Official NCAA Release

Great Midwest Men's Indoor Records (PDF)

Great Midwest Women's Indoor Records (PDF)



INDIANAPOLIS – Record numbers from both genders are ticketed as qualifiers to the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kan., scheduled for March 8-9 in the Robert W. Plaster Center.
 
Pittsburg State is host for the national indoor meet for the second straight year after the Great Midwest had two NCAA champs in 2018 with Janelle Perry (Ursuline) and Austin Combs (Findlay) winning their respective events. 
 
This year, the overall talent and depth from the league will be on display as 17 men and 19 women have qualified either automatically or provisionally. 
 
Tiffin leads all Great Midwest schools with 14 total representatives, including 11 men and three women. The Dragons are fresh off of the conference championship team sweep at Findlay as both programs under Jeremy Croy put on a show in TU’s first Great Midwest Championship meet. 
 
Five different throwers will be skulking in the cages for shot put, making that group arguably one of the deepest in the country. Paced by NCAA DII record holder Eldred Henry, a two-time USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Week, shot put figures to be dominated by the Great Midwest.
 
Tiffin sophomore Nikolas Curtiss has actually had some distances better than Henry in the event this year and along with teammates, Eric Jackson, Tristen Durr, Jabari Bennett, give the Dragons multiple All-American options. 
 
Tiffin is also taking three runners in the 60-meter dash, Jonte Baker, Lamar Hargrove and freshman speedster Tajarie Arthurton. Cameron Burrows and Quincy Scott both shattered meet records in the high jump and long jump at Findlay while Davis Bowers has excelled in pole vault in 2018-19.
 
Marisa Gwinner set the conference high jump record in her first try as a freshman and will enjoy nationals with her teammates Nicole Berry and Brenda Johnson, who both qualified in shot put. 
 
Findlay’s firepower includes Combs and rising rookie Xavier Marable, named Great Midwest Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet at the conference championships. Martin Etsey was the national leader in in triple jump for a good portion of the season as he auto qualified in the event. 
 
Cedarville’s Tommy Ansiel just tied the conference meet record in pole vault and heads to nationals as one of the favorites to win a title. The sophomore is currently tied for second in all of Division II and he owns the all-time league best height cleared as well. 
 
The Yellow Jackets women set both DMR and 4x400-meter relay conference championship meet records and the DMR quartet of Sarah Hoffman, Olivia Hoffman, Rachel Sweeney and Carsyn Koch-Johnson, qualified.
 
Koch-Johnson is a two-time indoor national champion in the 800-meter run and she will get a chance to add a third to her award-laden resume. 
 
The conference also qualified two other DMR squads, including Malone and Walsh. Distance specialists Andra Lehotay (mile) and Hannah Thompson (3K, 5K) were cross country stars as they aim for the awards podium on the biggest stage. 
 
Lake Erie has its first national qualifier since joining the Great Midwest with freshman Madyson Plante in the high jump. She was also third in the conference championship pentathlon point scoring totals. Findlay’s Semoy Hemmings eclipsed the 400-meter dash conference championship record with the second-fastest time in league history. She will follow in the footsteps of last year’s short sprint NCAA qualifier, Milani Glass. 
 
Hillsdale qualified two, Allysen Eads (mile) and Abbie Porter (800m). Both helped the Chargers win the 2018 indoor conference team title. 
 
Pittsburg State University and the Crawford County Convention & Visitors Bureau will serve as co-hosts of the championships. The championships will be streamed live on www.NCAA.com.