
PUEBLO, Colo. — Aniya Heckstall blazed into Barton College track and field history as its first female All-American on Saturday afternoon, May 24, at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The junior sprinter finished seventh in the 100-meter dash at CSU Pueblo’s ThunderBowl, tying her own school record of 11.41 seconds. The performance made her Barton’s first female All-American in outdoor track and field and first overall since long jumper Larry Russell in 2018. Russell, now a Barton assistant coach, was also the last Bulldog to compete in the national championship meet.
She ran the same time in Thursday’s prelim race, finishing ninth to grab the last spot for finals by a hundredth of a second ahead of Shantae George of Lincoln (Missouri).
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Alexis Brown, who was the top seed with an 11.06 prelim time, set a Div. II record in the finals with a 10.93 time.

The Scotland Neck and Southeast Halifax High product earned a spot in the NCAA championships after setting the program record in the 100 of 11.49 seconds this season. Heckstall then earned the top women’s track athlete honor at the Conference Carolinas Outdoor Championships in April after winning the 200 dash and taking second in the 100 and 400.