Ten Wheaton track athletes headed to Ohio for national championship

March 10, 2008

NORTON, MA- Ten Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field athletes are set to head to Ada, Ohio, for next weekend's two-day NCAA Division III Championship at Ohio Northern University. The national meet begins on Friday at 12:30 p.m.

The women boast eight entrants in the meet, the most since the Lyons won their fifth straight indoor national crown in 2003. They will be a part of five events, including a pair of relays.

Junior Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) will compete in a team-high three races, including the 400-meter dash, 4x400-meter relay and distance medley relay. A three-time All-American, Ezeigwe has the nation's seventh-fastest time in the 400M, a provisional mark of 57.06. Sophomore Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) is fourth on the list thanks to her automatic time of 56.70.

Ezeigwe and Thompson are two legs of the 4x400M relay, as the duo is paired up with junior Celeste Karpow (Wilton, CT/Wilton) and sophomore Kelly Libert (New Haven, CT/James Hillhouse). The quartet posted an automatic time of 3:52.03, which was third fastest in the country. Ezeigwe and Thompson ran on last year's All-America 4x400M relay team.

In the distance medley relay, Ezeigwe joins senior Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) and juniors Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) and Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls), as their provisional time of 12:00.55 is seventh on the entry list. Wheaton is looking to land the program's first All-America performance in the DMR.

Brousseau also hopes to make a first in the school's annals, as she is seeking to become the program's first All-American in the mile run. Her provisional time of 4:56.92 stands sixth in the meet. Rounding out the Blue and White's entrants is freshman Erin Neville (North Providence, RI/La Salle Academy), who enters the weekend's competitions as the nation's second best high jumper. Her height of 5' 7" was just 1/4" shy of an automatic standard.

Two athletes will lead the men's team, as freshman Marcus Kohlman (Milton, MA/Milton) takes aim at his first All-America performance in the high jump. His automatic jump of 6' 10 1/4" is tied for fourth nationally. Sophomore Howard Powell (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls), who ran 7.60 in the 55-meter hurdles, is tied for sixth on the entry list.

At last year's NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Indiana, the women cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place finish, while the men settled for 22nd overall.

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