LA CROSSE, Wis. --- Sophomore Hailey Kester of the Moravian College women's track & field team has earned All-America honors with a sixth place finish in the pole vault on the opening day of the 2013 NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championship being hosted by The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.

Kester, making her first trip to the NCAA Championships, began the meet by taking all three attempts to clear the opening height of 3.45 meters. Kester, who was tied for 13th in the seeding heading into the meet, then took two attempts to clear 3.60 meters before clearing 3.70 meters on her first attempt. With eight competitors left at 3.75 meters (12 feet, 3 ½ inches) guaranteeing All-America honors, Kester cleared the career best height on her third and final attempt to lock up a spot in the top six. Kester made three attempts at the next height of 3.80 meters but missed on all three to finish sixth.

Kester earned three points for the Greyhounds with her sixth place finish had Moravian tied for 17th of 24 teams scoring a point through the four events to be finished on the first day of the championship.

Complete results from the 2013 NCAA Division III National Championships can be found at http://results.deltatiming.com/track/2013-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships.

The three-day championship meet will feature five other Moravian student-athletes with sophomore Brielle Sutter competing in the 400-meter dash preliminaries on Friday and seniors Micah Leonard and Travis King and junior Kristopher Joint in the triple jump and junior Timothy Lorah in the javelin on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Wabash College SID Brent Harris