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Vikings sending 11 athletes to nationals
| 09 March 2010
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University is sending 11 athletes to the NCAA Division II National Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 12-13 at Albuquerque, NM.
The number matches the largest contingent the Vikings have ever sent to a national indoor meet since joining the NCAA 11 years ago, and their eight women and three men qualifiers are the most from any Great Northwest Athletic Conference school this season.
Western sent eight athletes last year but only two were automatic qualifiers. This time, seven are automatic qualifiers, men's pole vaulter Ryan Brown (Jr., Bellingham/Squalicum), distance runner Sarah Porter (Jr., Hockinson), men's miler Anthony Tomsich (Sr., Fairbanks, AK/West Valley), women's triple jumper Emily Warman (So., Sedro-Woolley), and the women's distance medley relay team of Courtney Olsen (Sr., Bellingham/Squalicum), Megan O'Connell (Jr., Sammamish/Skyline) and Rachael Johnson (Jr., Yakima/West Valley) and Porter.
Provisional qualifiers for the Vikings are Jordan Welling (Jr., Burlington/Burlington-Edison) in the men's 5,000 meters and the women's 4x400 relay composed of Ellie Siler (So., Spokane/Lewis & Clark), Michelle Howe (Jr., Lakewood), O'Connell and Sarah Brownell (Jr., Yelm).
"This is a very solid group that is constantly getting better," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell (23rd year), whose Vikings placed ninth at nationals last year in the women's competition. "We are definitely going to score some points on both the men's and women's sides"
Leading Western are Brown, who has cleared a national-best 17-1 1/2 (5.22 meters) in the men's pole vault; Porter, who is ranked third nationally in the women's 5,000; and Emily Warman (So., Sedro-Woolley), the defending national champion in the women's triple jump where she is currently ranked sixth in the nation.
Brown set school and GNAC records in reaching the 17-foot standard on Jan. 29. He is a three-time GNAC champion in the pole vault. At nationals last winter, Brown placed 13th at 15-11.
Warman broke her own school record in the triple jump with a mark of 39-11 1/2 (12.18) on Feb. 27. That bettered by over eight inches her previous best of 39-3, which she posted to take the national title in 2009.
Warman also will compete in the long jump, where she won the GNAC title, has a provisional mark of 18-9 3/4 (5.73) and ranks 14th nationally. Last year, she set a school record with a leap of 18-10 (5.74)
Warman is one of two Viking athletes who earned indoor All-America honors last year by placing among the top eight in an event. The other is Porter, who will compete in the women's 5,000 where she placed sixth in 2009.
Porter set a meet and school record with a winning time of 16:47.07 at the GNAC Championships.
Porter also will run the final leg on the distance medley relay, which has a best time of 11:46.27 and ranks sixth nationally. Running the first three legs are Courtney Olsen (Sr., Bellingham/Squalicum), Megan O'Connell (Jr., Sammamish/Skyline) and Rachael Johnson (Jr., Yakima/West Valley). That quartet placed second at the GNAC Championships.
Last year, Johnson, Olsen, Porter and Siler ran on a distance medley that placed ninth at nationals.
Tomsich, who won the GNAC mile in meet record time, ranks 10th nationally at 4:07.06, and Welling is ninth in the men's 5,000 at 14:20.03. Both times are school records.
Welling, who has been the GNAC 5,000 champion two of the last three years, placed ninth at nationals last year, and Tomsich helped the distance medley relay finish second at nationals in 2007.
The women's 4x400 relay, which was victorious at the GNAC meet, ranks ninth nationally with a provisional and school-record clocking of 3:50.80. Siler ran on a 4x400 quartet at nationals last year that did not reach the finals.
It is the third indoor national appearance for Porter, the second for Brown, Johnson, Olsen, Siler, Tomsich, Warman and Welling; and the first for Brownell, Howe and O'Connell.
The Western women are ranked 15th and the men 25th in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 Polls.