GRINNELL, Iowa — Peyton Dostie has earned numerous honors during her four years of track and field competition at the University of Southern Maine, and now she holds another distinction – the school’s first NCAA women’s national champion in any sport.

Dostie, a senior from Standish, set a school record Friday while winning the pentathlon at the NCAA Division III indoor championships at Grinnell College. She placed first in three of the five events – the 60-meter hurdles, long jump and 800 meters – tied for second in the high jump and set a personal best in the shot put as she compiled 3,654 points, nearly 100 more than her closest challenger.

“The biggest thing was she had no missteps,” said USM Coach George Towle. “Every event was solid. If she didn’t PR, she came close in every event.”

Dostie led after every event. She began her busy day by winning the hurdles in 8.81 seconds, then followed that up by breaking her own school record in the high jump at 5-4 1/2.

On her second throw in the shot put, Dostie achieved a PR of 29-1. “I think that was the first time she’s thrown even 28 feet,” said Towle.

Dostie skipped her final throw because she was also scheduled to run the prelims of the 60 hurdles. She qualified for Saturday’s final in that event with a time of 8.80.

She then returned to the pentathlon and increased her lead by winning the long jump at 17-6 1/4.

“I knew it was pretty much over at that point, because she’s always run well in the 800,” said Towle.

“She went into the 800 with about a 5-second cushion, so the plan was for her to sit on the shoulder of whoever took the lead, except when the gun went off nobody wanted to challenger her, so she took it out and led all the way.”

Dostie’s winning time in the 800 was 2:20.83.

Colby’s Jenna Athanasopoulos also earned All-America honors in the pentathlon with an eighth-place finish, one point ahead of Bowdoin’s Addison Carvajal.

In other events:

• Dostie’s teammate, Nicole Kirk of Scarborough, just missed qualifying for the finals in the 200, finishing 10th.

• Brunswick’s Mitchell Black, a senior at Tufts, advanced to the finals in the 800. Black is the defending champion.

• Bates sophomore Adedire Fakorede placed third in the men’s 35-pound weight throw (61-9 1/2).

• The USM 1,600 relay men’s team missed a spot in the final by less than four-tenths of a second, finishing 11th in  3:20.27.
• USM’s Ron Helderman finished 11th in the pole vault with a best height of 15-7.