Bates College

Bates senior captain Elise Lambert took third place in the women's 800-meter final Saturday at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, officially winning her fourth career All-America honor in the process. 

Lambert (Amherst, N.H.) finished in 2:12.56, matching Ayden Eickhoff '19 for the best finish at NCAAs in the 800 meters in Bates athletics history. Eickhoff took third place at the indoor championships in 2019. Esther Seeland of Messiah won the race in a meet-record time of 2:05.75, followed by Emma Kelley of Washington University in 2:09.77 and Lambert. Wesleyan's Maeve Hoffman got fourth place in 2:13.17. 

Lambert's third-place finish out of the eight finalists scored six team points for the Bobcats. 

This is the Bates women's team's seventh straight year of scoring at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The event was canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

With four All-America honors, Lambert has a chance to join an exclusive club this spring. Only six Bates women's track and field athletes have five or more All-America honors. They are Keelin Godsey '06 (16), Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan '10 (6), Eickhoff (6), Izzy Alexander '09 (5), Jessica Wilson '17 (5), and Sally Ceesay '18 (5).