Ten Track Athletes Qualify For NCAA Championships
MADISON, N.J. – The 2009-10 athletic season will conclude this week with 10 student-athletes representing the Landmark Conference at the 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Champions hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio May 27-29.
Moravian College which claimed its third-consecutive Landmark men's and women's championships earlier in May has nine athletes qualified for the meet, seven females and two males. Susquehanna University has one male qualified for the competition. The 10 athletes will be trying to earn All-America recognition by placing in the top-eight in an individual event, while also trying to earn points for the team standings.
Five of Moravian's nine competitors are returning to the NCAA Outdoor Championships after earning a spot last season. On the women's side, Anna Heim, Symonne Scott and Rachel Beck are all back for a second-straight season, and both Eric Woodruff and Gary Zack are back for the second-straight year in the men's competition. Moravian's other qualifiers are Mary King, Rachel Riggs, Dana Haslett and Micah Leonard. Susquehanna senior Paul Thistle is also making his second-straight appearance at the NCAA meet.
Heim enters the meet trying to defend her national championship in the pole vault from the indoor season when she set an NCAA record vault of 4.16-meters. She is ranked first entering the event after clearing 4.17-meters at the ECAC Division III Championships, setting a new NCAA Division III record.
Scott is making her fifth trip to either the NCAA Outdoor or Indoor Championships and will be competing in three different events. She is ranked 11th in the long jump with a mark of 5.79 meters, and has twice been an All-American indoors in that event. She also qualified in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.22 which has her ranked 21st.
Scott will be joined by Beck, Haslett and Riggs in the 4x100-meter relay after the group fan a time of 47.91 for the 12th-fastest qualifying mark.
King is back in the NCAA meet after qualifying as a freshman and she will compete in the javelin. Her best thrown of 41.24 meters has her ranked 15th in the event.
Leonard will be competing in the triple jump in the NCAA meet after qualifying in 15th position with a leap of 11.66-meters which set a new Landmark record in her freshman season.
On the men's side, Woodruff has qualified to run in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes after earning All-America honors in both events last season. His qualifying time of 20.82 in the 200 is the fastest in the nation this season, and he will try and defend his national title in that event. He is ranked fourth in the 100 with a best time of 10.56.
Zack is back in the javelin competition after earning a spot in the finals in his first trip last season. His best throw of 63.17-meters ranks sixth in the country entering the competition.
Susquehanna's Thistle earned All-America status at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter, and has qualified for the outdoor meet in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His time of 9:06.15 has him ranked fourth in the event.
This season marks the third-straight year the Landmark has qualified at least 10 athletes for the NCAA Championships. Seven Landmark athletes earned All-America status at the 2009 NCAA meet including one national champion.
Story provided by Moravian & Susquehanna Sports Information
