Hilary Coady leads the way during the 800-meter run of the heptathlon on Friday. (photo courtesy of Brent Harris, Wabash College)

Hilary Coady finished her outstanding athletic career at The College of Wooster as the runner-up in the heptathlon at the NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, as the senior accumulated 5,020 points and recorded career bests in three of the seven events during the two-day competition at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

"The goals going into the meet were to get over that 5,000-point barrier and to challenge to be a national champion," said Wooster head coach Dennis Rice. "We're very proud of Hilary's accomplishments and all of the successes she's had. To be able to achieve runner-up status at the national championships is such a special honor. During the four years she was here at Wooster, she did some great, great things."

Coady topped the elite national field through Thursday's four events. She opened the grueling heptathlon by timing a 15.01 in the 100 hurdles while running into a head wind, then cleared a career-high 5 feet, 6.5 inches in the high jump to take over first-place. Coady carried that momentum over into the shot put – the event in which she's improved the most during her career – as she hit a mark of 36 feet, 3.5 inches, and she closed the day by sprinting the 200 meters in a 26.13 for another career best.

That gave Coady a 73-point lead heading into Friday's trio of events. With a solid long jump of 17 feet, 3.5 inches, she continued to hold on to first-place by 42 points and followed with a season-long throw in the javelin of 96 feet, 3 inches. Coady saved her best for last, outrunning the field in the 800 meters as her time of 2:17.67 was nearly two full seconds clear of the runner-up.

In addition to leading the 20 other competitors in both the high jump and the 800, Coady was fourth in the 100 hurdles, third in the shot put, fourth in the 200 meters, and fourth in the long jump.

Coady's mark of 5,020 improved her school record in the event by 224 points. Prior to her arrival on campus, the best a Wooster athlete had ever done in the heptathlon was 4,462 by Darlene Kemp in 1983.

Amelia Campbell of Carleton College edged Coady for the national championship with a total of 5,108 – the seventh-best score in Div. III history. It was a 148-point edge in the javelin that made the difference, as Coady outscored Campbell in the other six events by 60 points.

It marks the third All-American honor for the multi-event specialist, as Coady placed third in the pentathlon (3,497) this past March and seventh in last season's 400 hurdles (1:02.15). She ran Div. III's fifth-fastest time in the 400 hurdles (1:00.86) this spring, but elected to just focus on the heptathlon at the national meet.

"In the 32 years of coaching at Wooster, Hilary is by far one of the most gifted athletes we've ever had, being able to do multiple events and have great success," Rice added. "If she focused on individual events, she could be a national qualifier in the hurdles, the high jump, and the 800. We've been very fortunate to work with her the last four years."

"To be a great track athlete, you need that inner drive and self-motivation, and Hilary has that," he continued. "That's why she's been so successful. It takes a huge commitment, and one has to make individual sacrifices to be a great student-athlete, and she's done that."