SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Bates junior Elise Lambert dropped nearly three seconds off of her best time in the 800 meters Thursday at the Tufts National Qualifying Meet, coming within 0.02 seconds of the Bates record and rising to No. 4 in the Division III national rankings.

Lambert (Amherst, N.H.) recorded her previous best time of 2:13.49 on May 8 at the Tufts Invitational. That time had her ranked 20th in Division III and thus a borderline candidate to earn an invitation to compete at the NCAA Championships, with 18 entries per event. Lowering her time by 2.81 seconds to 2:10.68 vaults Lambert to the fourth-fastest time in the country.

The two-time All-American passed Middlebury's Cassidy Kearney on the final straightaway to place first in a competitive field. Kearney, who started the day ranked seventh in DIII at 2:11.81, finished second in 2:10.81, which moves her up to fifth place in the country.

Lambert came within 0.02 seconds of the team record time of 2:10.66, established by six-time All-American Ayden Eickhoff in 2019.

The NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships will take place May 27-29 at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.