Women's Outdoor Track & Field: Emily Richards at USATF Outdoor Championships finals

Sunday, June 25, 2017 - 2:06 pm (5:06 EDT) - Hornet Stadium, Sacramento, Calif.

| USATF Outdoor Championships Site | Let'sRun.com 800 Finals Preview | 

| RunnerSpace.com feature story on Emily Richards |

Preview: Junior All-American Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) will compete in the finals of the women's 800-meter run 2017 USATF Outdoor Championships on Sunday afternoon at 2:06 pm (5:06 EDT) at California State-Sacramento ... The race can be seen live on NBC television ... She advanced to the finals by finishing third in her semifinal heat in 2:01.95 on Friday evening ... Richards advanced to the semis by finishing third in her heat in the first round on Thursday afternoon, fighting 108-degree heat to automatically advance in 2:03.61 ... The top three finishers qualify for the US National team that will compete at the 2017 World Championships in London Aug. 5-13 ... Richards broke her own Div. III record in the 800-meter run and automatically qualified for the USA Championships Meet with a school-record time of 2:00.62 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville on June 10 ... Richards entered the championships with the ninth fastest time in the country in the race and owns the second fastest time among collegiate athletes in the event ... She now ranks 32nd in the world in the women's 800-meter run this year, according to IAAF.org ... In fact, all eight of the finalists rank in the top 35 runners in the world in the event, including three in the top eight and five in the top 15 ... In the first round, Richards finished ahead of eight professional runners and collegiate runners from Stanford, Duke, Boise State, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Northern Iowa, Oregon and California-Davis ... She is only one of three collegiate runners to advance into the semifinals, joining 2017 NCAA Division I champion Raevyn Rogers of Oregon and NCAA Division I All-American Hanna Green of Virginia Tech ... Richards is a 5-time NCAA Division III Champion, winning the 800 three times and 1500 twice ... This season, she swept the 800 and 1500 titles both Indoors and Outdoors after winning the 800 crown Outdoors in 2016 ... She is also a CoSIDA Academic All-American and won the Ohio Athletic Conference Cross Country individual title in 2015. 

Head Coach Jason Maus: Maus is in his 8th season at ONU with a 317-137-3 outdoor record, a winning percentage of .697.