On the men's side, Springfield will be represented by senior Mike Miller and sophomore Steve Headley. On the women's side, the Pride will be represented by sophomore Nikki Hay.
A native of Storrs, Conn., Miller will be competing in the decathlon, where he will be seeded ninth. Miller's best score this season was 6,481 points, a total that he accumulated by finishing first at the Holy Cross Decathlon Championship in Worcester, Mass. on April 17. Miller's decathlon events will lead off the national meet at 12 noon on Thursday, May 22.
A native of Wilbraham, Mass., Headley will be competing in the 100 meter dash, where he will be seeded eighth. Headley just ran his personal best time of 10.63 seconds last Friday at the ECAC Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at Springfield College on his own track. Conditions were miserable, however, as he ran his event in a downpour. Headley wound up winning by a comfortable margin of 19 hundredths of a second over his nearest competitor. At the nationals, Headley will run in the 100-meter preliminaries on Friday, May 23 at 6:05 pm. Headley will be in Heat #3. The final, which will be held Saturday at 2:40 pm, will be comprised of the heat winners, plus the next six fastest times.This will be Headley's second trip to a national championship in a two month period. In the 55-meter dash, Steve finished fifth with a time of 6.34 seconds, and thus became an All-American last March at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at Ohio Northern.
A native of Norwalk, Conn., Hay will be seeded 10th in her specialty, the triple jump. She is scheduled to compete Saturday, May 24, at 2:30 pm. She will be in Flight #3. Last summer, the sophomore finished sixth with a leap of 38- 1 1/4 in the triple jump at the NCAA meet, which was also held at Wisconsin-Oshkosh. As a result, she earned All-American status. Two months ago, Hay placed 12th in the same event at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Ada, Ohio. Hay's best leap in the triple jump this season was 38 4 3/4. At the ECAC's last Friday, she had a leap of 37-9 1/4, finishing first in the process in very rainy conditions. Nikki also won the long jump at the ECAC's last Friday, and was named the Co-Outstanding Female Performer of the Meet.
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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