Women's Track advances 11 athletes to NCAAs

May 18, 2009

The St. Thomas women's track and field team will send 11 athletes in 10 events to next weekend's NCAA Division III Championships in Marietta, Ohio. The meet runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Coach Joe Sweeney's team took 12th at indoor nationals and will look to post a top-10 or  top-15 team finish this week. UST has qualified in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays and has top-six seeds in three individual races.

Besides the 4x100 and 4x400, UST will look for points from Nikki Arola in the 200 and 400; Katie Thiesen in the steeplechase; Erin Sprangers and Raynee DeGrio in the 800; Kelly Russ in the 1,500; Shionna Evans in the 400; Kyley Crotty in the javelin; Jenna Lewis in the shot put; and Felisha Willaert in the discus. Molly Demmer and Jenna Ewing also compete on relays.

Click here for complete list of men's NCAA qualifiers and seeds:

http://www.raceberryjam.com/results/ncodwomenentries.html

Click here for official meet website:

http://pioneers.marietta.edu/track/09championships/

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St. Thomas qualifiers (seed and best time/mark listed):

200: 17. Nikki Arola 25.03

400: 15. Arola 56.91; Shionna Evans 57.00

800: 4. Erin Sprangers 2:09.97; 19. Raynee DeGrio 2:14.08

1500: 6. Kelly Russ 4:32.23

3K Steeplechase: 3. Katie Thiesen 10:36.39

4x100: 1. 47.65 Arola, Molly Demmer, Evans, Jenna Ewing

4x400: 1. 3:51.56 Arola, Demmer, Evans, Theisen

Shot Put: 15. Jenna Lewis 43-9 1-4

Discus: 15. Felisha Willaert 143-11

Javelin: 13. Kyley Crotty 137-2