Sophomore Elysia Hodges finished as national runner-up in the women's 400 meters on the last day of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Marion, Indiana. Hodges ran a time of 53.77, beating her own team record by 0.96 second. "Other than the two winning marathons, that would probably be the premiere performance we have ever had," said Westmont head coach Russell Smelley referring to the back-to-back national championships by Jessica Goulder and Anna Stumbo in 2006 and 2007. "Elysia is one of the best athletes we have and has been training steadily. You could see in her training that this was possible. For her to do this in her third race at nationals with one to go shows her determination and focus. Coach John Larralde timed her training well so that she could peak and have her best performance here at the national championship." "I was really nervous," acknowledged Hodges. "Once the gun went off the girl outside of me went out really hard. I had a flash back to last year in the hurdles when the girl in lane two had gone out fast too. I didn't want to freak myself out, so I just held it. On the curve, I could hear lane five catching up with me so I decided to go with her. Coming around the curve, I did a quick glance and I saw Theresa in the stands waving me on. So, I just ran my heart out. When I finished and looked at the time I honestly couldn't believe it. [men's schedule and results] [women's schedule and results] [photos]