Georgia senior Jill Steffens earned All-American honors in the 10,000-meter Thursday during the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Junior Natalie Picchetti (1500), the men’s 4×400 relay team and senior Krista Woodward also advanced to the finals in their respective events.

“I thought our second day went better than the first since we had some really positive things happen,” said head coach Wayne Norton. “(Justin) Gaymon and (Natalie) Picchetti did a great job qualifying and the 4×400 team should be a big boost to our men’s team. The highlight of the day was Jill (Steffens) scoring a point for us and becoming an All-American as a fifth year senior.”

Steffens came away with the first All-American honor of her career. She took control of the trailing pack and managed to cross the finish line in eighth place with the second-fastest time of her career (33:43.56).

Today senior Jennifer Dahlgren will attempt to defend her NCAA
title in the hammer throw finals at 2 p.m. to start the action for Georgia. Junior Levern Spencer, who was a 2006 outdoor All-American and this year’s No. 2 seed, will be gunning for her first NCAA Division I championship in the high jump at 8:15 p.m.

In other news, Dahlgren, who was the 2006 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Women’s Field Athlete of the Year, was named the 2007 USTFCCCA East Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year this week.