CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Tanya Zeferjahn (Hesperia, Calif., Hesperia High School) was patient in her defense of her 10,000-meter national title at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday night at Irwin Belk Track in Charlotte, N.C. She helped the pack reel back in an early runaway bid by Slippery Rock's Jenn Harp and then trailed Western Washington's Sarah Porter before taking the lead and breaking away with seven laps remaining. Zeferjahn proved to be the class of the field as she won back-to-back titles with her 34:46.49, a trick that hasn't happened in twelve years. She now possesses both of Queens' women's national championship trophies.

But the race wasn't over as teammate Meagan Nedlo (Mt. Pleasant, TX, Pittsburg, HS) was the one to give chase with 400-meters to go, making a charge for second and closing the gap. Early leader Porter trailed Nedlo and then pulled even with 100 remaining. The two battled down the final straight with Porter edging Nedlo 34:49.60 to 34:50.61. The Royals duo both picked up NCAA All-American honors for their efforts.

The gold and the bronze earned the Royals 16 points, putting Queens in second place for overall team scoring behind Lincoln's 18. While only three events out of twenty have been scored for the three day championship, the Royals have three more opportunities to put points on the board. Both Zeferjahn and Nedlo will double back in the 5,000-meters with their prelims tomorrow at 7:50pm while freshman Maraya Slatter will race the 800-meter prelims at 6:40pm.. The finals for both races are on Saturday. 

The highest NCAA national championship ranking for a Queens women's athletic team comes from the women's lacrosse team, who was ranked as high as eighth in 2006. The Royals track team entered the meet with a 15th-place team ranking and will hope to improve upon their 2009 25th-place.