LA CROSSE, Wisc. --- The Moravian College women's track & field team had one student-athlete compete on the opening day of the 2018 NCAA Division III National Championships at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Thursday with senior Mary Kate Duncan earning All-American honors for the third straight spring.

Duncan, the defending national champion, fouled on her first attempt of the preliminaries as she as entered the meet with the third best throw in the nation this spring. Duncan then had a toss of 37.64 meters (123-6) to move into 15th place but still below the top nine that advance to the finals. She would post a mark of 42.76 meters (140-3) on her third attempt to jump into fourth place and make the finals for the third consecutive year. Duncan opened the finals with a distance of 39.34 meters (129-1), followed by a toss of 37.26 meters (122-3) in the fifth round. Still in fourth place heading into the final attempts, Duncan unleashed a throw of 43.69 meters (143-4) to move up a spot into third place. Duncan competed at the NCAA Championships four times and finished 22nd, fourth, first and third in her four trips of nationals.

"Mary Kate has battled an elbow injury all year," noted Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "Up until our home meets, we weren't even sure if she'd compete this year, so she battled through a lot. In usual Mary Kate fashion, she put pressure on herself to perform and relied on her third throw just to get into finals, which she was on the cusp of not making. She had a great sixth throw to bump her to third. She obviously wanted to win, but you have to be on that day. The top two seeds coming in didn't even make finals, so she deserves a ton of credit for rising to the occasion three straight NCAA meets to earn an impressive three All-American honors."

The Greyhounds will return to action on Friday, May 25 with sophomore Carly Danoski in the women's 800-meter run preliminaries at 6:15 p.m. EDT.