GENEVA, Ohio – Eastern Oregon University track and field student-athlete Karlee Coffey won the women’s 3,000 meters to become the Mountaineers’ second national champion at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships.
Coffey raced to a final time of 9:55.36, just over five seconds in front of second place, Courtney Schall of Minot State. Coffey, a La Grande native, scored 10 points for the Mountaineer women. EOU sits in 12th place with 19 points after 17 events.
Coffey now has earned All-American status at the NAIA National Championships for Cross Country, Outdoor Track and Field, and Indoor Track and Field. It is the sophomore’s fourth All-American title. Coffey entered Saturday’s 3,000-meter final with the fifth-best time in the preliminaries. She had the third best seed time coming into the championships.
Before this year, Eastern Oregon had won only two indoor national titles, and this year the Mountaineers have won two. Coffey becomes the first women’s national champion from EOU since April Haney won the women’s Pole Vault in 2001. Coffey’s title is the first ever women’s indoor national title for the school in an event on the track.