Greencastle, IN — Senior Kristen Bates will represent Messiah College in the 2010 Indoor Track & Field National Championships at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., the school learned late Sunday night.
Bates was accepted into the prestigious meet in three events — the 55-meter hurdles, the pentathlon and the triple jump. She barely missed qualifying for a fourth — the long jump — as her season-best leap of 18 feet, 2 and 1/4 inches was just three centimeters off the cut line.
“She’s been so good at Messiah,” said Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah head coach. “She’s been such a leader, so humble … but there’s only one way to go (this weekend), and that’s to win a national championship.”
Bates will be looking for her first national title in her sixth national championship appearance, hoping to add to her seven All-American honors.
She enters as the top seed in 55-meter hurdles event, as her :08.07 clip set at the MAC Championships was the fastest time in NCAA Division III competition this season. Her 3,301 points in the pentathlon event (55-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800-meter run) is eighth-best mark in the nation this year, while Bates enters the triple jump as the 15th and final seed (37 feet, 9 and 1/2 inches).
Fogelsanger says that people shouldn’t underestimate Bates’ seeding in either of the latter two events, however, noting that she entered the 2008 indoor championships as the final entry in the pent before taking third.
“A national championship has been elusive, but I think she can win both the hurdles and the pentathlon this weekend,” Fogelsanger said.
Bates nearly had company traveling with her to DePauw University, but the Falcons’ women’s distance medley relay team of senior Erin Rhoades, sophomore Lauren Harte, sophomore Brooke Airey and junior Grace Kaste just missed out. Their season-best time of 12:13.81 was just off the final entry clip of 11:59.40.
Senior Eddy Palmer ran a personal-best 1:54.08 in the open 800-meter run Saturday at Vriginia Tech’s Final Qualifier meet, hitting the provisional qualifying time for nationals, but it wasn’t quite fast enough: The final time accepted for next weekend’s national championships was 1:53.89.
Sophomore Tyler Newhook was also a candidate to compete on the year’s biggest stage, but his school-record 4:17.70 in the mile was just over three seconds slower than the NCAA qualifying mark of 4:13.16.
As a result, Bates will be traveling to the NCAA National Championships as Messiah’s only competitor — the first time she’s flown solo in any of her six national championships appearances. Bates earned national runner-up honors in last year’s indoor championships 55-meter hurdles race, taking second in last year’s outdoor championships in the 100-meter hurdles as well.
In addition to her third-place finish in the triple jump as a sophomore, Bates finished third in the pentathlon at last year’s indoor championships.
The 2010 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships will be held at the DePauw University Indoor Tennis and Track Center, with events running Friday through Saturday. Bates is scheduled to run in the 55-meter hurdles prelims Friday at 4:50 p.m. The pentathlon is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, while the 55-meter hurdle finals are set for 2:35 p.m. and the triple jump at 3 p.m.
Ticket information, complete schedules and qualifying marks can be found at the official website of the 2010 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships.