and javelin, winning the latter for the second time in her career, and climbing all the way to an All-American sixth-place finish. Gross (Everett, Wash. / Cascade HS) totaled 4,986 points.





“It has been like this distant goal (to earn All-American) ever since I made it to nationals for the first time my sophomore year,” Gross said. (She finished 13th in 2011 with 4,792 points.) Coming into my senior year, it's all I've been thinking about.
 
“Toward the end, it was looking a little grim, and I was kind of coming to terms with the fact that maybe I wouldn't get it, and I was OK,” she added. “So today was the sweetest feeling ever.”
 
This is the second straight year the Falcons won a title in Pueblo. Last May, Brittany Aanstad captured the javelin. It is the 23rd women's title overall in school history, and the fifth in the hep.

Worthen was in third place to start the day, 66 points behind Raymond. She came up with a solid long jump, going 18-7 ¾ on the last of her three attempts to win that event. That moved her up to secondplace and cut Raymond's led to 16 points at 3,995-3,979.
 
Gross delivered a big-time effort, as well, leaping a personal-best 18-7 to take second behind Worthen and move into 10^th overall.
 
After a short throw on her first javelin attempt (just 96 feet, 8 inches), Worthen went much farther on her second try at 111-5. Raymond threw 109-5, and Central Missouri's Sharplin stayed squarely in the title hunt with a throw of 128-2. Sharplin's mark was second only to Gross, who threw 135-10 on her first attempt, and saw that stand up through the final two rounds.
 
So heading into the 800, it was Raymond with 4,536, Worthen with 4,531, and Sharplin with 4,528. That set Worthen up perfectly as she came in with a time of 2:17.77, while Raymond was at 2:42.16, and Sharplin at 2:35.39.
 
All Worthen had to do was beat both of them by half a second or more, and the title would be hers.

She did that with room to spare, finishing third overall in 2:21.06. Sharplin was 11^th in 2:34.85, and Raymond took 12^th at 2:35.13. Worthen was in the upper pack early, coming through the 400 meters in seventh. Heading up the backstretch, she picked one runner, then another, then reeled in two more coming around the curve. Raymond and Sharplin, meanwhile, were well back from start to finish.
 
“I felt confident that I could run about a solid 2:20,” said Worthen, who got this redshirt year because she missed all but two meets of her sophomore season in 2010 with an injury. “But I struggled today and yesterday, so anything can happen. The other athletes had been doing so good and been showing big PRs, so it wasn't impossible for them to run right next to me. So I had to go out and run as hard as I could and hope I ran hard enough. Karl (SPU head coach Lerum) had a really good plan for me to run it, I ran it that way, and it worked.”
 
Gross was 13^th in 2:36.15, but that still was more than enough to give her a spot on the podium.
 
“All I kept thinking coming down the (last) 100 meters was 'Be All-American.' It was all I could think, so that pushed me through," said Gross, who will compete in the open javelin on Saturday afternoon.


NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
NCAA Division II Championships
Friday, May 24, 2013
Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl / Pueblo, Colo.
 
HEPTATHLON
Final standings – 1, Ali Worthen (SPU) 5,340; 2, Jesseka Raymond (Academy of Art) 5,166; 3, Zoe Sharplin (C. Missouri) 5,161; 4, Robin Hannah (Chico State) 5,013; 5, Karolin Anders (Alaska Anchorage) 5,000; 6, Katy Gross (SPU) 4,986; 7, Kendra Bassitt (Ashland) 4,979; 8, Jill Schmidt (Cal Poly Pomona) 4,960; 9, Morgan Shelton (W. Texas A&M) 4,918; 10, Macy Caldwell (Ashland) 4,911; 11, Chanel Miller (Minn.-Duluth) 4,882; 12, Jordan Gray (Angelo State) 4,865; 13, Cassie Brooks (Abilene Christian) 4,860; 14, Chloe Wichman (NW Missouri) 4,794; 15, Pam Showman (Findlay) 4,730; 16, Victoria Jackson (C. Missouri) 4,489; Danisha Phipps (N.M. Highlands) DNF.
 
FRIDAY'S EVENTS
Heptathlon long jump – 1, Worthen (SPU) 18-7 ¾ / 5.68m (753 points). Other SPU placer – 2, Gross 18-7 / 5.66m (747).
Heptathlon javelin – 1, Gross (SPU) 135-10 / 41.41m. (694 points). Other SPU placer – 8, Worthen 111-5 / 33.97m (552).
Heptathlon 800 – 1, Wichman (NW Missouri) 2:17.21 (862 points). SPU placers – 3, Worthen 2:21.06 (809); 13, Gross 2:36.15 (618).
 
THURSDAY'S EVENTS
Heptathlon 100 hurdles – 1, Jesseka Raymond (Academy of Art) 13.57 (1,040 points). SPU placers – 4, Ali Worthen 14.08 (967); 10, Katy Gross 14.66 (887).
Heptathlon high jump – 1, Jill Schmidt (Cal Poly Pomona) 5-8 ¾ / 1.75m (916 points). SPU placers – 5, Worthen 5-5 ¼ / 1.66m (806); T9, Gross 5-3 / 1.60m (736).
Heptathlon shot put – 1, Zoe Sharplin (C. Missouri) 41-3 ¼ / 12.58m (700 points), SPU placers – 9, Worthen 36-0 ¾ / 10.99m (594); 12, Gross 34-3 ½ / 10.45m (559).
Heptathlon 200 – 1, Raymond (Academy of Art) 24.56 (928 points). SPU placers – 4, Worthen 25.31 (859); 15, Gross 26.60 (745).