PUEBLO, Colo. – Western Washington University junior student-athlete and graduate student Marian Ledesma earned First Team All-America honors with a 5th-place finish Saturday in the 800m final to wrap up competition for the Vikings at the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
 
The last official competition for a Viking student-athlete during the 2022-23 season was one of the finest, with Ledesma running the second-fastest time of the season in 2:09.92 to earn a podium finish earning four team points for WWU to tie for 44th place.
 
The Azusa Pacific transfer earned her third career All-America honor and first as a Viking. Ledesma was a Second Team All-American in the outdoor 800m in 2022 placing 11th and was a First Team All-American as part of the third-place finishing 4x400 relay indoor relay team for APU in 2022.
 
The All-America award for Ledesma wrapped up a successful trip to Colorado for the Vikings four student-athlete contingent. Sophomore Ila Davis placed 11th in the 3,000m steeplechase to take home Second Team All-America honors and sophomore Drew Weber was also a second-team All-America pick placing 12th in the 800m.
 
Azusa Pacific won the women's team title with 66 points to edge second-place Minnesota State (57 points) and Pittsburg State recorded a 15-point victory for the men's team title with 62 points ahead of runner-up West Texas A&M (47 points).
 
The Vikings 2023 outdoor season reached historic levels with the men's and women's teams sweeping the Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles for the first time, the men winning their fourth consecutive title and the women reaching the top of the podium for the first time in program history at the GNAC Championships.
 
In addition to sending four student-athletes to nationals, 23 NCAA Championships provisional qualifying marks were obtained by 17 athletes, 36 All-GNAC performances, 24 GNAC All-Academic selections, four school records and 55 program top-10 marks were achieved.
  WWU is celebrating 100 years of the outdoor track & field program, with the varsity history of the program going all the way back to the first season in 1923. Track historian Paul Scovel researched and compiled a comprehensive history of the program in a document found online at WWUVikings.com/TF.
 

TF🎽 | Marian Ledesma placed 5th at outdoor nationals in the 800m to earn All-America honors. The WWU graduate student is a First Team All-American! pic.twitter.com/VwjMZCBXSN
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) May 28, 2023

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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#GNACTF | Marian Ledesma of @WWUAthletics is an All-American! She places fifth in the women's 800 meters at the #D2OTF Championships in 2:09.92!
Live Results: https://t.co/W46CqCBgXe pic.twitter.com/FzbhipY95w
— GNAC Sports (@GNACsports) May 28, 2023