Selle Earns Last Invitation Into NCAA National Outdoor Meet
MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/23/22)---If it was an NCAA basketball tournament selection show, Peyton Selle's name would have been the last name called. If it was a bid on Ebay, it would have been the final one allowed with 1-second remaining in the auction. If it were a basketball game, she would have drained a game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Selle started the weekend as the first alternate for the NCAA National Meet heptathlon, but found out on Monday that she has been officially accepted to compete at the Division IIII meet which begins on Thursday.
Selle will be making her very first appearance at an NCAA National Meet.
For each women's individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.
The NCAA Division III Outdoor Meet will be on May 26-28 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio with Mount Union serving as the hosts.
Selle was seeded 23rd in the nation heading into the weekend, with national meet bids only being handed out to the Top 22 in each event. She had to wait until all the athletes declared for the spots until finding out that one entrant in the heptathlon didn't accept the bid.
Selle, who had already returned home to Dickinson, had to head back to Moorhead to catch the last flight available to Ohio on Tuesday morning.
Selle earned her last-entry trip to national by virtue of her heptathlon-winning score at the MIAC Championship Meet. She posted a score of 4,322 points, which at the time was No.13 in the nation. Selle, then watched her score fall to No.23 after the other conference meet – and last chance events – scores were posted.
Selle's score of 4,322 is a personal record and No.6 on the school's all-time list.
Selle will start her initial national meet competition on Thursday, May 26 at 12:30 p.m. when she steps into the blocks for the start of the 100-meter hurdles. The heptathlon will then have three other events on Thursday, and conclude with three more events on Friday, May 27 beginning at 11 a.m.