By Mike Ballard
RutgersCamden Sports Correspondent

DECATUR, IL – Rutgers University-Camden junior Tameka Jackson (Pennsauken, NJ/Sterling) became the first female track All-American at Rutgers University-Camden when she finished eighth in the 100-meter dash finals at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships here Saturday at Millikin University.

Jackson becomes the first Rutgers-Camden track All-American overall since Matt Collins (Gibbstown, NJ/Bishop Eustace) finished seventh in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 2001.

Jackson qualified for the final Friday when she posted a time of 12.19 to finish third in her heat. She ran a 12.51 in the 100-meter finals, which were won by senior Kristen Shields of Wentworth College with a time of 12.09. Junior Muffy Israel of Carthage College, who won the 2002 title as a freshman with an NCAA Div. III Championships record of 11.71, was the runnerup this season at 12.12.

On Thursday, Jackson missed qualifying for the 200-meter finals, running a 25.50 time to finish 12th out of 20 runners.

Jackson entered the 100-meter qualifying ranked 10th on the NCAA Division III women’s outdoor track performance list this season. That ranking was based on her school-record 12.14 time, set at the ECAC Championships May 15. Although she didn’t quite match that time in qualifying, she still managed to run the seventh-fastest time of the day out of 18 entrants.

In her three years on the Rutgers-Camden track and field team, Jackson has been named the women’s MVP each season. She holds three individual school records and has been a member of five record-setting relay teams at Rutgers-Camden. In addition to individual marks at 100 and 200 meters (25.02, also set May 15 at the ECAC Championships), Jackson also holds the school record at 100 yards (11.49), set at the Albright Invitational April 10, 2002. In the relays, she is a member of record-setting teams in the 4x100 meters (48.9, accomplished twice, most recently at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships, May 3, 2003), the 4x110 yards (50.50 at the Albright Invitational, April 10, 2002), the 4x200 meters (1:43.59 at the Penn Relays, April 26, 2002), the 4x400 meters (3:59.69 at the NJAC championships, May 4, 2002) and the 4x440 yards (4:24.253 at the Albright Invitational, April 10, 2002).

Jackson has been a standout performer at the NJAC Championships since her freshman year in 2002, when she earned All-NJAC Second Team honors in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and captured All-NJAC First Team honors as part of the Lady Raptors’ winning 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

She earned All-NJAC Second Team honors as a sophomore in 2003, finishing second in the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 at the NJAC Championships. This season, while nursing an injury that kept her out of the individual 100-meter dash at the NJAC Championships May 1, she still managed to earn All-NJAC Honorable Mention as part of the Lady Raptors’ third-place 4x100 relay team.

Two weeks later, fully recovered from injuries, she set Rutgers-Camden school records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the ECAC Championships en route to qualifying for the NCAA meet.

100 Meter Dash (Final, May 29, 2004)
Last year's winner: 12.02; Vernick Smith, Jr, Wheaton College (Ma)
NCAA Championships record: 11.71; Muffy Israel, Carthage College, 2002
Lindsay Stadium record: 11.65; Angel Perkins, Team of Purpose TC, 7-5-01
US Olympic Trials qualifier: 11.40

	Name	Year	Team	Time
	Wind = -0.8 m/s
1	Kristen Shields	Sr	Whitworth College	12.09
2	Muffy Israel	Jr	Carthage College	12.12
3	Pam Orris	Jr	Loras College	12.29
4	Brittny Boyd	So	College of New Jersey	12.32
5	Katie Fulton	So	Williams College	12.39
6	Angela Klatt	Sr	Wisconsin La Crosse	12.40
7	Sue Abbring	Jr	Calvin College	12.46
8	Tameka Jackson	Jr	Rutgers Camden	12.51