March 15, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University 4 x 400-meter relay team won the national title Saturday (March 13) at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, held in Whitewater, Wis.
The IWU quartet, which consists of seniors of Gianina Taylor (Decatur, Eisenhower HS) and Nicole Williams (Park Forest, Crete-Monee HS) and juniors Katie O'Rourke (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) and Gena Rawlins (Atlanta, Stanford Olympia HS), had a winning time of 3 minutes, 52.36 seconds, more than two seconds faster than its previous season best of 3:54.85. The same four runners took third in the event last year.
The Titan team ran in the first of two final heats, winning the first heat before waiting to see if their time would hold up.
"This is an unbelievable experience for the juniors and seniors and all the work they've put in," IWU coach Chris Schumacher said. "I told the girls before our heat that whoever won our heat was going to win. This was our goal coming into the meet."
Rawlins, who has placed fourth in the 400 the past two years, placed third in the 400 dash this time in 56.09 seconds while Taylor placed fifth in 57.38. The winner was Amber James of Wheaton (Mass.) in 55.62.
The IWU women's team placed sixth in the national meet with 20 points.
