Indoor Track & Field Sending Eight Student-Athletes to Division III Indoor Championships
MEN'S QUALIFIERS | WOMEN'S QUALIFIERS
St. Louis, Mo., March 7, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams will send eight student-athletes to compete in five events at the 2011 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, it was announced Monday by the NCAA selection committee.
This year’s NCAA indoor meet will by hosted by Capital University on Friday-Saturday, March 11-12, at The Capital Center in Columbus, Ohio. Single day tickets will cost $10 for adults and $7 for students. Tickets for both days of competition will be $15 for adults and $10 for students.
The Washington University men’s indoor track and field team will see four student-athletes competing for an NCAA championship in four different events. Senior Ben Harmon highlighted the selections by qualifying to compete in two events; he will participate in the pentathlon and the long jump.
Harmon qualified for the pentathlon with a score of 3,634 at the Illinois Wesleyan Bob Keck Invitational on Feb. 4, which ranks third among the 12 entrants. He was an All-American in the event in 2009 when he finished third in the nation and came in ninth at the national meet in 2010. Harmon’s qualifying long jump of 7.14 meters came a week ago at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships. He ranks seventh in Division III heading into the national meet.
Juniors Dan Davis and Tyler Jackson will be competing in the 55-meter hurdles. Davis automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships with a Washington University record-breaking time of 7.50 at the Rose-Hulman Engineer Invitational on Jan. 29, which ranks first in Division III. Jackson stands 10th among the 13 entrants for the 55-hurldes with a qualifying time of 7.62.
Senior Chris Malaya automatically qualified for the 400-meter with a school-record breaking time of 48.68 at the North Central College Last Chance Qualifier on March 4. He will be competing at the NCAA indoor championships for the first time in his career and ranks fifth in Division III heading into the weekend.
The women’s distance medley relay team of freshman Shannon Howell, senior Jessica Londeree and juniors Erica Jackey and Liz Phillips will vie for the national championship. The team broke the school-record with their automatic qualifying time of 11:48.98 at the North Central Last Chance Meet on March 4, and ranks as the fastest DMR time in Division III this season. The Bears finished 11th in the DMR last year.