Women’s Track and Field Picked Fourth in HCAC Poll

GREENWOOD, Ind. – The women's track and field team garnered 71 points and a fourth-place ranking in the 2011 HCAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released by the league office on Wednesday. DC's Kaitlin Switzer, Marlea Rolander, Emily Cole and Ashlyn Howell were each tabbed as HCAC Athletes to Watch in the poll.

2010 HCAC Champion, Franklin College, took top honors in the poll with 95 points and six first-place votes, while Rose-Hulman claimed 88 points and the four remaining first-place votes. Hanover (76), Defiance (71), and Manchester (68) rounded out the top-five, while Anderson (47), Mount St. Joseph (45), Earlham (28), Transylvania (19), and Bluffton (13) comprised the six through 10 spots.

Switzer received the HCAC Athlete-to-Watch recognition for the second-straight season, and will pace DC's distance runners during her final season with the Yellow Jackets. She enters the outdoor season as the HCAC's reigning 3,000-meter steeplechase champion, and will look to defend that title in addition to competing in several mid-distance and distance events.

Rolander has been an athlete-to-watch in every preseason poll since being tabbed as the HCAC Most Outstanding Freshman Athlete in 2009. The junior hurdler placed ninth in the 400-meter hurdles and second in the 100-meter hurdles on the HCAC's performances list last season, and is coming off a second-place performance in the 55-meter hurdles during the indoor season.

Cole is one of the best pole vaulters in school history, and will team up with sophomore, Katie Heitkamp, to give Defiance a dominant pole vaulting duo. Cole posted the fifth-best pole vaulting mark in the HCAC last season, and placed seventh during the indoor season. The senior athlete claimed DC's all-time outdoor pole vaulting record with a mark of 10-00.00 in 2008.

Howell was selected as a Co-HCAC Most Outstanding Freshman last season after establishing herself as one of the premier sprinters and jumpers in the conference. Howell was outstanding at the HCAC Championships, placing third in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, second in the 4x100-meter relay and triple jump, and first as a member of DC's 4x400-meter relay team.

The Yellow Jackets' outdoor track and field season will begin on Saturday, March 19, when DC hosts the annual Dick Small Invitational at Coressel Stadium, beginning at 11:00 a.m.