Junior Imani Ogunribido secured her second straight women’s triple jump national championship at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championship on May 23. Ogunribido became the second athlete in Illinois Wesleyan Titans program history to win back-to-back national championships.
This achievement highlights Ogunribido’s consistency and excellence in collegiate track and field competition. Her final attempt of the season resulted in a leap of 12.83 meters, surpassing Centre’s Serena McNeilly, who had posted a best mark of 12.79 meters.
Ogunribido is now the first Titan since Rachel Anderson, who won indoor 400-meter titles in both 2006 and 2007, to achieve consecutive national championships. She is also only the third women’s triple jumper in Division III history to earn back-to-back titles.
In other results for Illinois Wesleyan, senior Evan Lowder finished eighth in the men’s 400-meter race with a time of 47.11 seconds, earning First Team All-American honors as he concluded his career with six All-American distinctions across indoor and outdoor events. Senior Taylor French placed twelfth in her debut appearance at nationals for women’s javelin with a throw of 41.97 meters, securing Second Team All-American status. Freshman Tori Brown competed for the first time at nationals as well, finishing nineteenth in the women’s triple jump with an effort of 11.35 meters.
With these performances combined with Crabtree’s third-place finish in the women’s 3000-meter event, Illinois Wesleyan’s women’s team scored sixteen points overall and tied for eighteenth place out of seventy-two teams.
The Illinois Wesleyan Titans Men’s Track and Field team hosts indoor events at Shirk Center Indoor Track—a facility dedicated to track and field—and belongs to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while competing at NCAA Division III level; its student-athletes range from freshmen through seniors within intercollegiate athletics based out of Bloomington, Illinois. Recently, they placed second at CCIW Championships, according to their official website.
Looking ahead, these individual achievements may serve as motivation for returning athletes next season as they continue representing their university on both regional and national stages.
