GREENVILLE, Pa. (May 19) -- The Thiel College men's and women's outdoor track and field squads had a school record eight participants qualify for the Division III Track and Field National Championships. The list is headlined by junior two-time outdoor All-American Dorran Coley (Kingston, Jamaica/Kingston College) (Kingston, Jamaica/Kingston College) and freshman 2008 indoor national champion Josh Jones (New Castle/New Castle) (New Castle/New Castle).
Coley qualified in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 14.41 on April 19 at Ohio Wesleyan University's Sparky Adams Invitational. Coley will go into the national championships with the second fastest time in Division III this season, while Jones jumped his way into the national championships with a height of 6-10.25 at the 2008 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championships on April 26.
Sophomore Alex Eaton (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep.) (Erie/Cathedral Prep.) and freshman Patrice Page (Cleveland, Ohio/Shaker Heights) (Cleveland, Ohio/Shaker Heights) qualified in the men's and women's 400-meter dash with times of 48.19 and 57.39, respectively. Eaton earned his provisional qualification time on May 9 at Allegheny College's Gator Invite, while Page qualified at last weekend's North Central College Gregory Invitational. Eaton is just one of six sophomores to earn a trip to the national championships in the 400 while Page is just one of four freshman to have qualified in the event.
Sophomore Latoya Locke (Farrell/Farrell) posted the eighth-best qualifying mark in the triple jump with a jump of 38-5 at Friday's Gregory Invitational.
The women's 4x100 relay qualified for nationals after running a time of 48.22 at Friday's Gregory Invitational. The relay team will consist of junior Chavonne Green (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax), junior Kate DeGeorge (Butler/Butler) (Butler/Butler), Page, and Locke, with junior Cara Riffe (Greenville/Reynolds) (Greenville/Reynolds) serving as an alternate. This is the first time in school history that a relay team has qualified to run at the national championships.
The Division III National Championships will be held May 22-24 at the University of Wisconsin's J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.
