Illinois Wesleyan Qualifies Seven for
NCAA Division III National Track Meet

     BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Five 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 St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.

     Sophomores Rachel Anderson and Cortney Walrath and senior Melissa Harden are among the 200 female competitors while sophomores Segun Olopo and Matt Harden, Melissa's brother, are among the 200 male entrants in the meet.

     The IWU women's 4x400 relay team, consisting of Anderson, Harden, Brooke Halcott and freshman Emily Willenbring, has also qualified for the national meet.

      The student-athletes qualified for the national meet by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

Titan Qualifiers

   Anderson (Clinton HS) qualified for the 400, where she finished second indoors last year. This winter she has the second fastest qualifying time with a mark of 56.69 seconds.

  Melissa Harden (O'Fallon, Ill., Township HS) will participate in the long jump, triple jump and 55 meter hurdles. Her qualifying time of 8.28 seconds in the hurdles is tied for third best in the nation while her marks in the triple jump (11.48 meters) and long jump (5.53 meters) are 11th and 15th best.

    Walrath (Peoria, Central HS) reached a height of 3.66 meters in the pole vault, which is good for fifth best qualifier.

The 4x400 relay team has the seventh best Division III qualifying time with a mark of 3:56.83.

    Matt Harden (O'Fallon, Ill., Township HS) and Olopo (Chicago, Brooks School) will run at in the 55 meter dash preliminaries at 7:10 p.m. Friday. Harden's 6.39 second qualifying time in the 55 is tied for fifth best in the nation and Olopo's time of 6.40 seconds is tied for eighth.

    Last year at the Shirk Center, Harden placed seventh in the 55 meter dash at the indoor nationals in a time of 6.44 seconds.