Talented Trio Heading To Nationals
MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/23/16)—Once again Concordia will be well represented at the NCAA Division III National Outdoor Track & Field Meet. The Cobbers are sending three athletes to nationals which begin on Thursday, May 26 at Warburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
Mikayla Forness, Olivia Johnson and Emma Peterson carry on the tradition on multiple Cobber athletes at the NCAA Outdoor Meet. This will be the fifth straight season that Concordia has sent at least three athletes to the national outdoor meet. The Cobbers had a school-record six athletes qualify in 2013.
For each women's individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition.
2016 NCAA Division III National Outdoor Meet Links
- NCAA Division III National Outdoor Meet Home Page
- NCAA Division III National Outdoor Meet Schedule of Events (pdf)
- NCAA Division III National Outdoor Meet Live Video
- NCAA Division III National Outdoor Meet Live Results
Forness and Peterson will be making their first-ever appearance at the NCAA National Outdoor Meet while Johnson is one of only a handful of Concordia athletes to qualify for nationals in four straight seasons.
Not only did Forness, Peterson and Johnson qualify for nationals but all three are seeded in the Top 7 of their event heading into the final competition of the year.
Forness will make her NCAA debut on Thursday, May 26 when she starts the heptathlon at 11 a.m. Forness is ranked seventh in Division III in the heptathlon after she recorded 4,580 points at the MIAC Meet in May 5. Her total earned her a runner-up finish and was the fourth highest point total in school history.
Forness' best event during the outdoor season has been the javelin. She won the MIAC javelin competition with a distance of 152-09 which set a new school record and earned her the No.2 seed heading into the national meet. Forness' mark was a St. John's Clemens Stadium record and was the first time that she had passed the 150-foot milestone with a throw.
The NCAA javelin competition will take place on Saturday, May 28 beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Peterson won the high jump at the MIAC Indoor Meet at the beginning of March and then used that momentum to break the school outdoor record with a jump of 5-07.25 at the Lee Krough Gustavus Invite on Apr. 16. Peterson's mark broke the old school record of 5-07 and bettered Peterson's old personal best mark of 5-04.25.
Peterson, who was slowed down by an injury in the second half of the outdoor season, placed fourth at the MIAC Outdoor Meet with a mark of 5-03.
Peterson enters the NCAA Meet with the fourth best height in the nation. She will be hoping to regain her early-season outdoor form when she steps on to the track for her very first NCAA Meet experience on Friday, May 27 at 2:30 p.m.
Johnson will provide the experience for the group of three Cobber qualifiers. She has participated in the past three NCAA National Outdoor Meets. Unfortunately for Johnson she is still looking for her very first All-American honor by finishing in the Top 8 of an individual event. Johnson's previous top finish at nationals came in 2014 when she qualified for the finals in the shot put but finished ninth.
Johnson will be looking to do her 2014 finish at least one place better as she qualified for this year's shot put competition with a distance of 46-06.75. Her top mark of the year came at the MIAC Outdoor Meet and earned her the event championship – her first-ever individual event win at a MIAC Meet.
Johnson's personal best distance in 2016 is the fourth best in Division III this season. She will begin her quest for All-American status at noon on Friday, May 27.
Like Forness, Johnson also qualified for nationals in two events. Johnson will have a second opportunity for All-American honors as she also qualified in the javelin. Johnson is currently seeded 19th in the event with a season-best mark of 135-04 which she recorded at the Lee Krough Gustavus Invite.