Livingstone College Senior Quanera Hayes Celebrates her 3rd 400 Meter National Title and Adds 200 Meter Title

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ALLENDALE, Michigan -- Senior sprinter Quanera Hayes (Hope Mills, NC) capped her collegiate career by successfully defending her title as the 400 meter National Champion once again at the 2015 NCAA Division II National Championships hosted by Grand Valley State University. This win makes her the first woman in Division II history to win 3 straight Outdoor 400 meter titles.

On the men's side CIAA member St. Augustine's University won their 3rd straight National Championship followed by Findlay University. For the women Central Missouri won their first National Title followed by Lincoln (Mo). Livingstone College finished 11th overall in team standing.

The four day Nationals event began on Wednesday with Quanera Hayes receiving the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year award at a social in front of 1000+ Athletes and Coaches. Racing began on Thursday, where Hayes cruised to an easy preliminary 400 meter, 2nd heat win of 54.89 to qualify for the finals on Saturday. On Friday, Hayes was eclipsed at the line to finish second in her heat of the 200 meter dash running 23.73 but still received an automatic qualification for Saturday's finals.


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On Saturday, the fireworks show was ready to begin starting at 3:05 PM when Hayes was able to once again surpass Carly Muscaro who finished second to Hayes a year ago but entered the meet with the fast time of 51.83. Quanera Hayes' finals time of 51.93 is her 3rd fastest of her career but good enough for her 3rd straight 400 meter National Championship. If that was not enough, just over an hour and a half later she was able to run a new personal best of 22.81 in the 200 meters to win her 4th National Championship of her career as well as her 11th and 12th NCAA All-American titles.

Quanera will now focus her talents on the 2015 USA National Championships and her post-collegiate career.

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