Washburn's Carsyn Koch begins her quest for back-to-back NCAA Division II 800m national titles Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama.

Koch is a junior at Cedarville University in Ohio. A year ago, she was national champion in both the indoor and outdoor 800m event. In the outdoor championship Koch ran the fastest time in Division II history at 2:02.39.

Koch enters this NCAA championship with the fastest time in the country this season (2:05.93).

The preliminary 800m race Thursday afternoon (6:35pm) and the finals are Saturday afternoon (5pm).

Koch will also compete in the distance medley relay team for Cedarville. That squad is seeded #2 in the country. The DMR race is Friday evening (6:55pm).

Koch won four Maine high school Class C cross country titles and was part of four Class D state champion basketball teams at Washburn.

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