Willamette University

Track and Field | Tuesday, May 20, 2003

NEWS RELEASE

THIS WEEK: Bearcats will take nine athletes to NCAA Division III championships
Willamette will send nine athletes to the NCAA Division III national championships, which will be held May 22-24 at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. (see list below).
Results of the meet can be found on the web at either:
http://web.stlawu.edu/sports/03ncaatrack/ncaatrack.htm
/www.willamette.edu/athletics
http://www.run-down.com/bearcats/wu.php


LAST WEEK: Reece, Muren, Hollingshead and Kassebaum hit NCAA provisional marks
Jazzmin Reece (So. Sehome HS, Wash.) recorded a personal best of 4,399 points in the heptathlon Friday in the Willamette Multi-Event held at Charles Bowles Track, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Division III championships. Reece’s score easily surpassed the NCAA provisional standard of 4,100 points and was a vast improvement over her tally of 4,001 points in the NWC heptathlon on April 15 in Tacoma, Wash. She finished just nine points shy of Gayle Roth’s 1984 school record of 4,408. Three more Bearcats hit NCAA provisional qualifying marks during the Willamette Last Chance Meet, held Friday and Saturday in Newberg and Salem. On Friday night at George Fox University, Natalie Muren (Fr., McNary HS) and Aaron Hollingshead (So., David Douglas HS) made provisional times in distance events. Muren won the 10,000 meters in a time of 36:51.6, which ranks No. 2 all-time in school history. Hollingshead won the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:22.0, a time that is No. 8 in Bearcat history. On Saturday at Willamette’s Charles Bowles Track, Roseann Kassebaum (Fr., Oregon City HS) qualified provisionally for the national meet by placing fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:04.64. That time is a personal best and ranks No. 6 all-time at Willamette. Also on Saturday, WU’s Alicia Andrews (So., Asotin HS, Wash.) improved her NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the 800 with a second-place time of 2:13.54. That time is a personal best, too, and moved her up one spot to No. 3 on the Bearcats’ all-time list.


BEARCAT NWC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK TO DATE:
WOMEN MEN
March 17 Shannon McGrane —
March 25 Kari Holbert Nick Symmonds
April 7 Natalie Muren —
April 14 — Nick Symmonds
April 21 — Tyler May


SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: Nick Symmonds (Fr., Bishop Kelly HS, Idaho) won the 800 in the Oregon Preview with a school-record and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:51.18. The previous school record in that event had stood for 45 years after Dale Hartman ran a 1:51.94 in 1958 … in the second NCAA Division III power rankings of the season, the Willamette men are ranked No. 2 in the nation and the women are No. 3. The rankings are based on “overall team strength in a dual meet type scoring” against Division III competition … in the NWC Championship meet on April 25-26, the Bearcat women set or improved on 17 all-time WU top 10 marks, while the men set or improved on seven marks. Shannon McGrane (So., Colville HS, Wash.) won the 400 hurdles in 1:02.43, breaking Amy Carlson’s 1994 school record of 1:02.98. The two teams defended both 2002 NWC championships, combined for 20 individual titles and Kelly Sullivan was named NWC Coach of the Year for both the men and women … three Bearcats broke school records in two meets on May 3. Kasey Sorenson (Sr., Scappoose HS) won the hammer at the Linfield Invitational with a throw of 150-1, breaking her own 2002 school record and exceeding the NCAA provisional mark of 147-8. At the Oregon Twilight in Eugene, Jazzmin Reece (Jr., Sehome HS, Wash.) and Nick Symmonds (Fr., Bishop Kelly HS, Idaho) each broke a WU record. Reece won the 100 hurdles in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 15.08, which broke last year's WU record of 15.13 set by Laura Leineweber. Symmonds won the prestigious Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Twilight Mile in a time of 4:03.85. The time converts to a 3:45.81 in the 1,500, which automatically qualifies him for nationals and breaks the 1980 school record of David Fleming … at the Ken Foreman Invitational on May 10, Kasey Sorenson (Sr., Scappoose HS) broke her own school record in the hammer, improving on her previous record of 150-1 with a mark of 152-7 and Jazzmin Reece (Jr., Sehome HS, Wash.) did the same in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.99 … as of May 20, the Bearcat women have broken three school records and have posted 33 all-time WU top 10 entries. The Bearcat men have broken two school records (both by Nick Symmonds) and have registered 19 entries into Willamette’s all-time top 10 lists.


WILLAMETTE’S AUTOMATIC NCAA QUALIFIERS:
MEN EVENT MARK MEET NCAA RANK
Nick Symmonds 800 meters *1:51.18 (Oregon Preview) 4th
1,500 meters *3:45.81 (Oregon Twilight) 2nd
Jake Stout 5,000 meters 14:27.17 (Cardinal Qualifier) 5th
Scott Overby steeplechase 9:06.08 (Cardinal Qualifier) 5th

WILLAMETTE’S PROVISIONAL NCAA QUALIFIERS IN THE NATIONAL MEET:
WOMEN EVENT MARK MEET NCAA RANK
Shannon McGrane 400 hurdles *1:02.43 (automatic: 1:02.40) 10th
Natalie Muren 10,000 meters 36:51.6 (automatic: 36:24.00) 15th
Alicia Andrews 800 meters 2:13.3 (automatic: 2:12.00) 11th
Jazzmin Reece 100 hurdles *14.99 (automatic: 14.43) 20th
heptathlon 4,399 (automatic: 4,500) 12th
MEN EVENT MARK MEET NCAA RANK
Brian Roesler 800 meters 1:52.77 (automatic: 1:51.30) 17th
Zach Larsen high jump 6-9 1/2 (automatic: 6-10 3/4) 14th

* Willamette school record

WILLAMETTE’S PROVISIONAL NCAA QUALIFIERS WHO FELL SHORT:
WOMEN EVENT MARK MEET NCAA RANK
Kari Holbert steeplechase 11:24.67 (automatic: top 15) 27th
5,000 meters 17:48.0 (automatic: 17:15.00) 24th
Kasey Sorenson hammer *152-7 (automatic: 168-11) 35th
Lindsey Patterson long jump 18-1 (automatic: 19-0 1/4) 28th
Danielle Page triple jump 36-11 (automatic: 39-2 1/2) 29th
Nancy Weyler discus 136-7 (automatic: 152-7) 25th
Natalie Muren 5,000 meters 17:31.08 (automatic: 17:15.00) 24th
Roseann Kassebaum 400 hurdles 1:04.64 (automatic: 1:02.40) 32nd
MEN EVENT MARK MEET NCAA RANK
Jake Stout steeplechase 9:13.90 (automatic: 9:06.40) 21st
Scott Overby 1,500 meters 3:55.04 (automatic: 3:50.60) 25th
Aaron Hollingshead 5,000 meters 14:50.0 (automatic: 14:32.00) 48th
steeplechase 9:22.0 (automatic: 9:06.40) 31st
Tyler May decathlon 6,231 (automatic: 6,550) 18th
Bill Sandbo hammer 170-7 (automatic: 183-9) 26th
Brennan Garrelts 110 hurdles 14.90 (automatic: 14.45) 27th

* Willamette school record


NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: The NCAA’s individual rankings can be found at:
http://raceberryjam.com/indexod.html


2003 WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY TRACK & FIELD SCHEDULE
DATE EVENT/OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/PLACING
March 1 WILLAMETTE SIX-WAY SALEM non-scoring
March 8 WILLAMETTE THREE-WAY SALEM non-scoring
March 15 NWC Four-way Newberg WU women: 1st
WU men: 1st
March 22 Oregon Preview Eugene non-scoring
March 24-25 Linfield Multi-event McMinnville
April 4 WILLAMETTE CELEBRATION OF DISTANCE
SALEM non-scoring
April 5 WILLAMETTE INV. SALEM non-scoring
April 11 GFU Distance Carnival Newberg non-scoring
April 12 Oregon Mini Meet Eugene non-scoring
April 14-15 NWC Multi-event champ. Tacoma, Wash. (UPS)
April 19 Clackamas CC Invitational Oregon City non-scoring
April 25-26 NWC Championships Tacoma, Wash. (PLU) WU women: 1st
WU men: 1st
May 3 Oregon Twilight Eugene non-scoring
Linfield Invitational McMinnville non-scoring
May 9 Cardinal Qualifier Palo Alto, Calif. non-scoring
May 10 Ken Foreman Invitational Seattle, Wash. non-scoring
May 15-16 WILLAMETTE MULTI-EVENT
SALEM
May 17 WILLAMETTE LAST CHANCE
SALEM non-scoring
May 22-24 NCAA Division III Champ. Canton, N.Y.# All day

# at St. Lawrence University


THE KELLY SULLIVAN YEARS AT WILLAMETTE:
FINISHES IN THE NORTHWEST CONFERENCE
WOMEN MEN
YEAR PL PTS PL PTS
1998 5th 63 6th 65
1999 6th 86 4th 84
2000 5th 104 5th 118
2001 2nd 185.7 4th 126
2002 1st 225 1st 254
2003 1st 227 1st 264


HOW TO CONTACT HEAD COACH KELLY SULLIVAN:
Office: (503) 370-6803
Email: kmsulliv@willamette.edu


MORE INFORMATION ON THE WEB:
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY: /www.willamette.edu/athletics
UNOFFICIAL TEAM SITE: http://www.run-down.com/bearcats/wu.php
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE: http://www.nwcsports.com