It was officially announced earlier today that the University of Redlands track & field team qualified two women and three men for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which take place on May 26-28 in Waverly, IA. The men's qualifiers are determined by the top 20 declared student-athletes, while the women's list includes the top 22 declared competitors.
With the seventh-fastest 100 Hurdle time in the country, junior Alison Smith (McKinleyville, CA) advances to the national meet for the second year in a row. She fired off a time of 14.23 during the recent Claremont Classic Multi Meet to secure her spot among the best hurdlers in NCAA Division III. This three-time Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) champion strives to improve upon last year's fourth-place finish that garnered All-America honors. She currently ranks second all-time in school history in this event.
Sophomore Vanessa Blanchard (Palmdale, CA) returns to the NCAA Championships for the second time in as many years. This year's qualification mark of 5' 6 ½" in the High Jump came during the SCIAC Multi-Dual No. 3, resulting in one of her six first-place showings on the season and a career-best mark. She is currently third among the Redlands top-10 list for this event. As a freshman, she competed at nationals amongst a very tight field and finished 12th with a height of 5' 4 ¼".
For the men, senior Joey Colucci (San Jose, CA) looks forward to competing in his fourth national meet to cap off an illustrious career with the Bulldogs. This two-time All-American qualifies for the 200 Meters with the sixth-fastest mark in Division III at 21.40, which came during the SCIAC Multi-Dual No. 3. He also advances in the 100 Meters with the 10th-fastest seed-time of 10.59, which he fired off during the Redlands Final Qualifier Meet earlier this week. He currently owns the school record in the 100 with last year's NCAA time of 10.37.
While making his third national appearance, junior Myles Speegle (Castro Valley, CA) joins Colucci in the 200 as the 19th qualifier with a time of 21.55. The All-American uncorked that career-best mark during the final SCIAC multi-dual meet as well.
Finally, freshman Nick Burchett (Gold River, CA) squeezes into the field of 20 as the final qualifier in the 400 Hurdles with a seed-time of 53.59. He ran this career-best effort to take second at the SCIAC Championships three weeks ago and currently sits fourth all-time in Redlands history.
Results: http://results.deltatiming.com/ncaa/tf/2016-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships
Championship Central: http://go-knights.net/sports/2015/7/23/MTRACK_0723154023.aspx?id=154