Women’s Track Ranked Fourth in HCAC Preseason Poll
GREENWOOD, Ind. – In the wake of a second-place finish at the HCAC Outdoor Championships last spring, the Defiance College women’s track and field team was picked fourth in the 2011 HCAC Indoor Track and Field Preseason Poll.
GREENWOOD, Ind. – In the wake of a second-place finish at the HCAC Outdoor Championships last spring, the Defiance College women's track and field team was picked fourth in the 2011 HCAC Indoor Track and Field Preseason Poll. DC also had four athletes featured on the poll's HCAC Athletes-to-Watch list.
Franklin College was rewarded for its 2010 HCAC Outdoor Championship with top honors in the preseason poll, receiving 96 points and seven first place votes, while Mount St. Joseph (84), Manchester (75), and Defiance (74) followed in the 2-4 spots with one first-place vote apiece. Rose-Hulman (64), Hanover (55), Anderson (36), Transylvania (29), Earlham (22), and Bluffton (15) rounded out the preseason rankings.
The Yellow Jackets return four All-HCAC performers from last year's squad, which outperformed expectations last season by placing second at the HCAC Championships after being picked fourth in the preseason poll. Senior all-conference performers, Kaitlin Switzer and Emily Cole, were picked to represent Defiance as HCAC Preseason Athletes-to-Watch, along with junior hurdler, Marlea Rolander, and last season's Co-Most Outstanding Freshman of the Year, Ashlyn Howell.
Kaitlin Switzer will look to cap off what has already been an outstanding career at Defiance as she enters the indoor season fresh off her first-career all-conference selection in cross country. The Defiance High School product owns DC indoor records in the 1,000-meter run, 3,000-meter run, and one mile run, and ranks second all-time in the 5,000-meter run.
Emily Cole is one of the premier pole vaulters in the HCAC, and needs to add just a quarter inch to her personal record to claim sole possession of the top spot in DC's all-time record book. Cole will team up with sophomore, Katie Heitkamp, to give Defiance one of the top pole vaulting tandems in the conference.
Marlea Rolander has been an All-HCAC performer in each of her first two seasons with the Yellow Jackets, and will likely battle Franklin's Shelby Johnston for the individual title in the 55-meter hurdles this season. The former HCAC Most Outstanding Freshman of the Year was an All-Ohio performer in 2009, and will look to reclaim that distinction during the 2011 season.
Ashlyn Howell shared the HCAC Co-Most Outstanding Freshman of the Year award with her teammate Shavonda Price last season, while breaking school records in both the indoor and outdoor triple jump. Howell was one of the top sprinters in the conference as well, placing third in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, second in the 4x100-meter relay, and first in the 4x400 meter relay at the HCAC Outdoor Championships last season.
The Yellow Jackets are set to begin the 2011 indoor track and field season on Friday, January 21, at the Northwest Ohio Invitational in Findlay, Ohio. The season-opening meet will begin at 2:30 p.m.