The Warm-Up Lap: National Championships Season is Underway in DII, DIII & NAIA

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The Warm-Up Lap: National Championships Season is Underway in DII, DIII & NAIA
May 22, 2014


NEW ORLEANS – While the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships are still three weeks away, fans of college T&F will have plenty of national championships fun this weekend to more than hold them over.

MORE INFO

DI|DII|DIII|NAIA

THIS WEEKEND’S MEETS
Outdoor Football Player Bests
Collegiate Event Summary
All-College Leaders
Weekend Broadcasts
Event Previews
Thurs.|Fri.|Sat.




The best student-athletes from around the nation in both Division II and Division III of the NCAA, as well as the NAIA, will be gathering this weekend for three of the highest-profile collegiate track & field meets of the year – all of which are taking place between Thursday, May 22, and Saturday, May 24.

Detailed information on each meet – including heat sheets and schedules – can be found on the USTFCCCA’s National Championships Central page.

Division II will determine its men’s and women’s team champions and its slate of individual winners in Allendale, Mich., at Grand Valley State. The defending national champion Saint Augustine’s men are heavy favorites, while the women’s race is the tightest in the nation, regardless of Division, between host GVSU and Lincoln (Mo.).

The final USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings of 2014 earlier this week broke down the team races in detail, and fans can watch the fun unfold live on NCAA.com’s live stream of the meet.

Division III’s best will take to the track and the field in Delaware, Ohio, at Ohio Wesleyan. Defending men’s champion UW-La Crosse is the significant favorite heading into the meet, while a three-way rankings battle between two-time defending indoor champion UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse and two-time defending outdoor champion Wartburg will finally reach resolution.

The ins-and-outs of those team races were examined closely in the final USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings on Monday, and the meet will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

At the NAIA Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala., the Indiana Tech men and women are both projected by the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings to defend their outdoor national titles from a year ago. The meet will be available to stream online for a small fee at NAIA.org.

With the team races having already been thoroughly covered throughout the week in the rankings, it’s time to shift the focus to a few of the individual storylines to watch. Below are select events from all three championship meets (for each gender between DII, DIIII and NAIA) that represent a sampling of the many great match-ups to watch this weekend.

These lists are not all-inclusive and are presented in chronological order.

But first, here’s a glance at the online broadcast schedule for the championships this weekend:

USTFCCCA InfoZone: Broadcast Schedule
Thursday, May 22, 2014
10:30 AM ET NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships
(Allendale, Mich.) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
12:00 PM ET NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships
(Delaware, Ohio) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
2:00 PM ET NAIA Outdoor Championships
(Gulf Shores, Ala.) WEB:NAIA.org LIVE

Friday, May 23, 2014
9:30 AM ET NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships
(Allendale, Mich.) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
1:00 PM ET NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships
(Delaware, Ohio) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
2:00 PM ET NAIA Outdoor Championships
(Gulf Shores, Ala.) WEB:NAIA.org LIVE

Saturday, May 24, 2014
11:00 AM ET NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships
(Allendale, Mich.) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
12:00 PM ET NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships
(Delaware, Ohio) WEB:NCAA.com LIVE
2:00 PM ET NAIA Outdoor Championships
(Gulf Shores, Ala.) WEB:NAIA.org LIVE

Event Previews
Thursday
Division II Men’s Hammer Throw – 12:30pm ET
Justin Welch (Findlay) vs. the field/history

The Findlay junior has been climbing the all-college national descending order list and the all-time Division II list throughout the entire season, and he enters the meet at No. 2 on both sets of rankings. His most recent throw of 239-3 (72.93m) is fewer than five feet shy of the 2014 collegiate lead and within three of the in-season Division III record of 241-3¼ (73.54m) by Kibwe Johnson of Ashland.

Division II Women’s Long Jump – 5:45pm ET
Shanice McPherson (NM Highlands) vs. Kaylee Morgan (Missouri Southern) vs. Antqunita Reed (Pittsburg State)

Unlike the DII women’s pole vault with GVSU’s Kristen Hixson, the high jump with the Western State duo of Barbara Szabo/Susan Jackson, and the triple jump with Angelo State’s Kearah Danville, the women’s long jump has no clear favorite. Indoor champion McPherson and Morgan are tied atop the list at 20-3 (6.17m), with Reed just one centimeter back at 20-2½ (6.16m). What’s more, each of the top 11 competitors are seeded within half a foot of one another and only one is a senior – setting up the potential for many great future championships.

FRIDAY
Division II Men’s High Jump – 4:30pm ET
Jeron Robinson (Texas A&M-Kingsville) vs. Edward Dudley (Lake Erie)

Earlier this season Dudley narrowly edged out defending outdoor champion Robinson for the NCAA Indoor Championship crown on misses, as both cleared 7-1 (2.16m). Not ready to lose his outdoor crown just yet, Robinson has come out swinging during the outdoor season, highlighted by a huge clearance of 7-6 (2.29m) for the No. 3 spot all-time in DII history and the No. 2 spot on the 2014 all-college list. Dudley, who finished runner-up last season outdoors, hasn’t been a slouch since they last met in Winston-Salem, N.C., either, with his 7-5 clearance currently sitting at No. 5 on the 2014 all-college list and No. 7 on the all-time DII list.

NAIA Women’s 4×800 Relay – 6:30pm ET
4×100 Relay – Saturday, 3:40pm ET
4×400 Relay – Saturday, 7:15pm ET

This relay is actually the first of three over the course of the weekend that could play heavily into who wins the national team title. No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist is seeded No. 1 at 8:59.30, just ahead of formerly top-ranked British Columbia at No. 2 in 9:01.47. These points are especially important with pre-meet favorite Indiana Tech not entered in the race.

Should the team title race come down to this point, each of the top-five teams in the nation are entered into the 4×400 relay: No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist (top seed), No. 5 Wayland Baptist (No. 2 seed), No. 1 Indiana Tech (No. 3 seed), No. 4 Doane (No. 5 seed) and No. 3 British Columbia (No. 12 seed).

OBU, Indiana Tech and Wayland Baptist will also battle it out for valuable team points as the top three seeds, respectively, in the 4×100 relay.

SATURDAY
Division III Women’s 800 meters – 2pm ET
1500 meters – 3:35pm ET
5000 meters – 4:45 pm ET
Christy Cazzola (UW-Oshkosh) vs. the field AND the schedule

Cazzola turned in one of the most impressive NCAA Championships triple crowns of all time last season when she approached Division III records en route to winning titles at 800 meters, 1500 meters and 5000 meters – all within the span of three hours. Can she do it again this year? She’s the top seed by two seconds over Johns Hopkins’ Maggie Shelton at 800 meters and by eight seconds at 1500 meters over Luther’s Tricia Serres, but she comes in as the No. 11 seed at 5000. Top seed Cara DeAngelis of Ohio Wesleyan will be fresh and have the home-track advantage while Cazzola will enter the third phase of her potential sweep with two events in her legs over the prior two hours.

Division III Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles – 2:40pm ET
Luke Campbell (Salisbury) vs. Adam Scalesse (Coast Guard)

Defending national champion Campbell enters with the top seed at 14.05, but so, too, does Scalesse. Both are on a hot streak, having recorded their times within the past three weeks. When they last met at the indoor championships, Campbell ran away for the 60-meter hurdles title while Scalesse was fifth. Will the tables be turned this time around?

Division III Women’s Triple Jump – 3pm ET
Amber Williams (UW-Platteville) vs. Divya Biswal (St. Lawrence) vs. UW-La Crosse Duo

With their UW-La Crosse women projected in the hunt for the national team title, the performances of third-ranked Bria Halama and fourth-ranked Jaime Ludwigson could be a critical turning point for the Eagles on the final day of competition. They will have to take down top-ranked freshman Amber Williams of WIAC rival UW-Platteville and Divya Biswal of St. Lawrence. Ludwigson will especially be one to watch, as she will already have the 200 meters, 110-meter hurdles and 4×100 relay in her legs from throughout the weekend.

Division III Men’s 100 Meters – 3:25pm ET
200 meters – 4:35pm ET
Bruce Gray (Greenville) vs. the fields

With UW-Eau Claire’s Thurgood Dennis not entered into individual events, Greenville’s Bruce Gray assumes the position of the top seed both at 100 and 200 meters – albeit, narrowly. Three other men are within .10 second of his 10.41 seed time at 100 meters, including UW-La Crosse’s Alex Koenen with team title aspirations at 10.43, while five other men are within .20 of his 21.04 at 200 meters. Senior Randy Lott of Virginia Wesleyan is included in both of those groups.

Division III Women’s 400-Meter Hurdles
Ashante Little (Wheaton (Mass.)) vs. Jana Hieber (Tufts)

Only .02 separate Ashante Little’s 58.56 time as the top seed from Hieber’s 58.58, but that blink of an eye is the difference between holding the all-time Division III record and the No. 2 spot on the all-time list. While the two have yet to meet this season in this event – in fact, Little has only run the event twice in 2014 – Little defeated Hieber in the open 400 meters by more than a second-and-a-half at the ECAC Championships just last weekend.

Little is also the reigning outdoor and indoor national champion in the open 400, and will enter the event with tired legs from a potential final in that event earlier. Only four women have swept both the 400 and 400-meter hurdles titles at the same meet, the last being Rachel Boerner of Calvin in 2010.

NAIA Men’s 1500 Meters – 4:10pm ET
Women’s 800 meters – 5:50pm ET
Luc Bruchet (British Columbia) vs. Eric Avila (Southern Oregon);
Hillary Holt (College of Idaho) vs. Hannah Helker (Oklahoma Baptist)

The men’s 1500 meters will feature two men who have made names for themselves on the national circuit this year in defending 1500 meters champ Luc Bruchet of British Columbia (3:42.02) and 2013 runner-up Eric Avila of Southern Oregon (3:42.18). Bruchet has a sub-four UW Invitational indoor mile and Payton Jordan 5000 meters titles to his name this year, while NAIA cross country champion Avila won at 5000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. Bruchet edged Avila by less than a third of a second last year for the title.

In the women’s 800, Hannah Helker of Oklahoma Baptist enters as the defending champion after narrowly defeating College of Idaho’s Hillary Holt, but it is Holt who holds the top seed by a narrow margin. The indoor 800 champ is seeded at 2:06.59 to a 2:06.71 by British Columbia’s Devan Wiebe. Helker is seeded No. 4 at 2:09.92. Both Helker and Holt will have also contested the 1500 meters later in the afternoon (4pm ET), in which Holt is the defending champion.

Division III Men’s 5000 Meters – 5:05pm ET
Chris Stadler (Haverford) vs. John Crain (North Central (Ill.))

While four men enter times at 14:10.xx or better, Stadler and defending national champion Crain both recorded performances this season that rank among the top 10 in DIII history. Stadler enters at No. 8 all-time in 14:01.62, while Crain – also the reigning indoor 5000 and 3000 meters champ – is No. 10 at 14:05.06. NYU’s Dylan Karten (14:09.17) and Washington (Mo.)’s Andrew Padgett (14:10.80) will also be heavily in contention. Crain, Stadler and Padgett will also compete in Thursday’s 10,000 meters final, where Crain is the No. 2 runner all-time.

Division III Women’s 4×400 – 5:25pm ET
UW-Oshkosh vs. UW-La Crosse vs. Wartburg – with a team title on the line?

With a tight team race projected on the women’s side, the battle for the team title could very well come down to the 4×400 finale – as any good meet should. And what a finale it could be with two-time defending national team champ No. 3 Wartburg entering as the top seed, No. 2 UW-La Crosse with the second seed and top-ranked, two-time defending indoor champion UW-Oshkosh ranked fourth – all separated by approximately three seconds.

Division II Women’s 100 Meters – 6:45pm ET
200 Meters – 7:55pm ET
Ada Udaya (New Haven) vs. Danielle Williams (Johnson C. Smith)

Udaya may enter as the top seed at both 100 meters and 200 meters – by relatively healthy margins, even, with strong season-ending performances – but recent history is on the side of Williams as the defending champion in both events. The senior also swept the 60 and 200 meters crowns at the Indoor Championships, along with the 60-meter hurdles title. Outdoors, she is the Division II record holder from last year’s championships at 200 meters, and is No. 4 on the 100 meters list. Should Williams complete her 100/200/100H triple crown, she would be the first woman to ever win three individual track titles at the same National Championships after earning that same distinction indoors this winter.

The 200 meters will also feature a couple of contenders who will have carried over their rivalry from 400 meters in defending outdoor champion Quanera Hayes of Livingstone and 2014 indoor champ Kayon Robinson of Adams State, who won the 2012 outdoor 400 meters crown.

Division II Men’s 800 Meters – 6:55pm ET
Drew Windle (Ashland) vs. the field

With a pair of sub-1:47 performances, a national indoor title and the top seed by nearly three seconds under his belt in 2014, Windle is the undisputed king of the half-mile in Division II. But a GLIAC Championships loss to Findlay’s Dillon Webster – albeit after claiming the 1500 meters title earlier in the afternoon – proved he can be beaten. Fourth-seeded Webster is among a group of four other men who have recorded sub-1:50 performances this season and will be trying to bring Windle down once again, joining No 2 Robin Butler of Western State, No. 3 Patrick Weaver of Colorado Mines and No. 5 Michal Idziak of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Also looming at No. 10 is 2011 national champ Aduo Omot of Augustana (S.D.).

Division II Women’s 800 – 7:05pm ET
Shawnee Carnett (Concord) vs. Chante Roberts (Adams State) vs. McKayla Fricker (Seattle Pacific)

While the men’s 800 features a more than two-second gap between the No. 1 seed and the rest of the field, the women’s race has three women seeded within one second of one another. Carnett, the 2011 outdoor champ and reigning indoor champ, is the top seed at 2:06.19, just narrowly ahead of Roberts (2:06.35) and Fricker (2:06.85), who finished runner-up to Carnett indoors.





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