UF Track Teams Will Send 16 to Nationals
The University of Findlay men and women's indoor track and field teams will send 16 individuals to the 2014 NCAA Division II Indoor Track National Championship, which is scheduled to take place on March 14-15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The men's team will send nine individuals to the championship event while the women's squad is sending seven.
Justin Welch leads the entrees for the men as he will enter the meet as the top-seed in the weight throw with a mark of 22.00 meters. Welch holds a school record in the event and earlier this season was named the 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Field Athlete of the Year.
His mark in the weight throw is also the sixth furthest throw in the nation among all divisions.
Dillon Webster will have the opportunity to compete in two events for the Oilers at the championship. He will run in the 800-meter and also team with Justin Eilerman, Jacob Hayes and Kyle Smithey in the distance medley relay.
Webster, a two-time All-American for the Oilers at the indoor championship, holds the school record in the 800 and will enter the event with the fourth fastest time in the nation at 1:50.94. He and his DMR teammates also share a school record in their event and are ranked tenth with a time of 10:01.54.
Derek Collins will serve as the alternate for the DMR team and attend the event as well.
Alexander Zolotoglavyy, who was recently named the GLIAC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year, will compete in the long jump for the Oilers and is seeded fifth with a distance of 7.43 meters. He won the GLIAC Championship in the event earlier this season and his mark is a UF school record.
Demorrio Leggett will enter the national championship as the seventh seed in the triple jump with a mark of 15.05 meters and Marcus Vicars will be competing in the shot put, where he is ranked 12th with a toss of 17.21 meters.
Last season, Vicars earned All-American honors in the shot put for the Oilers.
On the women's side, Kendra Averesch is seeded second in the shot put to lead the squad.
Averesch, who is the Oilers school record holder in the event, has a mark of 15.86 meters in the shot put. She was also named an All-American in the shot put at the indoor championship last year.
Pam Showman will compete for the Oilers in the pentathlon, an event in which she holds the school record with 3,664 points. She will enter the event seeded eighth.
The Oilers 4x400-meter relay team also earned a trip to the championship event and will be seeded 12th with a time of 3:51.39.
The relay squad will consist of Adrianna Powell-Lawrence, who was recently named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year, Kirsten Gaerke, Shelby Stump and Maud Sanmiquel.
Kadesha Roberts will serve as an alternate on the squad as well for the Oilers.