Teams: Women's Track & Field: Press Releases

Sunday, May 17, 2009

MCNAMARA, WILFERT & JONES HEADED TO NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP MEET IN OHIO

MEDFORD -- Two sophomores and a first-year athlete will represent the Tufts University women's outdoor track & field team at the 2009 NCAA Division 3 Championships this week at Marietta College in Ohio. Sophomore Stephanie McNamara (North Attleborough, MA) will run in the 10,000 meters, sophomore Amy Wilfert (Westborough, MA) is in the 1,500-meter run and first-year Nakeisha Jones (Boston, MA) will compete in the triple jump.

The NCAA Championship meet will begin on Thursday and continue through Saturday (May 21-23). McNamara is making a return trip to the NCAA outdoor meet after earning All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 1,500 meters last season (4:32.03).

Jones is the #1 seed in the NCAA triple jump with her explosive 40'10 1/4" (12.45) leap at the All-New England Championships on May 9 at UMass. That distance is nine inches further than second-place NCAA qualifier Nikki Hay from Springfield College's 40'1 1/4" (12.22m). The triple jump will take place on Saturday beginning at 11:30 am.

McNamara, who also qualified in the 1,500 meters and in the 5K, will run in the 10K this year on Thursday at 7:40 pm. She finished the event in 35:32.79 at the New England Division 3 Championships at Springfield College on May 1, which is third-best time in the nation entering the NCAA meet.

Wilfert continued a breakthrough season for the Jumbos by qualifying eighth in the 1,500 meter run with a 4:34.20 time from the NESCAC Championships at Connecticut College on April 26. The NCAA 1,500 is set for Thursday at 4:35 pm.

►NCAA Division 3 Outdoor Track & Field Championships Website

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