Men's Outdoor Track and Field | 5/22/2022 8:17:46 PM
St. John Fisher College standouts Kyle Rollins, Veronica Duell and Michaela Kurbs and Utica University stars Hunter Logan, Mackenzie Mix and Ka'Sean Watlington were selected to compete in the 2022 NCAA Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships set for May 26-28, co-hosted by the University of Mount Union and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Duell and Kurbs will kick off action in the women's long jump on Thursday, May 26, at 5:30 p.m. Rollins will compete in the high jump on Friday, May 27 at 2 p.m, while both Rollins and Watlington will vie for the triple jump Saturday, May 28 at 11 a.m. Logan will enter the shot put circle at 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 27 and Mix will compete in the 400-meter dash preliminaries at 3 p.m. Friday.
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For each men's individual event contested, including the decathlon, the top 20 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each women's individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.
A two-time reigning outdoor national champion in the high jump, Rollins has his sights set on a three-peat. He enters the championship meet with an impressive resume, as the Groveland, New York, native holds the No. 1 mark in the high jump (2.12 meters) and triple jump (15.11 meters) among all Division III competitors. This will be Rollins' fourth appearance at the outdoor national meet and his seventh overall NCAA meet as a Cardinal. Rollins already captured a gold medal this year by winning the high jump at the 2021-22 indoor national championships in March with a height of 2.12 meters.
Watlington qualifies for his fifth NCAA championship in total, and will be making his third appearance outdoors. He reaches the national championship stage again after recording the nation's second-best mark of the season in the triple jump. That mark, which was also a school record, was 15.10 meters. He delivered that performance at the Empire 8 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In his last foray into national competition, Watlington earned All-American honors for the second time in his career at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. He placed eighth with a jump of 14.93 meters that day. He has finished as high as third in an NCAA Championship meet, doing so at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Rollins and Watlington are the top two seeds in the triple jump.
Logan qualified for his second NCAA Championship, and will make his first appearance outdoors. He had the nation's sixth-best mark of the season in the men's shot put with his school record 16.53 meter effort that won the AARTFC title on Thursday. He is already a one-time NCAA All-American in the shot put, netting the honors with a fifth place finish indoors on a mark of 16.25 meters. He is already a national champion in collegiate competition. He earned the NJCAA Division III outdoor titles in the shot put and discus while competing at Herkimer College in Spring 2021.
Mix qualified for her first NCAA Championship as a freshman. She had the 25th best time in the nation at 400 meters with a clocking of 56.76, which she ran at the Empire 8 Conference Championships. She will be the 20th overall seed on the accepted entries list out of a field of 22 competitors. She set school records at 100, 200, and 400 meters this spring.
Kurbs, a sophomore and Duell, a freshman will make their NCAA Championship debuts in the long jump. Kurbs and Duell are tied with Demetria Johnson from the University of Dubuque with the 12th-best distance in Division III, a program-record 5.81 meters. They are the first St. John Fisher women's track and field standouts to compete at nationals since Taylor Dence ran the 400-meter hurdles in 2019.
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