Six Maroon Women Highlight Strong Conference Contingent
SALEM, Va. --- Ten of the top track and field
athletes from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) are set
to compete at the 2007 NCAA Division III Track and Field
Championships. Among those athletes performing are a record
six female qualifiers from Roanoke College including three
individuals that qualified for competition in multiple
events. The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and its J.J.
Keller Field will play host to the championships scheduled for May
24 through May 26.
The ODAC will be represented by a pair of athletes in the women's
heptathlon, 400-meter dash and long jump. Roanoke junior
Meredith Withers and Washington & Lee University sophomore
Stacy Doornbos will complete in the heptathlon. Withers
boasts a qualifying mark of 4,489 points, good enough for ninth in
the 18-person field. Doornbos is ranked 10th with
season-best of 4,448 points. At the ODAC Track and Field
Championships, Withers won the 100-meter hurdles (14.86 sec.) and
the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.32) with Doornbos placing second in the
latter event (1:07.21). Withers was also second in the high
jump (1.58 meters), and Doornbos placed third in the long jump
(5.39m) and fourth in the triple jump (10.54m).
Fellow Maroons Robin Yerkes and Tonya Phillippe will compete in the
400-meter dash. Phillippe finished just ahead of Yerkes in
the 400 at the ODAC championships, winning the event with a 56.64
time while Yerkes came in 58.09 seconds. Regardless of that
finish, Yerkes goes into the national championships with a better
qualifying time, ranking ninth at 56.40 seconds. Phillippe is
tied for 12th with a 56.64 seconds top time.
A pair of Roanoke freshmen will compete in the long jump.
JaLeesa Osborne, who is also a member of the Maroons' basketball
squad, posted an impressive 5.81-meter top distance this season,
qualifying as tied for fourth in the preliminary rankings.
Dominique McCoy joins her teammate as the 17th rated
qualifier with a season-best jump of 5.64 meters. At the ODAC
Championships, Osborne won the event with a jump of 5.56 meters
while McCoy placed second with a 5.44-meter leap.
Yerkes is the only ODAC representative competing in the 200-meter
dash. The Maroon freshman goes into the national run tied for
10th with a 24.94-second qualifying time. In
conference championship action, she won the event with a time of
25.10 seconds, ahead of two of her schoolmates.
Roanoke College will also be sending its 4x100-meter relay squad to
Oshkosh. The team of Kate Mason, Osborne, Phillippe and
Yerkes automatically qualified for the event with a time of 47.37
seconds, the fifth fastest in the 16-team field. It also
marks the same time in which Roanoke won the ODAC title.
On the men's side, Lynchburg College sends junior Travis Wray and
senior Andy Rollins to Wisconsin. Eastern Mennonite
University sophomore, Nathan Tuner, will join them.
Wray will try to make his mark in the 1,500-meter run. The
Hornet standout comes into the event rated 14th with a
qualifying time of 3:52.13. He helped Lynchburg capture the
2007 ODAC crown by winning the conference 1,500-meter title in a
time of 3:59.84.
The pole vault awaits Rollins at Keller Field. He sits in
tied for fifth in terms of qualifying, having cleared 5.03 meters
earlier in the season. That mark not only won him the ODAC
pole vault title, but also automatically qualified him for national
championships.
EMU's Turner has not taken long to make a name for himself as one
of the top throwers in the conference. At the ODAC
Championships, he won the shot put (15.69 meters) and the discus
(41.71 meters) as well as placing third in the hammer throw (47.50
meters). He will be competing in the shot at the national
championships, having qualified 10th with a mark of
16.04 meters.
For more information, and to keep up-to-date on all the happenings
at the 2007 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships, please
visit the tournament website at:
www.titans.uwosh.edu/NCAATFChampionships/2007/index.html
.