Titan Athletes Set for NCAA Division III National Track Meet

May 21, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — A total of 13 Illinois Wesleyan University athletes are among the qualifiers for the national NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships, to be held May 24-26 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wis. Go here for the official championships web site.

Juniors Rachel Anderson and Cortney Walrath and freshman Chinny Ekwulugo will compete in individual events for the women, while juniors Segun Olopo and Matt Harden are IWU’s male entrants in individual events in the meet.

The student-athletes qualified for the national meet by reaching either the automatic or provisional standards established for each event.

Anderson (Clinton, Ill. HS), the defending outdoor champion in the 400 and the reigning national indoor 400 champion, had the fourth lowest qualifying time in the 400 at 55.35 seconds this spring. She will also run in the 200, where she boasts the fifth best time in the country at 24.74 seconds.
Anderson will also run on two relay teams in the NCAA meet. She teams with senior Krystal Jenkins (Villa Park, Ill. HS) and freshmen Amanda LaRocca (Palatine, Ill., HS) and Ali McCoy (Irving, Texas, Episcopal School of Dallas) in the 400-meter relay. The squad’s qualifying time of 47.60 seconds is eighth best in the nation.
Anderson, McCoy, freshman Mackenzie Clemens (Bloomington, Ill. HS) and junior Brooke Halcott (Streator, Ill. Ottawa Marquette HS) comprise the 1600-meter relay team that has the nation’s seventh top time of 3:50.74 heading into the national meet.
Freshman Kerry Devitt (Tower Lakes, Ill., Carmel HS) is the alternate on the 1600 relay team.

Walrath (Peoria, Ill., Central HS) is 18th in the nation with a height of 11 feet-9 inches in the pole vault and Ekwulugo (Saginaw, Texas, W.E. Boswell HS) has the seventh best triple jump qualifier with a leap of 38 feet-4 ¾ inches.

Olopo (Chicago, Brooks School), who finished seventh in the 55 at the NCAA indoor meet in March, has the sixth best qualifying time in the 100 at 10.56 seconds, set at Illinois State on April 28.

Harden (O'Fallon, Ill., Township HS), who was sixth in the 2005 outdoor national championships, has qualified this spring in the 200 with the eighth top time nationally at 21.38 seconds and in the 400 with the fourth lowest time at 47.30 seconds.

In addition, Olopo and Harden will run in two relays, pairing with sophomore Mile Conti (Itasca, Ill., Driscoll Catholic HS) and junior Azizuddin Rose (Chicago, DeLaSalle Institute) in the 400-meter relay and teaming with Rose and senior Mike Nicoletti (Lake Zurich, Ill., HS) in the 1600 relay.
The 400-meter relay team has the 14th best qualifying time at 41.50 seconds and the 1600 team is the 10th best heading into the national meet with a speed of 3:14.61, set in winning the event at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin meet.

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206