BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Carsyn Koch, who excelled in several sports at Washburn District High School before moving on to Cedarville University in Ohio, captured her second consecutive 800-meter title at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championship meet March 11.
Koch, a junior at Cedarville, recorded a time of 2 minutes and 5.65 seconds. Koch’s winning effort was 1.73 seconds faster than the time put up by runner-up Fellan Ferguson of Johnson C. Smith University.
Carsyn Koch competes in an invitational indoor meet at Cedarville University earlier this winter. On March 11, Koch, a 2014 graduate of Washburn District High School, captured her second consecutive NCAA Div. II national championship in the 800-meter run.
(Scott Huck/Cedarville University)
Koch’s competitors took the pace out somewhat slowly, but she took charge in the second lap and pulled away for the win.
“I tucked back in the pack and that was kind of unlike me for racing,” she said in an interview posted on Cedarville’s website. “I got out of it and I just decided I would sit for the first 400 then when we reached that last 400, I was just going to go for it, and whatever my legs had left I was just going to lay it on the track.”
Koch, a 2014 graduate of WDHS, took the outdoor championship in NCAA Div. II last year and is now a five-time All-American at Cedarville.
On March 10, she anchored the distance medley relay team to a time of 11:19.55, which was good for third place in the standings. The time established a school record and is now the third-fastest in NCAA Div. II indoor history.
It was a busy three-day stretch of racing at the Birmingham CrossPlex, which was a new experience for Koch and took plenty of support to get through.
“I had never run three days in a row, so I just had to trust in my training,” she said. “It was helpful to have my coach reminding me of those long 6K workouts from cross country and telling me I was strong enough to do it and relying on God to just give me the strength I didn’t feel I had.”
She is the daughter of Peter and Liane Koch of Wade.
