Seven E8 Women Headed to NCAA Meet
Women's qualifier list |
NCAA Release
The NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee announced Monday the participants in the 2016 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.
For each woman’s individual event contested, including the pentathlon, the top 17 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 12 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.
The championships will be held March 11-12 at the Charles Benson Bear ’39 Recreation and Athletic Center in Grinnell, Iowa, with Grinnell College serving as the official host.
The Empire 8 Athletic Conference will be represented by four Ithaca College student-athletes (Taryn Cordani, Katherine Pitman, Alex Rechen and Brandy Smith), two student-athletes from Stevens Institute of Technology (Amy Regan and Gladys Njoku) and one student-athlete from Utica College (Sarah Wiatr).
Pitman set a new ECAC Championship record in the pole vault on March 4 with a mark of 4.15 meters to top her previous best performance by .06 meters. She ranks first in the nation and is now just .02 meters shy of the top showing at the NCAA Division III Championship meet set in 2011.
Rechen will also compete in the pole vault and is seeded 14th with a height of 3.75 meters.
Cordani is seeded seventh in the 3,000 meter run after she clocked a time of 9:46.18 to surpass her own school record by nearly eight seconds this past weekend on March 4 at the ECAC Championship. She bested the field by 15 seconds and now holds the best time in ECAC Championship history.
Smith found a spot in this year's championships with a mark of 18.32 meters in the weight throw. Smith established that distance Feb. 26, at the NYSCTC Championships. She is seeded third overall.
Regan is the lone E8 athlete to qualify for two events. The Green Brook native is currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the 5000 meter event, and her time of 16:30.98 was a school record and personal best by 14 seconds set on Feb. 5 at the NYU Armony Invitational. Her time is the second fastest time ever ran in DIII history and is almost 42 seconds faster than the second seed (17:12.74). Regan also is ranked second nationally in the 3,000-meter after posting a time of 9:42.65 (was converted from 9:37.68 for track size) on Jan. 29 at the Boston University Terrier Classic
Njoku owns the top seed in the high jump with a height of 1.75 meters that she posted on Jan. 22 at the NYC Gotham Cup. This height is tied for the best height mark with Melanie Winters of Baldwin Wallace.
Wiatr is currently ranked third in the country in the triple jump with a season-best leap of 11.86 meters which she recorded back on Feb. 20. Her mark of 11.86 broke the school and facility record at the Utica Pioneer Invitational.