NCAA Championships at Wis.-La Crosse
GLASSBORO, NJ - The Rowan University women’s track team has eight student-athletes that have qualified for individual events and two relays for the NCAA Division III Championships on Thursday-Saturday, May 23-25 in La Crosse, WI. The national championships will be held at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s Roger Harring Stadium.
Shailah Williams (fr. Pemberton, NJ/Pemberton Twp.) will compete in the 100 and 200 meters. Brianna Crofton (so. Franklinville, NJ/Delsea Reg.) is entered in the 400 meters while Vanessa Wright (sr. Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield Mem.) is running in the 5,000 meters. Jamie Thompson (jr. Monmouth Jct., NJ/South Brunswick) is a qualifier in the 100 meter hurdles and the long jump. Jewel Brown (fr. Clayton, NJ/Clayton) is a triple jump competitor and Melirah Searcy (so. Edison, NJ/Edison) is competing in the 400 meter hurdles.
In the javelin, Melissa Lake (so. Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) has qualified for the second straight year and this is the first appearance for Sarah Dores (jr. Maple Shade, NJ/Holy Cross). The 4x100 meter relay includes Williams, Thompson, Shantel Beckford (so. Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) and Crofton. The 4x400 meter relay consists of Crofton, Joyce Perry (fr. Pittsgrove, NJ/A.P. Schalick), Williams and Searcy.
"I'm really excited to have several athletes that qualified in so many different events,” said head coach Ringo Adamson. “We set goals from the beginning of the season and they are starting to realize them. The team has a t-shirt saying, Dare to Be Remarkable, and this whole season exemplifies that.”
“Rowan had 20 athletes that competed at the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Championships,” Adamson continued. “Prior to going, I explained to them that we could win the meet. People have to believe in themselves and overcome doubts. If you do well at the ECAC Championships, you can do well at the national championships because all the top teams from the East come out of the ECAC Championships.”
Last year, Lake finished eighth in the javelin with a throw of 42.20 meters for All-America honors. Her qualifying throw of 43.55 meters took first place in a dual meet against Georgian Court University and Dores came in second with 41.46 meters. At the 2013 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championships, Lake finished second (41.76 meters) followed by Dores, third (40.59 meters).
“Melissa is a returning All-American,” explained Adamson. “She was the runner-up at this year’s conference championships. I expect her to be right into the mix. This is Sarah’s first appearance at the national level. She has improved a lot from last year. Melissa and Sarah train well together and they have done a lot of work on their technique. Sarah is one of the big surprises from our field crew.”
Thompson finished ninth (14.78) in the 100 meter hurdles at the 2012 NCAA Championships. This season, she won the conference championship with a time of 14.72. Her best time was 14.32 for first place against Georgian Court. In 2011, Thompson came in eighth in the 55 meter hurdles (8.33) at the indoor national championships. She also captured the 2013 NJAC title in the long jump with 5.40 meters. Thompson came in fourth at the ECAC Championships with a school record 5.77 meters.
“Jamie is another All-American,” Adamson stated. “This is her fourth appearance at the NCAA Division III Championships. The difference this year is that she has now qualified in the 100 meter hurdles and long jump, as well as a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that set the school record.”
Wright competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships and finished sixth (4:53.38) in the one mile run for All-America honors. At last year’s outdoor championships, she finished 22nd (5:02.95) in the 1,500 meters. She has qualified in the 5,000 meters with a time of 17:00.71, which was first at the Swarthmore Last Chance Qualifier. Wright won the 2013 NJAC outdoor championship in the 1,500 meters (4:34.35) and the 10,000 meters (36:42.37). Both times were conference meet records. Wright was named the NJAC Outstanding Track Athlete.
Searcy has qualified in the 400 meter hurdles for the second straight year. In 2012, she finished 19th (1:04.42) at nationals. Her qualifying time of 1:02.52 came at the Penn Relays. She took third place (1:03.78) at the NJAC Championships.
“Vanessa is a returning two-time All-American,” praised Adamson. “This season, she broke the school record in the 1500 meters, 3,000 meters, 4x800 meter relay and is also the school record holder in the mile. Vanessa is in top form at the right time. An All-American, Melirah is the anchor on our 4x400 meter relay team. She is our team captain and a complete leader of this bunch.”
Crofton competed in the 400 meters at the indoor championships and finished 13th (58.49). She holds the University indoor record (56.80) in the 400 meters. At the 2013 outdoor conference championships, Crofton ran a winning time of 56.82 in the 400 meters.
“Brianna has experience at nationals,” Adamson stated. “She is our leadoff leg on the 4x400, which is highly critical to put us in the race. Brianna has another difficult task of anchoring the 4x100 meter relay. She's quite fit and ready to go. Shantel is part of our 4x100 meter relay team. She is the NJAC champion in the triple jump and just missed qualifying for nationals. She has a knack to perform well in big meets.”
At the ECAC Championships, Brown finished sixth in the triple jump with a school record 11.68 meters, which qualified her for nationals. She came in second at the NJAC Championships with 10.99 meters. Brown was chosen the conference’s Rookie of the Year.
“Joyce is on the 4x400 meter relay team that set the school record both indoor and outdoor this year,” commented Adamson. “In the beginning of the season, she was so quiet, you wouldn't even know she was there. But as the year went on, Joyce kept catching fire and right now she's blazing. Jewel is another surprise on this team. I knew the potential was there all the time. She unleashed her biggest jump of the year at the ECAC Championships. If Joyce had never gotten the chance to compete at this meet, she would never had gotten a chance to compete at the national championships. Now she stands a chance to earn All-American status.”
Williams was the NJAC champion in the 100 (12.17) and 200 (24.47) meters. She was named the conference’s Most Outstanding Athlete. At the ECAC Championships, she ran 12.02 in the 100 meters trials, which was her qualifying time. Her time in the 200 meters broke the conference meet record.
“Shailah is the true war horse,” praised Adamson. “She holds the school record in the 100 meters, school and conference record in the 200 meters, school and conference record in the 400 meters, school and conference record on the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays all in one year.”
The 4x100 meter relay won the NJAC championship in 47.48 and the 4x400 meter relay was the conference champion with a time of 3:50.18. Both relay times were conference meet records. The 4x400 meter relay won at the ECAC Championships (3:48.86) and the Larry Ellis Invitational (3:49.70).
“All of the years of coaching, this has to be the most close-knit group I have ever seen,” Adamson said. “They work hard all year long and they've done everything that was asked of them. You never hear them complain about what race they are asked to run and it has to do with the fact that they're prepared and have confidence in themselves that they can do it. With this kind of discipline, the future is bright for every single one of them. They just need to stay focused.”
The schedule for the Rowan athletes at the national championships is below. Results and live video will be available at ncaa.com.
2013 NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Thursday, May 23 - prelims
4:00 p.m. – long jump final
5:00 p.m. – 4x100 meter relay
6:05 p.m. – 400 meter hurdles
6:45 p.m. – 200 meters
10:00 p.m. – 4x400 meter relay
Friday, May 24 - prelims
6:05 p.m. – 100 meter hurdles
6:50 p.m. – 400 meters
7:30 p.m. – 100 meters
Saturday, May 25 - finals
3:30 p.m. – 4x100 meter relay
4:15 p.m. – 100 meter hurdles
4:20 p.m. – triple jump
4:40 p.m. – 400 meters
4:45 p.m. – javelin
5:00 p.m. – 100 meters
5:45 p.m. – 400 meter hurdles
6:10 p.m. – 200 meters
6:30 p.m. – 5,000 meters
7:20 p.m. – 4x400 meter relay
