MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Two Catholic University women's track and field athletes took to the track on the first day of the NCAA Division Championships on Thursday afternoon. It was a successful day for the Cardinals as both athletes clinched All-America honors.

Lauren Cerda and Clare Marsh both made their NCAA Championship debuts as Cerda advanced to Saturday's 1500m final. The senior went 3:34.05 to qualify through on time, benefiting from running in the quicker of the two preliminary heats. She placed seventh in her heat with her time ultimately seeing her through by more than a second as all but one timed qualifiers came from her prelim.

Marsh gave it a strong effort in the 400-meter hurdles, ultimately coming up just short of qualification to the finals. She placed fifth in her heat and 12th overall with a time of 1:03.19 to secure a spot on the All-America Second Team.

Catholic's sole representative from this year's indoor championships Emily Moehringer will be the third Cardinal to compete when she runs the 800m tomorrow at 6:15 p.m. She earned second team All-America honors in the indoor 800m in the winter. Cerda has already clinched second-team All-America honors at minimum and will compete in the 1500m finals at 4:25 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Cardinal men's track and field standout Christian Di Nicolantonio won the men's pole vault national championship with a program and conference-record jump of 5.19 meters. He becomes the first Catholic individual national champion since 1991.