The Colorado College track and field teams will send a program-record five athletes to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships next week in Geneva, Ohio.
Â
Juniors
Rabbit Barnes and
Josh Williams and sophomore
Will Shuflit will compete in the men's competition, while senior
Isabel Olson and junior
Alison Mueller-Hickler will represent the women's team at the national meet, May 22-24, at the SPIRE Institute's track and field facility.
Â
Barnes, Shuflit, Olson and Mueller-Hickler will be competing at the Division III Championships for the first time.
Â
"It is exciting to see so many individuals qualify for the national championships," head coach
Katie Bretscher said. "It has been a goal of mine to continue to have more athletes from our program qualify. Each year, it seems like athletes have to run faster than the year prior in order to make the meet. I'm extremely proud of all of our qualifiers and the work and dedication that it took to get to this level." Â
Â
Barnes, the three-time defending SCAC champion in the 1500, will run that race at the national meet. He has the seventh-fastest in Division III and is scheduled to compete in the preliminaries on Thursday, May 22, at 5:35 p.m. (ET).
Â
Williams, meanwhile, will run the 400-meter dash for the second consecutive year. The 400 prelims are on Friday, May 23, at 3:00 p.m. (ET).
Â
Shuflit has the 12
th-best time in the 10K in Division III and will compete in that race on Thursday, May 22, at 8:30 p.m. (ET).
Â
Olson qualified for both the 1500 and 5K after setting the school record in each race this season. She is ranked 15
th in the 1500 and 23
rd in the 5K. The 1500 prelims are on Thursday, May 22, at 5:50 p.m. (ET), while the 5K final is on Saturday, May 24, at 4:25 p.m. (ET).
Â
Mueller-Hickler, who has the 10
th-fastest 10K time in Division III, will run in that final on Thursday, May 22, at 9:15 p.m. (ET).
Â
Colorado College sent a then program-high three athletes to the Division III national meet last season.
Â