PUEBLO, Colo. - There was no Lucky 7 for the Lincoln women's track team.
Looking for their seventh title at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Blue Tigers came up just a bit short Saturday night.
Academy of Art, a San Francisco-based school, captured the national title with 60 points, beating second-place Johnson C. Smith by six points. Lincoln and Grand Valley State tied for third with 51 points.
The Blue Tigers, who claimed titles in 2003-07 and 2009, did manage to keep their streak of top-three finishes intact. Lincoln has now finished in the top three for 11 straight years.
In their first event of the day, the Blue Tigers' 4x100-meter relay team of Anna-Kay James, Cardine Copeland, Yanique Ellington and Jenea Johnson came in fifth (45.11).
Twishana Williams followed with a sixth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run (4:35.30) before Lovan Palmer came in fifth in the 400-meter dash (53.32). But the Blue Tigers missed a chance to pick up more points in the 400 when Yanique Haye false-started.
In the 100-meter dash, Ellington posted a sixth-place finish (11.76) and Copeland came in seventh (11.86).
Then in the 800-meter run, Palmer notched a fifth-place finish (2:10.49) shortly before Sheri Kaye Campbell came in third in the high jump (5-11 1/4).
The Blue Tigers then picked up some key points in the 400-meter hurdles when Michelle Cumberbatch got eight for finishing second (57.59) and Haye picked up six more for third (57.61)
The Blue Tigers capped off their Championships with a second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. The team of Palmer, Williams, Haye and Cumberbatch finished in a time of 3:37.16.
On the men's side, Sabiel Anderson put a marvelous cap to his career by snagging two national championships.
The senior won his first when he took the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 13.66, then followed it up with a win in the 400-meter hurdles in 49.49.
Anderson's efforts helped the Blue Tigers finish sixth in the team race with 32 points. St. Augustine's University out of Raleigh, N.C., captured the national championship with 105 points.
Also for the Blue Tigers, Michael Ashley finished eighth in the 400-meter dash (47.21)
Romel Lewis was fifth in the 100-meter dash (10.39), but did not finish the 400-meter hurdles.
In the final event of the night, Lincoln finished eighth in the 4x400-meter relay (3:10.54) with the team of Alonzo Allen, Ashley, Jermaine Blake and Tyrone Hawkins