TURLOCK, Calif. – The Nova Southeastern University track & field team concluded its final day of competition at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship May 28, competing in four final events.

The Sharks had a spectacular final day at the NCAA Championships battling against the premiere NCAA Division II athletes as well as unexpected cold weather with heavy rain, looking for their place in program history.

Starting off the finals for the Sharks at 8:40 PM ET was the previously ranked No. 4 4x100-meter relay team of Rashida Allen (Sr., Montego Bay, Jamaica), Tiffany Richardson (So., Ocala, Fla.), Keisha Etienne (Sr., North Miami, Fla.) and alternate runner Jasmine Wheeler (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) who captured third-place with a finishing time of 45:47. The foursome’s finishing time was only .9 seconds from the first place finishing time of Lincoln.

The second race featured Etienne in the 400-meter hurdles at 10:50 PM ET. Etienne had a tremendous showing in Turlock, breaking the school-record on day one in her preliminary race and capturing a fifth-place finish in the final with a time of 1:02.56. Etienne, previously ranked No. 10 nationally, finished her season at No.5.

In his second national appearance Carlyle Thompson (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas) competed yet again in the 400-meter hurdle finals at 11:00 PM ET.

Thompson ran an incredible race, holding the lead all the way to the last hurdle, which caught him up for a split-second. This caused him to cross the line a mere .4 seconds behind the leader of Lincoln. Thompson crossed the line fourth, upgrading his final national ranking this season to No. 4

Thompson was the first Shark to make a national appearance in program history last season, where he finished sixth in the 400-meter hurdles.

Finishing up the season and the Championships for the Sharks was the women’s 4x400-meter relay, which got underway at 12:25 AM ET. Competing against heavily favored Lincoln, winning six of the previous eight years in this event, the No. 2 Shark’s team of Allen, Richardson, Etienne and Jessica Osteen (So., Las Vegas, Nev.) crossed the line with a seventh-place finishing time of 3:47.95.

Nova Southeastern finished the finals with 12 total points, creating a four-way tie at 20th place in the overall standings with Nebraska-Omaha, Ashland and Cal St. Dom. Hills. This concluded the 2011 season, which on paper was the best in program history.

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