UW-Platteville will send a contingent of nine experienced student-athletes to the NCAA Division III national track and field championships Friday and Saturday at Ohio Northern University.
Three of the Pioneers not only have achieved all-American status but have also won national championships in either indoor or outdoor track.
Marcia Taddy and Jessica Scott lead the women's contingent, as they have the two fastest times in the nation in the 800-meter run. Taddy, a 15-time all-American and six-time national champion, clocks in at 2:10.35, while Scott, a two-time all-American and a national champion, has run 2:12.21. They will team with Liz Baker and Alison Ross to run in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet ran a 3:55.52 at UW-Whitewater Friday for the seventh-best time in the country this year.
Taddy, the reigning 800 indoor champion, will also be out to defend her mile title. She has won the last two mile runs at indoor nationals and has this year's fastest time, 4:53.07.
Tyler Sigl heads the men's competitors. The nine-time track and cross country all-American and two-time national champion, will compete in the 5,000-meter run and anchor the distance medley relay team. He is ranked thrid in the 5,000 with a time of 14:26.11, and he, Adam Buss, Tony Kilburg, and Cam Klein have the fourth-fastest DMR time at 10:00.01.
Scott Howard has qualified in the pole vault, increasing his season-best mark to 16-0.5 Friday night. He ranks ninth heading into the championships.
Counting the indoor and outdoor nationals, the men have been in the top six teams in the country five of the last six years, while the women have posted top-six finishes in each of the last two years.
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