SPOKANE, Wash. - Brandon Howell will lead a contingent of seven Whitworth track & field athletes headed to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships this week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will serve as host for the event Thursday through Saturday (May 24-26) at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
Kristen Dormaier (Jr., Hartline, Wash. - Hartline) is the only Pirate woman headed to Wisconsin, where she will compete in the heptathlon. She was also the last Whitworth athlete to get into the meet after posting a score of 4,362 points at the George Fox Ultimate Multi-Events on May 12-13. She goes into the meet seeded 18th. Howell (Jr., Clarkston, Wash. - Clarkston) will compete in the 800 for the second time this season at an NCAA Championship event. He goes into the meet seeded eighth with a time of 1:51.34, a Whitworth record he set at the Sam Adams Classic on April 14th. Howell was also a qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year. Another Pirate who will be competing in his second NCAA Championship event is Cody Stelzer (Fr., The Dalles, Ore. - The Dalles). Stelzer will once again compete in the high jump, the same event in which he finished sixth at the indoor championships. He goes in with a mark of 6'-8.75", tied for fourth. Ben Spaun (Jr., Wenatchee, Wash. - Wenatchee) will take part in the decathlon. He is seeded 12th with a score of 6,516 points, which he posted while finishing third at the NWC Multi-Event Championships in April. Normally a hurdler, this is the first season Spaun has competed in the decathlon.
Kory Kemp (So., Redmond, Wash. - Bellevue Christian) will throw the javelin after posting a distance of 205'-1" at the Duane Hartman Invitational on April 28th. He is seeded fourth heading into the meet. Jeff Kintner (Fr., Wenatchee, Wash. - Wenatchee) and Emmanual Bofa (Fr., Puyallup, Wash. - Emerald Ridge) are joining Stelzer as Pirates headed to nationals in their first year of varsity track. Kintner will compete in the shot put after he posted a throw of 52'-0.75" at the Oregon Twilight. Bofa will join Howell in the 800 with a time of 1:52.23. The official championship website can be found here: http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/NCAATFChampionships/2007/index.html. |
