CMS Women's Track and Field sends Seven to NCAA Division III Championships

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's track and field team had seven student-athletes earn qualifications to the NCAA Division III Championships in eight different events, the NCAA announced this evening.

Caroline DelVecchio, who set a school record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Bryan Clay Invitational with 1:01.21, will compete in two events for the Athenas. DelVecchio is the sixth seed in the 400 hurdles, and was just outside the qualifying range in the 100-meter hurdles, but earned a spot after four of the hurdlers ahead of her opted out to focus on other events.

Five members of the Athenas will be adding a spring NCAA competition to the cross nationals they competed in the fall while helping CMS to a second-place finish: Natalie Bitetti (1500 meters), Meredith Bloss (10000 meters), Emily Clarke (5000 meters), Riley Harmon (5000 meters) and Laura Zimmer (1500 meters). Bloss also earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship with a seventh-place finish in the 5000, while Clarke came close with a ninth-place finish in the 3000. 

Pole vaulter Brooke Simon also earned NCAA Indoor All-America honors with a sixth-place finish and will be trying to add a second All-America honor during outdoor season. Simon is the fourth seed in the pole vault, matching Bloss' fourth seed in the 10000 meters as the highest seeds for the Athenas.

Bloss earned a school record at the Mt. Sac Relays in the 10000 meters to earn her fourth seed, and also qualified in the 5000 meters, but will opt to compete in only the 10000 rather than try to run in both distance events. Similarly, Harmon also qualified in both the steeplechase and the 5000, but will only compete in the 5000. 

Zimmer was ranked 24th in the 1500 meters and was barely on the outside looking in at the 22 qualifying spots, but some of the runners ahead of her qualified in multiple events and elected to compete in others, so she will enter as the No. 18 seed, with Bitetti just ahead of her as the No. 16 seed. 

The NCAA Championships will take place Thursday-Saturday at the SPIRE Insititute in Geneva, Ohio. Bloss and Simon will have the finals in their events on Thursday, when prelims will be held in the 1500 and the 400-meter hurdles. Finals in the 5000, 1500, and hurdles will be held on Saturday.