It was announced earlier today that 11 members of the University of Redlands track & field teams have qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which take place on May 25-27 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, OH. Under Head Coach Mike Schmidt, this marks the second-largest number to advance to the national meet, following 2011's remarkable 17 qualifiers.
As announced by the NCAA, the top 22 declared student-athletes for each of the women's individual events and the top 20 declared student-athletes for each of the men's individual events now look forward to competing in the NCAA Championships. For each men's and women's relay, the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, will represent the best of the best at the national meet.
For Redlands, senior Alison Smith (McKinleyville, CA) headlines the group as a competitor in three events in her fourth national appearance and third time at the outdoor meet. She currently ranks first in the nation in the 100 Hurdles with a seed time of 13.86, which now ranks ninth all-time in Division III history and came at the Redlands Final Qualifier earlier this week.
Freshman Jessica Fields (Las Vegas, NV) made the cut in the 100 Hurdles as well after firing off a career-best time of 14.55 to sit 20th in the nation.
Smith also looks forward to taking on the competition in the Heptathlon as the second-ranked woman in the nation with a score of 4,799 points.
Finally, Smith joins freshman Chyenne Kimble (Big Bear Lake, CA), senior Jasmine Ramos (Santa Fe Springs, CA), and sophomore Kara Romani (Sacramento, CA) as the 14th-ranked 4x100 Relay in the country. The quartet enters the NCAA Championships with a seed time of 47.38.
In the field events, junior Vanessa Blanchard (Palmdale, CA) returns to the national meet after tying for eighth for All-America honors in the High Jump during the 2016 outdoor season. This year, she enters the competition with a qualifying mark of 5-7 to rank 16th.
Finally, junior Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) advances to her inaugural NCAA Championships in the Shot Put in her first season with the Bulldog track & field program. She won the event at the recent Redlands Final Qualifier while resetting the school, stadium, and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) records with a heave of 48' 1 ¼".
For the men, sophomore Nick Burchett (Gold River, CA) makes his second-consecutive trip to the national meet in the 400 Hurdles with this year's seed-time of 53.30 ranking him 16th. Sophomore Luke Bohlinger (Mercer Island, WA) enters his first-ever NCAA Championships with the 17th spot in the 100 Meters at 10.64, which he uncorked just two days ago at the Redlands Final Qualifier. The dynamic duo also looks forward to competing in the 4x100 Relay with senior Myles Speegle (Castro Valley, CA), who makes his fourth national appearance, and freshman Maliq Champion (Beaumont, CA) as the fourth-fastest team in the country at 41.07. This impressive mark also came at the Redlands Final Qualifier on Thursday evening.
A complete list of the men's and women's accepted entries is available on the NCAA's timing website.
For additional information about the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including location and schedule of events, please visit the host website.