Student-Athletes from BC, EMU, LC and RC Head to Ohio for National Meet

SALEM, Va. --- Eight student-athletes from four ODAC member schools are set to ply their trades in Ohio this week at the 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  Six women and two men will make the trek north on Interstate-77 and into the Cleveland-area for the three-day event hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College at George Finnie Stadium in Berea, Ohio.  The ODAC will feature athletes from Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University, Lynchburg College, and Roanoke College.

Among the conference’s contingent are past All-American’s and a trio of newly crowned regional top athletes.  Lynchburg senior Ricky Flynn and Roanoke senior Robin Yerkes were named the 2010 Men’s and Women’s Track Athletes of the Year in the South/Southeast Region this week by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).  Bridgewater senior Courtney Hartman was tabbed the 2010 USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.

Flynn’s list of accomplishments is vast, including his second straight selection as the south/southeast region top athlete.  The 2009 ODAC Track Athlete of the Year started off the 2009-10 campaign with bang as he won the national title at the 2009 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in the fall.  Flynn is a five-time All-American and a 13-time ODAC champion (both totals combined from cross country and track).  Academically, the Lynchburg-native was recently honored as one of 174 recipients of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, which he will use to continue his studies towards a Masters of Business Administration from Lynchburg College.  He was named the 2010 ODAC/Farm Bureau Insurance Track Scholar-Athlete in addition to earning the 2009-10 USTFCCCA Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Although officially qualified in three events, Flynn will compete in two disciplines in Ohio.  He enters the competition with the second-rated time (30:03.39) in the 10,000-meter run and fifth-ranked mark (14:25.22) in the 5,000-meter run.  Both times eclipsed NCAA automatic qualification thresholds (30:20.00 and 14:28.00, respectively) and stand as ODAC overall records.  Flynn also provisionally qualified in the 1,500-meter run, making him only the second ODAC athlete all-time to qualify in each of those three events (LC’s Greg Cavaliere). 

Joining Flynn in the men’s contingent will be Eastern Mennonite’s Michael Allen.  A sophomore from Fork Union, Va., Allen will be competing in the triple jump for the second consecutive season.  He also participated in the long jump in 2009.  Allen enters the 2010 meet with the third best triple jump distance in the country at 14.83 meters (48’8”), just .02 meters short of the automatic qualification mark.

Yerkes is a nine-time All-American and 15-time individual ODAC champion heading into her final national meet.  The 2009 NCAA Division III Champion in the indoor 400-meter dash will be competing in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes, and she will run the final leg of the 4x100-meter relay with teammates Jaleesa Osborne, Carmen Graves and Jazamine Stallings (in that order for the race).  Candace Lewis will join the four Maroons in Ohio as the alternate on the 4x100 team.  The group comes into the meet with a season-best time of 47.36 seconds, tied for fourth in the event’s 15 teams.

Yerkes has ranked atop the USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region in the 200 and 400 dashes all year, boasting best times of 24.36 seconds and 56.16 seconds.  She sits third in the 200 dash contingent after surpassing the automatic qualifying mark of 24.57 seconds.  Yerkes is 11^th in the 400 dash.  She owns the ODAC overall record in both events, as well as both ODAC championship records set this season.

Fellow Maroon Osborne, also a senior, will join the Yerkes in the sprints as part of the 100-meter dash crew.  She posted an ODAC overall and championship record 11.98 seconds on a windy day at the ODAC Championships, but her official national meet seeding time sits at 12.14 seconds, good for 17^th on the list of 22 entrants and just 0.24 seconds off the top time in the group.  Osborne and Yerkes, along with 4x100 sprinters Graves, Stallings and Lewis are just five of Roanoke’s stable of sprinters who have worked directly with assistant coach Shelli Sayers.  In her sixth year at RC, Sayers was named the USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

Osborne will also be participating in the long jump.  She is NCAA Division III’s #1 qualifier in that event after posting an ODAC overall and championship record distance of 5.94 meters (19’6”) twice during the 2010 schedule.  Osborne is a five-time All-American, including the last two years in the long jump, and 10-time ODAC champion.

Hartman will be competing in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships, a competition in which she won All-America honors in 2009.  The Roanoke-native placed in the top-five in five events at the ODAC championships, including the 100-meter (3^rd – 12.32) and 200-meter (2^nd – 25.55) dashes, the long (3^rd – 17’7.5”) and high (3^rd – 5’1”) jumps, and the shot put (5^th – 36’7.75”).  She enters the national meet with the third-rated point total amongst heptathletes at 4,168 points.

She will be accompanied by another Eagle, junior Christina Rhodes.  Hailing from Dayton, Va., Rhodes set the ODAC championship record in the pole vault as she cleared 12’4.5” inches with the fiberglass apparatus.  She is rated 11^th in the event.

Lynchburg’s women will be represented by Christina Washington.  The Hornets’ sophomore will compete in the 400-meter dash alongside RC’s Yerkes.  Washington, from Silver Spring, Md., sits 13^th amongst the event’s 18 entrants with a season-best time of 56.27 seconds.

The 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin on Thursday, May 27 and continue through Saturday, May 29.  Information on the event can be found in several locations, including each of the participating schools’ websites and at the ODAC’s home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  For official information, including event schedules, see the links below and/or visit the championship website hosted by Baldwin-Wallace at http://www.bw.edu/athletics/10tracknationals/.  For full entry lists, as well posted top times and heat sheets, visit www.raceberryjam.com.

Click HERE for Thursday’s event schedule, including…
 - Heptathlon Events: 100-Meter Hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, and 200-Meter Dash (finals) *
 - Women’s Long Jump (trials and finals)
 - Women’s 4x100-Meter Relay (trials)
 - Women’s Pole Vault (trials and finals)
 - Women’s 400-Meter Dash (trials)
 - Women’s 200-Meter Dash (trials)
 - Men’s 10,000-Meter Run (finals)

Click HERE for Friday’s event schedule, including…
 - Heptathlon Events: Long Jump, Javelin, and 800-Meter Run *
 - Women’s 400-Meter Dash (trials)
 - Women’s 100-Meter Dash (trials)

Click HERE for Saturday’s event schedule, including…
 - Men’s Triple Jump (trials and finals)
 - Women’s 4x100-Meter Relay (finals)
 - Women’s 400-Meter Dash (finals)
 - Women’s 100-Meter Dash (finals)
 - Women’s 200-Meter Dash (finals)
 - Men’s 5,000-Meter Run (finals)

*Heptathlon events will run on a rolling schedule with 30 minutes between each event, beginning with the first scheduled event of the day.

Note: All event schedules subject to change due to any number of circumstances, including weather or any other reason deemed necessary by the NCAA track championship committee.