NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships InformationSpringfield, Mass. - March 10, 2009 - Springfield College will have three student athletes travel this week to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana to compete in the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Junior Steve Headley will compete in the 55 meter dash on the men's side, while junior Nikki Hay will compete in the triple jump and run the 55 meters, and freshman teammate Fatima Rose qualified to compete in the weight throw.
A total of 446 participants will compete in the championships that will be held March 13-14. Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.
Headley will enter the 55 meters with the fastest time in the country to date as he most recently clocked in a winning-time of 6.26 last weekend at the ECAC Championships. The prelims will take place on Friday at 5:35 pm as the two heat winners along with the next six fastest runners advancing o the finals, which will be run Saturday at 3:25 pm. Headley is slated to run in lane two in the first heat on Friday. Last year, Headley finished fifth in the 55 meters at NCAA's as he ran a time of 6.36.
Hay enters the competition with the longest triple jump of the year to date in Division III, a distance of 11.97 meters or 39-3 1/4, that she reached last weekend at the ECAC Division III Championships. An incredible athlete, Hay will compete on Saturday morning at 11:30 in the preliminaries in which the top nine jumpers will then advance to the finals. Hay is scheduled to be the first jumper in Flight 2. Hay will also run the 55 meters after she met the qualifying standards after running a 7.22 at the 2009 New England Indoor Championships on February 28th. Hay will run in lane two of Heat 2 of the prelims on Friday at 5:25 pm. The heat winners and the six fastest will then advance to run in the finals on Saturday at 3:15 pm.
In her first year for the Pride, Rose qualified in the weight throw last weekend at the ECAC Division III Championships. Rose qualified for the NCAA's with a toss of 16.58 meters, or 54-4 3/4. The preliminaries and finals will take place on Friday at 5:00 pm with the top nine throwers advancing the the finals. Rose will throw fifth in the first flight.
Ken Klatka, just inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame in October, 2011, enters his 37th season as head coach of the men’s track and field program in 2012-2013. He ranks among the nation’s most successful coaches, with an overall record of 442 wins, 144 losses, and two ties for an impressive .753 winning percentage. Under his direction, Kevin Coyle '12 won the 2011 Division III Indoor Long Jump National Championship.
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