Women's Outdoor Track and Field | 3/10/2018 11:04:00 PM

COMPLETE RESULTS

PITTSBURG, Kan. - Junior Kirsten O'Malley (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) of the Bloomsburg University women's indoor track and field team represented the school well on Saturday as she earned Second Team All-American status by finishing tenth overall with a school-record mark in the triple jump at the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships. O'Malley entered the event with the 16th-best mark in the country during the season but improved six spots on Saturday to capture her first All-American honor.

O'Malley became just the second different All-American in program history during the indoor season as she joined Kaylee Caruso (Montoursville/Montoursville) who was a two-time All-American in the long jump. Caruso was a First Team All-American in 2016 after a seventh-place finish and then was a Second Team All-American in 2017 after placing ninth. O'Malley was also just the third different participant at the national championships joining Caruso (2016, 2017) and Vicki  Davis (2013).

O'Malley posted her school-record mark of 12.12 meters on her third attempt on Saturday which, at the time, put her in third place after the first flight of jumpers. However, seven of the competitors during the second flight finished with marks longer than O'Malley's during the initial three jumps which bumped O'Malley from getting three more chances during the finals.

Her mark of 12.12 meters was one one-hundredth of a meter shorter than Academy of Art's Ryan Young-Werner from qualifying for the finals. Young-Werner posted a mark of 12.13 meters on her third and final jump during the prelims.

O'Malley got better as the competition progressed. She started with a mark of 11.88 meters on her first attempt and then increased to 12.06 meters on her second attempt. Her second jump tied her previous school-record that she set at the Houghton December Classic earlier this indoor season.

West Texas A&M's Fatim Affessi won the national championship in the event with a mark of 13.09 meters.

O'Malley and the Huskies will begin the outdoor season on Saturday, March 24 at the Golden Ram Invitational hosted by West Chester University.