NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Wildcats junior Isabel Seidel, and first-year student-athletes Aubrey Roberts and Sarah Nicholson, will race at the 2017 Dr. Keeler Invitational on Thursday and Friday with eyes on 2017 NCAA Qualifying times.
Nicholson and Roberts will both be on the starting line Thursday at ~8 p.m. CT in the third-and-final heat of the 5000M event. Nicholson posted her 5000M season-best 16:29.37 - the second-fastest time in school history - at the Bryan Clay Invitational earlier this spring, while Roberts' best of an abbreviated outdoor season is the 16:37.31 she turned in last weekend at the 2017 Oxy Invitational in southern California.
On Friday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, Seidel will run the 3000M Steeplechase, an event in which she owns the school record. That season-best 10:33.30 at the 2017 Virginia Challenge is just one second shy of the current national Top-48 necessary to guarantee invitation to the 2017 NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, Texas. The current Top-48 standard for the 5000M race is 16:17.29.
"Isabel has had a great spring in this event, our goal this weekend is to have a clean race and run an even rhythm between the barriers," said head coach 'AHavahla Haynes. "For all three of our women, this is a last chance to punch their ticket to the postseason, which is a motivation and challenge I know they've embraced."
Nicholson and Roberts will both be on the starting line Thursday at ~8 p.m. CT in the third-and-final heat of the 5000M event. Nicholson posted her 5000M season-best 16:29.37 - the second-fastest time in school history - at the Bryan Clay Invitational earlier this spring, while Roberts' best of an abbreviated outdoor season is the 16:37.31 she turned in last weekend at the 2017 Oxy Invitational in southern California.
On Friday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, Seidel will run the 3000M Steeplechase, an event in which she owns the school record. That season-best 10:33.30 at the 2017 Virginia Challenge is just one second shy of the current national Top-48 necessary to guarantee invitation to the 2017 NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, Texas. The current Top-48 standard for the 5000M race is 16:17.29.
"Isabel has had a great spring in this event, our goal this weekend is to have a clean race and run an even rhythm between the barriers," said head coach 'AHavahla Haynes. "For all three of our women, this is a last chance to punch their ticket to the postseason, which is a motivation and challenge I know they've embraced."