Seven Men and Two Women Make Up Pirate Contingent
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Nine Whitworth University student-athletes are headed to Berea, Ohio this week to compete in the 2010 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College. Seven men and two women will compete. Four former All-Americans, including two former national champions, will lead Whitworth's men. The Bucs hope to make a run at a high team finish. Emmanuel Bofa (Sr., Puyallup, Wash.) is the two-time defending champion in the 800 meter run and he will carry the fastest seed time (1:48.69) into the weekend. Bofa could become only the third three-time champion of the 800 meters in the history of the Division III championship meet. Dusty Casseria (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) will also compete in the 800 meters for the Pirates. His entry time of 1:51.97 is ranked 14th. Cody Stelzer (Sr., The Dalles, Ore.) has competed in seven previous NCAA Division III high jumps, both indoor and outdoor. He has been an All-American seven times. Stelzer won national titles in 2008 (outdoor) and 2009 (indoor). His current entry mark of 6'-10.25" is currently ranked fourth (tied with four others). Jeff Kintner (Sr., Wenatchee, Wash.) has finished fourth in the shot put in each of the last two NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. His entry mark of 57'-9" is his lifetime best and is ranked second heading into the meet. Mike Nahl (Sr., West Seattle, Wash.) returns to the NCAA championships for a second year looking to score for the first time. Alex Hymel (Jr., Damascus, Ore.) is a two-time All-American in the javelin. He hopes to make it three-for-three this week with an entry mark (206'-5") that ranks eighth heading into the competition. Carter Comito (Fr., Spokane, Wash.) has qualified for the discus in his first season with the Pirates. His entry mark of 171'-7" is ranked ninth heading into the meet. Whitworth's best-ever team finish was third in 2008, followed by a sixth-place finish in 2009. The Pirates have a chance to score the most points ever at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, beating the record 31 points from 2008. Joy Shufeldt (Fr., Portland, Ore.) and Erica Cox (Jr., Parma, Idaho) will both be making their first appearance at the NCAA Division III Championships. Shufeldt will finish off a remarkable freshman year by competing in the 10,000 meters. She enters the meet ranked fifth with a school-record time of 35:49.50, which is ranked fifth in the field. Shufeldt won Northwest Conference titles in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters this spring after earning an All-America finish at last Fall's NCAA Cross Country Championships. Cox will compete in the hammer throw after breaking her own Whitworth record with a mark of 165'-10" this spring.
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