May 19, 2008

Bismarck, ND – Seven members of the University of Mary men’s and women’s outdoor track and field squad will make history this week when they compete at the 2008 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

A former NAIA national power, the Marauders make their first appearance at an NCAA national meet. After making the transition to a new level of competition, U-Mary received active membership in the NCAA two years ahead of schedule, resulting in the opportunity to compete at the national meet on May 22-24 at Walnut, CA.

The seven Marauders will compete in seven events. Kacie Sweep will run in the 200 meter dash and the 4x100 meter relay. Cassie Blazer is racing in the 400 meter hurdles and the 4x100 meter relay. Destinee Keller hopes to claim her second All-American title in the triple jump after earning the honor at the 2008 NCAA indoor championships. Mishay Weber and Kristen Stewart join Sweep and Blazer on the 4x100. For the men, Jesse Piper competes in the 110 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdles and Josh Obrigewitch will throw the shot put.

The U-Mary contingent will leave for the national championships early Tuesday morning and will have a chance to work out on Tuesday and Wednesday before beginning competition on Thursday, May 22.

First up for the Marauders will be the women’s 4x100 meter relay team with the preliminaries beginning at 4 p.m. pacific time (note: all start times listed will be for the pacific time zone). Should the U-Mary team make the finals, they will compete again on Saturday, May 24, at 5:30 p.m. Piper and Blazer will run the 400 meter hurdle preliminaries on Thursday with the women starting at 4:50 p.m. and the men at 5:05 p.m. The 400 meter hurdle finals will be on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. for the women and 7:24 for the men.

The remaining four events will begin on Friday, May 23. Obrigewitch will compete in the men’s shot put finals beginning at 3 p.m. Keller competes in the women’s triple jump finals at 6:15. Sweep will run in the women’s 200 meter dash preliminaries at 5:40 p.m. with the finals set for 7:33 p.m. on Saturday. Piper runs his second event, the 110 meter hurdles, at 7:10 p.m. with the final round scheduled for Saturday at 6:17 p.m.

Overall, 20 Northern Sun student-athletes from five schools, including the seven from U-Mary, will compete in 17 events, including the women’s 4x100 relay. Wayne State and Minnesota State Moorhead are sending four student-athletes each, Bemidji State three and Northern State two.

To follow the results of the events online, Cal Poly Pomona has a web page set up at:

http://www.dsa.csupomona.edu/athletics/trackandfieldchampionships/default.asp