June 14, 2003
SACRAMENTO, CA – On the final day of the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Clemson’s Gisele Oliveira claimed third place in the triple jump to earn her second All-America honor in as many days. She scored seven points for the Lady Tigers to lead the team to a 36th-place finish. LSU won this year’s meet with 64 points.
The sophomore from Porto Alegre, Brazil, set a lifetime-best mark of 44’6″ in the triple jump on her third leap of the day. Oliveira’s previous personal-best leap was 44’5.5″, set in Brazil prior to coming to Clemson. Her best mark is also a Clemson record, as well as an Atlantic Coast Conference record. The previous ACC record was 44’3.75″, set in 1999 by North Carolina’s Nicole Gamble. Oliveira’s third-place finish is the highest ever by a Clemson jumper, and she is only the ninth Lady Tiger to finish in the top three in the nation outdoor. No Clemson women’s track and field athlete has ever earned All-America honors in the long jump and triple jump in the same year, and only one other Lady Tiger, Nanette Holloway, has ever earned the accolade in both events during her career. In fact, no other Lady Tiger competing in field events has earned the accolade outdoor more than twice. Former throws standouts Jamine Moton and Angela Dolby each claimed two All-America honors outdoor during their careers, but never twice during the same season. On Friday, Oliveira took eighth in the long jump to earn her first All-America accolade in that event. She concludes her sophomore season as a three-time All-American, earning the honor outdoor in 2002, and twice outdoor this season.
Lauren Nicholson, a senior from Marietta, GA, concluded her final season with a 24th-place finish in the heptathlon. She scored 4,785 points over the last two days of competition. On Saturday, Nicholson recorded a mark of 17’3.25″ in the long jump and posted a throw of 105’2″ in the javelin. In the 800m, the final event of the day, Nicholson clocked a 2:38.69. Nicholson ranks second on the Lady Tigers’ all-time list with 5,200 points in the heptathlon, and was the second heptathlete from Clemson to compete at the NCAA Championships.
On Thursday, senior Joana Costa made Lady Tiger history as the first pole vaulter to compete at the NCAA Championships. The native of Sao Paolo, Brazil, finishes her career second on Clemson’s all-time vaulting list with a career-best mark of 12’10.25″. At the NCAA meet, Costa cleared 12’3.5″ to finish 22nd in the nation.
December 4, 2024
