PUEBLO, CO – Elizabeth Acheson's storied career at the University of Mary came to a close Friday on day two of the 2025 NCAA Division II women's outdoor track & field championship as the Marauders scholar-athlete claimed All-American honors for one final time while a school-record effort in the women's 4x400 meter relay propelled UMary into the finals on Saturday.
 
Acheson, a five-time All-American entering the championship meet, earned second team All-American honors for the first time after placing 11^th in the preliminaries of the 800 meter run. Running in a high-powered opening heat that registered four of the top eight times of the day, Acheson placed fifth with a time of 2:08.67. The graduate student's time was just .40 seconds behind the time of the last qualifier.
 
This spring's Northern Sun 800 meter champion finished 6^th last year at the NCAA outdoor championships and was 5^th in 2021. Acheson also earned All-American honors three times at the NCAA indoor championships after placing 7^th in 2025, 2^nd in 2024 and 4^th in 2021.
 
The Marauders quartet of Kelescia Downes, Tayen Werner, Sakena Massiah and Tionce Walrond shattered their own school record to qualify for the championship finals of the 4x400 meter relay on Saturday. UMary ran a scorching time of 3:36.38, outperforming their top mark of the season by an amazing 3.41 seconds.
 
Sitting sixth after the first two legs of the second of two heats, Massiah pushed the Marauders into third through 1200 meters as she tore up the track with a split of 52.25 seconds, the second-best mark of the day for the third stretch. UMary finished the heat fourth and placed seventh overall to earn the opportunity to race one more time.
 
Three Marauders raced in the 200 meter preliminaries and all three were pitted against one another in the second of the three qualifying heats. Sakena Massiah paced the Marauders with a time of 23.82 seconds, ahead of Laila Cleare (23.98) and Tionce Walrond (24.20). Massiah finished advancing to the finals by .51 seconds. Cleare claimed 18^th overall and Walrond was 21^st.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY SCHEDULE (MAY 23)
6:20 pm – Men's 4x100 meter relay finals (Jorgen Paulson, Raheem Taitt-Best, Xavier Ifill, Michael Cartwright)


9:55 pm – Women's 4x400 meter relay finals (Tayen Werner, Kelescia Downes, Tionce Walrond, Sakena Massiah)
 
Links to live results and video are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage
 
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