Illinois Wesleyan Qualifies Five for NCAA Division III Track Meet

March 5, 2007
CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Three women and two men from Illinois Wesleyan have qualified in individual events for the NCAA Division III national indoor track and field championships, to be held this weekend at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Illinois Wesleyan women’s team finished fourth in the 2006 national meet and have juniors Rachel Anderson and Cortney Walrath and freshman Mackenzie Clemens among the 200 female competitors this year.
IWU juniors Segun Olopo and Matt Harden are among the 200 male entrants in the meet, competing in run in the 55 and 400 meter events, respectively.
The IWU women’s 4x400 relay team, consisting of Anderson, Clemens, junior Brooke Halcott (Streator, Ill., Ottawa Marquette HS) and freshman Ali McCoy (Irving, Texas, Episcopal School of Dallas), has also qualified for the national meet.
For the first time in school history, the IWU men's 4x400 relay team qualified for the NCAA meet after a school-record run of 3:18.01 at the qualifying meet at Iowa State on March 3. The relay team consists of Olopo, Harden, junior Azizuddin Rose (Chicago, De LaSalle Institute) and senior Mike Nicoletti (Lake Zurich HS).
The student-athletes qualified for the national meet by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

Titan Qualifiers

Anderson (Clinton, Ill. HS) qualified for the 400, the event she won last year and was second in the 2005 indoor meet. This winter she has the second fastest qualifying time with a mark of 56.14 seconds, set on Feb. 16 at the Hoosier Hills Classic.
Clemens (Bloomington, Ill., HS) will participate in the 800, having a qualifying time of 2:15.04, ninth best in the nation and set at the conference meet on Feb. 24.
Walrath (Peoria, Ill., Central HS), who also qualified for the pole vault in 2006, reached a height of 3.70 meters (12 feet-1 ½ inches), a school record which is good for ninth best qualifier.
The 4x400 relay team has the third best Division III qualifying time with a mark of 3:53.18.
Harden (O'Fallon, Ill., Township HS) has a 400 meter time of 48.69 seconds, fourth best in the nation. He placed fifth in the 55 at the 2006 national indoor meet.
Olopo (Chicago, Brooks School), who placed sixth nationally in the 55 in 2006, has a time of 6.35 seconds this winter, second fastest among Division III qualifiers.