Posted: 05/25/2011
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh track and field teams will be sending five athletes to this year’s NCAA Regionals at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. which begin on Thursday. Competing for Lehigh will be Emily Settle in the hammer throw, Alexandra Doersam in the long jump, Niall Buckley in the 800 meter run, Evans Kosgei in the 3000 meter steeplechase and Stephen Tutunjian in the triple jump.
The qualifiers from each region will compete at the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa. Five League schools and 23 student-athletes will represent the Patriot League. The five competitors that Lehigh is sending is tied for the second most in the Patriot League.
Settle, who finished as a runner-up at the Patriot League Championships, will represent Lehigh in the hammer throw qualifiers, which will beginon Thursday at 11 a.m. Settle has had a monster year, as she finished third in the hammer throw with an ECAC qualifying distance and a school-record at the time of 54.42 meters at the Penn Relays. Settle re-broke her school record later in the season, beating it by almost a meter (55.13m). She was also named Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week on May 1.
Doersam, who was a Patriot League champion in the long jump this year, will be representing the Brown and White in the same event beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday as well. Doersam, who entered the Patriot League Championships with a personal best of 5.68 meters, made huge strides. Joelle Neilson of Lafayette hit a distance of 5.75 meters. Navy’s Ashley Bucholz hit a distance of 5.96. Doersam, who edged that distance with 5.97 her second jump, then hit her final jump at a distance of 6.03 meters, a Patriot League Championship record.
Kosgei will be participating in the 3,000 meter steeplechase quarterfinals at 9:10 p.m. on Friday at 9:10 p.m. Kosgei, who was most recently named the Patriot League Track and Field Scholar-Athlete winner, was a Patriot League champion in the 10,000 meter run, clocking in at 30:20.08. Kosgei’s time was not only a school record, but it was a Patriot League Championship record as well. Kosgei beat the old record from 2004, which was set by American’s Matt Seymour. He was also an All-Patriot League second teamer in the steeplechase.
Tutunjian will continue his stellar spring season in the triple jump on Friday at 6 p.m. He is coming off an appearance at the IC4A Championships and was also a Patriot League Champion in the triple jump as he posted a mark of 7.32 meters, which was a personal best for him and an IC4A qualifying distance. For his efforts at the Patriot League Championships, he was named the Male Field Athlete of the Meet.
Lehigh’s final competitor at the NCAA Regionals will be Niall Buckley, who will compete in the 800 meter run. He is set to participate in the first round on Thursday at 8 p.m. If he were to advance, he would participate in the semifinals on Friday at 6:45 p.m. At the Patriot League Championships two weekends ago, Buckley earned six points for Lehigh in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:52.
The Preliminary Championships will be held May 26-28, with Indiana hosting the East Region and Oregon hosting the West Region. The qualifiers from each region will compete at the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa. Five League schools and 23 student-athletes will represent the Patriot League. The five competitors that Lehigh is sending is tied for the second most in the Patriot League.
Check back at LehighSports.com throughout the weekend for complete updates from Bloomington.