WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Williams College women's track & field team will send eight athletes to compete in 10 individual events and one relay at the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships being contested in Claremont, California, May 24-26.
The top eight finishers in each event score team points at the championships as well as earn All-America honors.
22 competitors were named in each individual event and 16 teams are in each relay event.
Sophomore Amina Avril and junior Tanasia Hoffler will compete in three individual events each and Hoffler will also be a part of the Eph 4x400 relay team.
Avril is ranked in the top eight in two events – the discus and the hammer throw. She is 5th in discus at 150' 2.75", behind Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Breanna Strupp who has thrown 164' 3.25".
Avril is 8th in hammer throw with a heave of 175' 9.84". Alexia Child Wisconsin-Oshkosh owns the best throw of the season at 193' 5.65". Further, Avril is 22nd in the shot, 43' 3.29", behind Breanna Strupp of Wisconsin-Oshkosh whose best effort this spring has traveled 49' 0.18"
Joining Hoffler on the 4x400 will be senior Maya Harakawa, freshman Ashley Graves and senior Desiree Darling. The Eph quartet is currently seeded 12th with a season best time of 3:50.88. Wartburg College with a blistering time of 3:38.45 (almost seven seconds faster than the next best time this year) is setting the pace in the event.
Hoffler is the defending outdoor triple jump champion having won the event as both a freshman and a sophomore. This spring Hoffler is seeded fifth in the event with Melissa Norville of Illinois College holding the best mark of the season at 42' 1.11". Hoffler this season has gone 39' 9.55".
Hoffler is ranked 9th in the long jump (19' 1.52"), an event that is being led by Skye Morrison of Wartburg College 21' 3.51". She is 14th in the 100 hurdles 100m (14.49). Illinois College's Melissa Norville tops the field with a time of 13.84.
Senior Maya Harakawa is listed as 13th 400m hurdles 1:02.22, while Heather Gearity of Montclair State (59.73) is only runner under a minute in the field.
Sophomore Brianne Mirecki sits in 5th in the 3000 steeplechase and has posted a season best 10:40.35. The event's leader, Amherst's Keri Lambert, has run 10:19.37 this spring.
Sophomore Jenna Adams is 9th in the pole vault at 12' 5.6" with Moravian's Abigail Schaffer atop the leader board at 13' 10.14"
Senior Olivia Delia ranks 12th in the 1500 with a time of 4:33.68 and Middlebury's Margo Cramer tops the field with a time of 4:21.45.
The Ephs will be out to better last year's fifth place team finish and bring home some hardware this time around.
