Ashland University's indoor track and field program will send 22 athletes to the 2015 NCAA Division II Championships on March 13-14 in Birmingham, Ala.
The Eagle women, ranked No. 1 in the country, will send nine athletes to nationals. Four of the top 11 seeds in the shot put come from Ashland – junior Jamie Sindelar (No. 1, 16.87 meters), sophomore Megan Tomei and seniors Shatora Lewis and Jessica Bridenthal. Lewis is the No. 1 seed in the weight throw (21.38 meters), while Bridenthal is the No. 2 seed (21.09 meters) and senior Kim Habegger is No. 5 (19.59 meters). Tomei also is competing in the weight throw.
Senior Jennifer Foster is the No. 2 seed in the high jump (1.79 meters). Also competing for the AU women will be senior Jennifer Bjelac in the pentathlon, sophomore Rebecca Koval in the high jump and freshman Irene Skinner in the 400-meter dash.
The AU men, ranked No. 4 in the country, have 13 athletes who qualified for nationals. Of those, a possibly-unprecedented seven – senior Zac Ball, sophomore Bryn Campbell, senior Jared Conklin, sophomore Jordan Crayon, senior James Clay Harris, freshman Clayton Jury and senior Mack Taylor – have qualified in the weight throw. Ball has the country's third-best seed mark (21.89 meters), and Conklin the fourth-best (21.88 meters).
Senior Drew Windle is the top seed in the 800-meter run (1:48.41), and also will compete in the distance medley relay with seniors Elijha Owens and Joshua Davis and junior Nick Hall. Owens has the third-best seed time in the 400-meter dash (47.48 seconds) and the fourth-best seed time in the 60-meter hurdles (7.86 seconds).
Hall has the No. 5 seed in the mile run (4:07.31), and both sophomore Jason Zahn and freshman Elijah Talk will compete in the shot put.
The schedule of events for the Division II Championships can be found here - http://i.turner.ncaa.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa7/release/sites/default/files/images/2015/01/26/2015_dii_itf_schedule_-_final.pdf
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