May 13, 2008
Bismarck, ND – In their first year of eligibility for NCAA championships, seven University of Mary Outdoor Track and Field student-athletes will compete at the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships at Walnut, CA, on May 22-24. Five U-Mary women and two men will combine to participate in a total of eight events.
Headlining the U-Mary contingent are three Marauders who will compete in two different events. Jesse Piper, a junior from Osage, WY, will compete in the 110 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdles. The Northern Sun outdoor champion in the 110 meter hurdles, he qualified with a time of 14.39 seconds, the 13th best time in the country. The conference runner-up in the 400 meter hurdles, Piper’s time of 52.78 seconds is 16th nationally.
On the women’s side, Kacie Sweep and Cassie Blazer will both compete in two events. A junior from Bismarck, ND, Sweep qualified for the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.72 seconds. The NSIC 200 meter champion, Sweep clocked the 26th best time in NCAA Division II. Blazer, a sophomore from Mandan, ND, qualified for the 400 meter hurdles. Her time of 61.36 is 12th nationally.
Both Sweep and Blazer will also compete on U-Mary’s 4x100 meter relay team. Joining those two on the team will be Mishay Weber, a sophomore from Beulah, ND, and Kristen Stewart, a freshman from Kingston, Jamaica. The quartet ran the relay in 46.95 seconds, a time ranking them 19th entering the national championships.
Also making the national championships for the women is Destinee Keller. A senior from Beulah, ND, Keller will participate in the triple jump. Her leap of 39-9 is the seventh best effort in NCAA Division II. Keller will also be working on becoming U-Mary’s first two-time NCAA All-America. Her effort at the indoor national championships in the triple jump made her U-Mary’s first NCAA track and field All-America.
The only U-Mary track and field athlete to reach the automatic qualifying standards for the outdoor championships, Josh Obrigewitch owns the sixth-best shot put mark in NCAA Division II this season. The junior from Bismarck, ND, launched the shot 56-10.
One of the newest NCAA Division II schools, the Marauders are in their first year as an active member of the NCAA, making this the first year U-Mary can compete in post-season championships.
The Marauders, who have the nation’s 15th ranked women’s team and the 24th ranked men’s team in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Coaches Power Rankings, are coming off strong performances at the Northern Sun championships. The women’s team claimed its second straight NSIC outdoor title by 69.5 points over the second-place squad. The men finished second, only 7.5 points behind the NSIC champion, just one season after finishing last in the conference meet. Both the men’s and women’s team won the 2008 NSIC indoor championship.
