Six Titans to Compete in Division III National Meet

26 May 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Six Illinois Wesleyan University women’s track athletes will compete in the NCAA Division III outdoor championships May 27-29 at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.

Senior Gianina Taylor (Decatur, Eisenhower HS) and junior Gena Rawlins (Atlanta, Olympia HS) will both run in the 200 and 400 and senior Nicole Williams (Park Forest, Crete-Monee HS) will run in the 100.

Taylor has the second fastest qualifying time in the 400 (55.55 seconds) and the eighth best in the 200 (24.88) while Rawlins is fourth in the 400 (56.07) and ninth in the 200 (24.92).

Williams is tied for Division III’s fourth fastest 100 with a time of 11.99 seconds.

Melissa Harden (O’Fallon, Township HS) will compete in both the long jump and in the triple jump. She has the ninth best triple jump in Division III this spring (38 feet-6 3/4 inches) and is 19th among the long jump entrants (18 feet-3 3/4 inches).

Taylor, Rawlins, and Williams will run on the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. They will be joined on the 4x100 team by senior Tara Yoder (Danvers, Olympia HS) and on the 4x400 squad by junior Katie O’Rourke (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS). Both the relay teams have the fourth best qualifying times in Division III this spring with the 4x400 clocking at 3:49.47 and the 4x100 at 47.79 seconds.

In March, the IWU 4x400 relay team finished first in the national Division III indoor track championships. The team of Rawlins, Taylor, Williams and O'Rourke turned in a time of 3:52.36 to win the event for IWU, who placed sixth as a team with 20 points. Rawlins was third in the 400 with a time of 56.09 seconds and Taylor was fifth in the 400 finals with her run of 57.38. All four Titans earned All-American status.

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206