Chantee Earl Wins NCAA 800 Meter Indoor Championship
3/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 12, 2000
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - University of Pittsburgh women's track and field senior Chantee Earl (Hampton, Va./Hampton Christian) won the 800 meters title at 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships held at the University of Arkansas from March 10-12.
Earl, who earns her third indoor All-America honor and fifth overall, set a school and stadium record with her winning time of 2:02.19. Earl broke her own 800 indoor school record of 2:04.58 and Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center record of 2:05.95. She was also only 0.42 seconds from the NCAA Indoor meet record (2.01.77) and 0.54 seconds from the collegiate indoor best (2.01.65). The title was the first for Earl at the NCAA Indoors after she finished third at the 1998 championships and fourth last year.
The title caps an impressive year for Earl. She won six races this season, including the 500 meters once, 800 meters twice, 1,000 meters twice and mile run once. She won the 1,000 meter run, setting a school and conference meet record with a time of 2:43.99, and was runner-up in the 500 meters at the Big East Championship. She additionally was a member of the 4x400 meter relay team which set a school record and posted an NCAA provisional time of 3:37.75 at the Virginia Tech Last Chance meet. Earl was also a key figure in Pittsburgh winning 10 relay races this season in the 4x400 (five times), 4x800 (three times) and distance medley relay (two times).
With Earl's title, Pittsburgh has won at least one NCAA Indoor championship in each of the last six seasons. Najuma Fletcher won the triple jump in 1995 and the high jump in 1996, while Trecia-Kaye Smith won the long jump in 1997, the long and triple jumps in 1998 and the long jump in 1999.
Also competing at the 2000 NCAA Indoor Championships was Panther junior Tasha Peart (Westmoreland, Jamaica/Mannings). Peart ran 55.16 in the preliminary round of the 400 meters, but did not qualify for the finals. Peart posted a NCAA provisional time of 53.70, which was also a school record, in winning the 400 meters at the ECAC Championships on March 5 to earn a spot at the NCAA Indoors. Earl ran 2:04.67 in the preliminary round of the 800 meters, which was the fifth-fastest of the qualifiers.