Ephs send 11-person contingent to National Championship Meet

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — Williams College will send 11 student athletes — 5 women and 6 men — to the 2009 NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field Championships beginning Thursday at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.

A total of 688 participants will compete in the championship. Student-athletes qualified for the championship by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event.

To access the championship web site, click HERE.

On the men's side, the Ephs will be represented by senior Brendan Christian, ranked third in the 10,000-meter; senior Macklin Chaffee, ranked 12th in the 1,500; and sohomore Taylor Fitzgerald, ranked sixth in the 400-meter dash. In addition, the 4x400 relay of Fitzgerald, Deividas Seferis, Viktor Nagy and Alex Hoerman, ranked third will also participate.

Women competitors include senior Lauren Philbrook, ranked 1st in the 10,000-meter run and 2nd in the 5,000-meter run; Meghan Shea, ranked 4th in the 3,000 steeplechase event; Elise Johnson, ranked 8th in the 100-meter hurdles and 14th in the 100-meter dash; Olga Kondratjeva, ranked 12th in the 1,500-meter run and Lizzy Danhakl, ranked 14th in the 800-meter run.

Last year, Chaffee placed second in the 1,500 and the 4x400 team placed fourth. Three of the four members of that squad, Fitzgerald, Seferis and Hoerman, are back. On the women's side of the ledger, Johnson placed sixth last year in the 110 hurdles, while Danhakl was ninth in the 800 and Kondratjeva 11th in the 1,500.