Seven Chadron State College track and field athletes will compete at the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship May 22-24 in Walnut, Calif.
Five of the seven will be making their first trips to the outdoor national meet.
Led by senior sprinter Mike Smith, who qualified in both the 100 and 200 meters, the Eagles are taking the most athletes to the national outdoor meet in school history. Smith, an indoor All-American, has the seventh fastest 200 time in the nation (21.08) and the 23rd fastest time in the 100 (10.52).
Joining Smith are fellow seniors Jourdin Holden and Mary Wells. Holden, who has qualified for the indoor national meet twice but never the outdoor, has the 13th best mark in the long jump (24-2 ½) to ensure his spot at his final collegiate meet.
Wells, who was an All-American in the shot put at the indoor meet this season, qualified in the shot put with a throw of 46-2 ¾ to put her 12th in the nation.
Wells, a native of Albion, just missed out on qualifying in the discus. She was 19th, but only the top 16 qualified for the meet.
The remaining four athletes are first-time qualifiers. They are Stacy Girard, Joe Schultz, Brandon Harrington and Mike Aimone.
Girard and Schultz, both of Alliance, will run in the women’s and men’s 1,500. Girard has the ninth-best time (4:35.24) and Schultz has posted the third-best time (3:47.50) in Division II.
Harrington, a junior from Grand Island, is fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 49-2 ½.
Aimone, a senior from Kemmerer, Wyo., is 11th in the shot put with a throw of 55-0.
Girard, Schultz and Harrington have each qualified for the indoor national meet in their careers, but Aimone will be competing in his first national championship.
Another CSC athlete, Gary Metcalf, just missed qualifying for the national meet in the 200. He was 21st in the nation with a time of 21.33, but only the top 20 got in.
