Banana Slugs Earn Three All-American Honors at NCAA Championships

BIRMINGHAM, Al. – The UC Santa Cruz men's and women's track and field teams sent four student-athletes to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Crossplex in Alabama. Highlighting the weekend, Evan Hofstetter and Elena Stanciu both earned First Team All-American honors in the heptathlon and mile, respectively, with Nia Kim earning Second Team All-American honors in pentathlon. Caeden Gardner all made his NCAA debut, running a strong race in 800m.

Nia Kim – Pentathlon
First year Nia Kim made her NCAA debut in the pentathlon this weekend, coming away with a 12th place finish to secure Second Team All-American. Kim scored 3486 points across the five event competition, starting the day with an 8.94 in the hurdles before clearing 1.55m in high jump. Later, Kim threw 9.35m in shot, jumped 5.29m in long jump, and closed out the day with a 2:24.84 in the 800m.

Elena Stanciu – Mile
Elena Stanciu made her name known on the first day of the NCAA Championships, getting out in front early and holding off the field for the duration of her prelim race. Stanciu turned in a lifetime personal best, surging to the finish line in 4:51.17 to win her heat, guaranteeing her a spot in the Championship final. On Saturday afternoon, Stanciu toed the line once again and didn't disappoint. The junior went out in 36.76 seconds for the opening lap to stay with the lead pack. Halfway through the race, Stanciu was holding strong in the middle pack, coming through the 809m mark in 2:25.45. From there, the race began to heat up with Stanciu closing in 34.79 seconds, fighting to the line to take sixth place with another lifetime best and program record time of 4:50.03. Stanciu's performance earned her First Team All-American honors.

Evan Hofstetter – Heptathlon
Evan Hofstetter had a stellar weekend, earning First Team All-American honors with a sixth place finish in the heptathlon, recording a program record 5,069 points across the two day competition. Hofstetter had a strong day one, winning the 60m in 7.00s before recording the field's second best long jump at 6.93m. Hofstetter later threw 11.07m and closed out the day with a 1.86m jump to end day one in fourth place with 2908 points. On day two, Hofstetter ran 9.35s in the 60m hurdles to get the day started before jumping 3.75m in pole vault. With six events done, Hofstetter sat in 15th place, needing to surge past at least six competitors to secure First Team All-American honors. Hofstetter left no doubt, sprinting to the front in the 1k, opening the race in 27.82 seconds with the next closest athlete well over two seconds behind. Hofstetter continued to surge through the 1k, running the entire race by himself, extending his lead to over 100m before crossing the line in 2:34.01 with a sprint at the finish line. With his race over, Hofstetter had to stand at the finish and wait for the remaining competitors to finish to determine if he had cracked the top eight. Hofstetter's 941 point effort in the 1k propelled the junior from 15th all the way to 6th, giving him his first career First Team All-American honor.

Caeden Gardner – 800m
Caeden Gardner made his NCAA debut in the 800m on Friday afternoon. The first year had a solid first two laps, going 27.60s and 28.14s but fell behind in the back half of the race, crossing the line in 2:00.17 to take 19th overall.

Banana Slugs Earn Three All-American Honors at NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Caeden Gardner

Evan Hofstetter

Nia Kim

Elena Stanciu

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