NCAA Division III Indoor Track 2005

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (March 8, 2005) — Illinois Wesleyan sophomore Melissa Harden and her brother, Matt, are two of the entrants in the NCAA Division III national indoor track and field championships, to be held March 11-12 at IWU's Shirk Center.

In the preliminaries on Fri., March 11, Melissa will run at 6:05 p.m. in the 55 hurdles and Matt, a freshman, will run at 6:20 p.m. in the 55 hurdles and then again in the 55 meter dash at 7:05 p.m.

The O'Fallon, Ill., Township High School graduates are among 400 student-athletes who qualified for the national meet by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

Melissa's qualifying time of 8.50 seconds was 13th best in the country.

Matt's time of 7.55 is third best among 55 hurdle qualifiers and his qualifying mark of 6.43 seconds in the 55 is tied for fourth best in the nation with two-time defending champion Bret Blake of Nebraska Wesleyan.

“For me, it's great that Matt and I get to share our success together here,” said Melissa, a mathematics major at IWU. “My brother is so amazingly good, it makes me smile, and to be able to compete on the same team is great.”

“The fact that (the national meet) is in the Shirk Center this year makes me ridiculously happy,” said Matt. “My best times have come out of Shirk and I am so comfortable with the track.”

Do the siblings share training tips for running the hurdles? “We had some of the same coaches since high school, so there really isn't anything she has learned that I haven't,” said Matt.

“I do give him a few pointers,” Melissa said, “but there is not much I can say to him. He's really good.”

Matt cited his high school coaches, Ron Koch and Dan Howe as big influences. “Coach Koch and coach Howe were the biggest contributors to my high school success. They helped me understand hurdling and pushed me to work my hardest. They also encouraged me when things were going bad or when I didn't feel too confident.”

At Illinois Wesleyan, Matt is a biology major with a piano minor. He hopes to become a physical therapist after college.

Melissa also credited her high school coach, Denise Dismukes, as an early influence in hurdling. “My freshman year in high school, she believed in me and made me do a lot of things I hated in practice. I wouldn't be doing hurdles if not for her.”

Melissa expressed happiness for all the IWU athletes who made the national meet and can compete on their home track. “Look at (senior) Zach Gorsage,” she said. “It's not every day that you are number one in the nation and get to run on your own track for nationals.”

Gorsage (Washington, Peoria Notre Dame HS) had an automatic qualifying time of 7.54 seconds in the 55 hurdles, tied for the best in the nation. He was an indoor All-American in 2003 when he finished seventh at the national meet in the 55 hurdles and qualified for the national indoor meet last year but failed to reach the finals, suffering an injury during the preliminary qualifying.

Along with the Hardens and Gorsage, other IWU qualifiers are freshman Rachel Anderson (Clinton, Ill. HS) and senior Gena Rawlins (Atlanta, Ill., Stanford Olympia HS) in the 400.

The events at the Shirk Center, which also served as the site of the 2000 national meet, begin at 10:30 a.m. each day and tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students with an ID.

Illinois Wesleyan Brother-Sister Duo Compete in Nationals