PENSACOLA, Fla. – Cedarville sophomore sensation Carsyn Koch completed the dual-season sweep at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships to close out a memory-filled 2015-16 campaign.
 
 The sophomore from Washburn, Maine turned in a time of 2:03.48 to win the race by nearly a full second. She also won the Division II Indoor 800 crown on March 12.
 
Koch, who was the 2015 outdoor runner-up, entered the meet as the prohibitive favorite.
 
She set the Division II all-time record in the 800 with a 2:02.39 performance at Stanford University on May 1. The mark also met the U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying standard.
 
Koch's 2:03.48 effort rates #2 all-time at Cedarville. She owns the school's top six times and eight of the top nine. Also running in her same preliminary heat was teammate Olivia Esbenshade, a first-time NCAA outdoor qualifier with a time of 2:13.20.

She remains the first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference national track and field champion after performing the feat earlier this year to cap the indoor campaign in Pittsburg, Kan.

There have been three G-MAC DII Women's Outdoor All-Americans since 2014, including Koch and former Ursuline standouts Bea Indurain (100m hurdles) and Nicole Burlinson (800m). 
 
Quotable:
 
Head Coach Jeff Bolender: "It was the best way to end the DII Nationals for Carsyn. She basically led the whole way and finished strong for the win. It is never easy to finish first and it is a huge blessing to be national champion. Thank the Lord she stayed healthy all the way through."
 
Carsyn Koch: "I went into the race knowing that anything could happen. I wanted to go in confident, but at the same time I knew that every competitor worked really hard to get here and would definitely give me a challenge.
 
"My family and friends were there to support me and overall it was a great day. It's funny how you stress and work so hard for only two minutes of your life. It's good to keep the experience in perspective."