Olympics/Amateur sports: Indy's Austin wins NCAA tennis title

There has been one disappointment after another for Indianapolis tennis player Brooke Austin.

Her No. 1-ranked Florida Gators lost to Stanford 4-3 in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA team tournament. It was the Gators’ earliest exit since 2009.

Then, in the 64-player singles tournament, the No. 4-ranked Austin was upset in the first round by 104th-ranked Katherine Ip of Rice.

Yet those two outcomes weren’t as vexing as the memory of last year’s NCAA doubles tournament. Austin and Kourtney Keegan lost to a California pair in a semifinal after building a 4-1 lead in the third set.

“In practice, even at home since then, every day, we hear something about it,” Austin said. “Like our coach will be like, ‘Well, at 4-1 in the third, you did this.’ So I think every day we worked on something toward getting to this goal here, and trying to let go of that, 4-1 in the third.”

Third-seeded Austin and Keegan beat another Cal team, Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, 6-2, 6-0 in the NCAA doubles final May 30 at Tulsa, Calif.

Florida has a rich history in women’s tennis, but it was the Gators’ first NCAA title in singles or doubles since 2001. Coincidentally, Austin became the second Hoosier in 46 days to win a national championship for Florida. Pittsboro gymnast Bridget Sloan won the NCAA all-around, uneven bars and balance beam April 15 at Fort Worth, Texas.

“I’m just shocked that we won, to be honest,” Austin said at the post-match news conference.

The duo celebrated their championship by wearing “Fire and Ice” shirts made by Austin’s stepmother. Austin is the fiery one. Keegan, a junior from Roswell, Ga., keeps cool and keeps the pair “focused,” according to Austin.

They were resilient after falling behind Arizona State 4-1 in the first set of a quarterfinal. Austin and Keegan won that match 6-4, 6-1, then beat a UCLA team in a semifinal, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5).

“They were absolutely unreal. Some of the highest-level tennis I have seen Florida play in my 15 years here — that’s how good they were,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a university release.

Austin, 20, took online classes in high school and considered turning pro before enrolling at Florida. In 2015, she became the first freshman to be the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year, an honor she duplicated in 2016.

Uceny’s best 1,500 since 2012

Morgan Uceny ran her fastest time since 2012, winning the Furman Elite 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 3.94 seconds Saturday at Greenville, S.C.

Uceny, 31, a Cornell graduate and former state champion from Plymouth, led a group of eight women under the Olympic standard of 4:07. Canada’s Nicole Sifuentes was second in 4:03.97.

The Hoosier ranked No. 1 in the world in 2011. Injuries from a fall on the last lap of the 2012 Olympic final derailed Uceny’s career for a while. Her 4:03.94 ranks No. 4 among Americans and 12th in the world in 2016.

On Twitter, she posted it was “my best race in years!”

Sports of all sorts

• Cycling: Marian University graduate Coryn Rivera finished second, just one second behind repeat champion Megan Guarnier, in the professional road nationals in Winston-Salem, N.C. The women’s road race covered 140 kilometers (87 miles). A day later, on May 29, Rivera won the criterium in the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic.
• Rowing: Indiana finished 15th in the women’s NCAA Championships at Gold River, Calif. The Hoosiers’ best finish was 12th by the first varsity four crew.
• Swimming: Indiana University graduate Kevin Swander, off limited training, qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter breaststroke. Swander, 32, an assistant coach at South Carolina, clocked 1:02.18 in a meet at Columbia, S.C. The Center Grove graduate last competed at the 2012 Olympic Trials, finishing ninth. He was fifth at the 2008 trials.
• Track and field: Lawrence North graduate Ashley Spencer ran the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 54.51, the No. 3 time in the world this year, in an American Track League meet Saturday at Atlanta. Indianapolis resident Molly Ludlow was fourth in the 800 meters in 2:00.44, ranking No. 5 in the United States. … Another Lawrence North grad, former Indiana State shot putter Felisha Johnson, had a personal best of 63-2¼ Sunday at Naperville, Ill. That ranks No. 4 in the world. ... Chris Giesting (Batesville) edged Patrick Feeney (New Palestine), 46.08 to 46.09, in a 400-meter duel between former Notre Dame sprinters Saturday at IUPUI. … Purdue thrower Chukwuebuka Enekwechi is the men’s Big Ten and Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year.

 Call IndyStar reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.