Mar. 12, 2008

By Zach Stipe

ADA — Four individuals and one relay team are set to defend their 2007 National Championship titles at the 2008 NCAA III Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at the ONU Sports Center.

Wisconsin-La Crosse, ranked No. 1 in the latest USTFCCCA rankings, is looking for its first Indoor National Championship. The Eagles were fourth last season but have three runner-up finishes since 1993 and will have nine participants in this year’s meet.            

Wisconsin-La Crosse won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships with 192.33 points two weeks ago, well ahead of No. 8 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (137.83) and No. 3 Wisconsin-Oshkosh (115.50).

Wisconsin-Oshkosh, which has five athletes competing, was runner-up to Williams (Mass.) at the 2007 championships.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire has seven athletes competing.

Another team that could be in contention for the team title is Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship this season and have five athletes competing, including the favorites to win the 400-meter run and 4x400 relay.

Wisconsin-Platteville senior Marcia Taddy, Illinois Wesleyan senior Rachel Anerson, Frostburg State (Md.) junior Sumer Rohrs and Christopher Newport (Va.) junior Rachael Clark are looking for consecutive individual championships, while Texas Lutheran has a chance to win another relay title.

Taddy will be looking to grab her third straight 1-mile run indoor championship and a repeat title in the 800-meter run. Taddy won the 1-mile run in 4:49.38 in 2007 and ran a time of 4:55.90 to capture the 2006 title. She won the 800 in 2:10.14 in 2007. Overall she has six national championships, having been a member of the winning distance medley relay team at the 2007 Indoor Championships, while also claiming a pair of outdoor titles in the 1,500-meter run (2007) and the 800 (2005).

Taddy’s times of 4:53.07 in the 1-mile and 2:10.35 in the 800 are the top performances of the entrants. Teammate Jessica Scott has the next fastest time in the 800 at 2:12.21

Anderson will be going for her third straight 400 title. She tied the NCAA Championships record last season with a time of 55.46. Anderson, who was also runner-up in 2005, has the second fastest time in the field at 56.20 this season. Wartburg (Iowa) sophomore Hannah Baker, an All-American after finishing eighth in 2007, leads the field with her 56.09 performance, while two-time All-American Chizoba Ezeigwe, a junior at Wheaton (Ma.), also returns.

Rohrs will be going for her second straight 55-meter hurdles title, and third consecutive All-American honor. Her time of 7.98 leads the field.

Clark is looking to defend her title in the shot put. Last season, Clark threw 46-8.25 to win. The field includes four other All-Americans, including Widener (Pa.) senior Lauren Lucci was third in the event in 2006 and has the top throw of 48-00.75.

In the 4x400-meter relay, Texas Lutheran will be looking to repeat as national champions as it returns Taffey Gray, Staci Jackson and Ashley Williams from last year’s team that edged Illinois Wesleyan by .04 seconds to win in 3:52.17. Illinois Wesleyan returns everyone from its runner-up team, including Anderson, and leads the field with a time of 3:51.66.

Two-time All-American Lauren Deas, a senior at Cabrini (Pa.), is tied with 2007 All-American Keli Coleman, of Augustana (Ill.) for the top qualifying time in the 55-meter dash field at 7.08 this season.

Keene State (N.H.) senior Jennifer Adams (16:49.62) and Wisconsin-River Falls freshman Becca Jordahl (16:54.47) have the top two performances in the 5,000-meter run field, while Amherst (Mass.) senior Heather Wilson and junior Elise Tropiano are returning All-Americans.

The Tufts (Mass.) trio of Kaleigh Fitzpatrick, Catherine Beck and Katy O’Brien return from last season’s runner-up distance medley relay finish. Joined by Stephanie McNamara, the Tufts relay leads the DMR field with a time of 11:45.97. Other notable teams are from Keene State (N.H.), which returns two from its 2006 National Championship DMR and Williams, which has finished fifth the last two years.

Wisconsin-La Crosse junior Caitlin Schetter has the top mark in the long jump field this season at 19-3.5 and is also qualified in the triple jump. She was an All-American in the long jump and triple jump last season. Joining Schetter in the long jump are La Crosse teammates two-time All-American junior Katie Fondow. 

Brockport-SUNY junior Shannon O’Keeffe has the top mark in the triple jump with a leap of 38-8.25.

Keene State (N.H.) senior Crystal Blamy was fourth in 2006 in the high jump and leads this year’s high jump field with a height of 5-9.25.

North Central (Ill.) sophomore Rachel Secrest and Monmouth (Ill.) senior Jessica White, a 2007 All-American, are tied for the top pole vault mark at 12-7.5. 

In the women’s weight throw, Allegheny (Pa.) senior Liz Earley is the only returning All-American, finishing fifth in 2007. Loras (Iowa) sophomore Liz Ulferts has the top throw in the country at 58-1.25. Wisconsin-Oshkosh senior Rebecca Masephol and sophomore Ellie Sitek will be looking to keep the weight throw title with the Titans for the sixth consecutive season.

Field events begin at 12:30 p.m. with running events starting at 5 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, field events begin at 10 a.m. and running event finals start at 2:30 p.m.