By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Becca Dup (Albert Lea, Minn.) closed out her sophomore year with the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota track and field team with her first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III outdoor national championships.
 
And the Cardinals standout has picked up right where she left off this season.
 
Dup turned in the best triple jump performance of her career—and the fourth-best showing in the nation this season—at the Luther Alumni Duel last Saturday.
 
The school-record setting effort—one of three first-place finishes for the Cardinal junior—did not go unnoticed, either, as Dup was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Field Athlete of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
 
Dup, the reigning MIAC indoor and outdoor long jump champion—and the school record holder in both the long and triple jump—has twice etched her name in the school's indoor record books in the triple jump this season.
 
Two weeks ago, at the Warren Bowlus Invitational, Dup posted a leap of 11.04 meters, breaking her own school mark from a year ago.
 
That distance, however, paled in comparison to Dup's effort last Saturday at the Luther Alumni Duel, where she soared to 11.74 meters—the fourth-best showing in all of NCAA Division III this season.
 
Along with her Herculean effort in the triple jump last Saturday, Dup also won the long jump (5.40m) and the 55 (5.75) at the non-team-scored Luther meet.
 
Dup and the Cardinals are back in action this Friday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., to take part in the St. Thomas Showcase.