New Jersey City University Athletics

New Jersey City University senior DIANA LAWSON (Union, NJ/Queen of Peace) is the final NJCU Women's Student-Athlete of the Week after closing her future Hall-of-Fame career by capturing two national championships while being named the NCAA Division III Championships Female Track Athlete of the Meet at the NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Waverly, IA.

 

She culminated her career as a five-time national champion, and an 11-time All-America recipient by winning both the 100 and 200-meter dash national titles on May 28.

 

Lawson became just the 11^th woman in the 24-year history of the championships to win titles in the 100 and 200 at the same meet, and the first to accomplish the feat since 2001. She was the only men’s or women’s participant at the NCAA meet to earn multiple championships in individual events.

               

Her titles were the first individual NCAA national championships claimed in outdoor track and field in the history of the men’s and women’s programs.

               

She previously won indoor national championships in the 55-meter dash in 2001, 2002, and 2004.

               

NJCU finished 10th overall in the team standings, its best outdoor finish in school history, with Lawson scoring 20 of the squad’s 25 points.

Lawson, who crushed the field in the 100-meter dash trials in 11.75 seconds, claimed her first-ever outdoor national title by crossing the finish in 11.82 seconds.

               

She captured her second championship an hour later, when in the 200 final, she raced to the line in 24.10 seconds. She was 17/100^th faster than the remainder of the field, posted the best mark in Division III this season, and broke a Wartburg Stadium record. She was 2/100^th of a second shy of her own NJCU record of 24.08 achieved at the NCAA’s on May 25, 2002. Lawson had placed second overall in the trials.

               

Lawson, a five-time All-American in outdoor track, previously earned accolades in the 100 and 200 dashes in 2001 and 2002, but never finished higher than third. She was fifth in the 100 in 2001, and third in 2002. Her best 200 finish was third in 2002 after placing seventh as a freshman in 2001.

               

Lawson could have won a sixth national title as the anchor of the 4x100-meter relay to start the day, but never had the opportunity to run her leg of the race after an opposing team inadvertently knocked the baton from the hand of the Gothic Knights on the exchange from leg two and three.