St. Peter, Minn. – Gustavus Adolphus senior hammer throw specialist Elizabeth Weiers (Le Center, Minn.) will represent the Black and Gold at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. The NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced on Sunday the participants of the NCAA Championships, which will be held May 21-23 at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.
For each men’s individual event contested, including the decathlon, the top 20 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each women’s individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.
Elizabeth Weiers is making her second consecutive appearance in the hammer throw field of the NCAA Championships after earning a trip to the national meet as a junior last season. At the 2014 NCAA Championships held on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, Weiers took home All-America Honorable Mention honors with a 13th place finish after posting a toss of 165-feet.
This season, the local product hailing from Le Center, Minnesota solidified her place as one of the track and field program’s most decorated hammer throwers with a second consecutive gold medal performance at the MIAC Championships. Weiers successfully defended her 2014 title with a winning toss of 168-feet 9-inches. She is Gustavus’s first MIAC Champion in the hammer throw since Tona Schmidtke ’04 captured the title in 2001. Weiers is also program’s first three-time All-Conference performer (hammer throw) since Kirstin Olinger ’96 and Jen Mull ’97 accomplished that feat in the mid-1990s. Not since Mull did it in 1995 and 1997 and Olinger in 1994 and 1996 has a Gustavus hammer thrower won an MIAC title twice.
With a school-record toss of 173-feet 11-inches recorded at the MSU, Mankato Twilight Meet on April 29, Weiers heads into the NCAA Championships with the 11th-ranked toss amongst the 22-athlete field.
Liz Weiers will compete in the prelims of the hammer throw on Friday at 3:00 p.m. (EST). Two flights will be held with the top nine moving on to the finals later in the day.
For more detailed information about the NCAA Championships, St. Lawrence University has set up a website detailing men’s and women’s qualifiers, a schedule of events, ticket information, maps, lodging information, and live broadcast links.