Texas Lutheran seniors (from left to right) Jessica Raglon, Ashley Williams, Amber Meeks and Taffey Gray led the Bulldogs to national prominence in women’s track and field.

Ashley Williams found Texas Lutheran from her hometown of Dallas. Jessica Raglon traveled from Humble, Texas. Amber Meeks arrived from Magnolia, Texas, and Taffey Gray made the short journey from San Antonio.

Together, Williams, Raglon, Meeks and Gray called TLU home for four years and helped transform TLU women’s track and field into a national sprinting power. The four seniors punctuated their Bulldog careers with a final trip to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, contested May 22-24 in Oshkosh, Wis.

At the championships, Williams, Raglon and Meeks (along with fellow sprinter Staci Jackson) captured the national championship in the 4x100 meter relay. The relay title is the second NCAA DIII national championship in school history. The Bulldogs’ relay team of Gray, Jackson, Williams and Destiney Jones nearly added a second national title less than five hours later with a second-place finish in the 4x400.

Between the four student-athletes, Gray, Meeks, Raglon and Williams made a combined 18 individual and relay appearances at the NCAA DIII national championships in indoor and outdoor track and field. And from those 18 appearances, the four won a combined 21 All-America citations, recorded eight relay finishes of seventh or better nationally, and won two national relay championships.

“Coming from Dallas, not knowing anyone and balancing the challenges of academics and athletics, it was a big transition for me,” said Williams, who advanced to four consecutive NCAA outdoor national championship meets and won a national indoor relay title and a national outdoor relay title. “I feel like I adapted pretty well. I wanted to go home sometimes, and I still want to go home now and then, but I’ve grown with my teammates and developed a great bond with them. I thank God for the legacy that we will leave behind, and I pray for the upcoming girls that they will beat our records and continue the tradition.”

Gray and Williams made their school-record tying fourth consecutive showings at the national championships. Raglon and Meeks contended for national outdoor honors for the third time in four years.

“I’ve been running track now for 12 years, and it was rewarding to get back (to the championships),” said Meeks. “We all wanted to put a nice finishing touch on our careers.”

The four first jumped onto the TLU scene in 2005 by helping the Bulldogs to the first track and field conference team title in school history. The team win brought momentum to TLU’s 4x100 relay that finished sixth in the nation that season. Gray, Meeks and Williams ran on that relay, which became the first TLU relay to place at a NCAA national championship.

“I’ll admit I was scared,” said Gray of that first national meet. “I didn’t understand how big it was. But all the experiences have brought us closer together.”

In 2006, Gray, Raglon and Williams (along with sprinter Natalie Wood) collected another sixth-place finish in the 4x100. With another year of experience, and the addition of Jackson and Casey Toombs, the Bulldogs won the 2007 indoor 4x400, jumped to third nationally in the outdoor 4x100, and took seventh in the outdoor 4x400. The 2008 season started with a third-place finish in the 4x400 at the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships.

“For me, TLU has been about finding our hidden potential,” said Raglon. “I never knew I could do this. But the coaches would say, ‘Just try it.’ Now I can say, ‘Wow, I did this.’ My experiences here have been more than I ever expected them to be.” ♦

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By Tim Clark
Sports information director