CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Queens University of Charlotte will field it's biggest national contingence yet with four athletes qualified for this weekend's NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The meet kicks of Friday and will be streamed live on the NCAA's website.
Friday will feature the preliminaries of both the men's mile and the men's 800-meters. Nelson Mwangi (Kenya, Nairobi School) will compete in the second of two heats in the 800-meters at 6:05pm MST. The top three in each heat and the next three fastest times from both heats will advance to Saturday's final at 4:40pm. Mwangi is ranked 10th in the event at 1:52.56.
Simon Stuetzel (Meinborn, Germany) also competes in preliminary qualifying in the men's Mile Run on Friday at 4:35pm. Steutzel is in the second heat as well with the top three in each heat and the next three fastest times moving on to Saturday's 3:40pm final. His 4:07.68 seeds him ninth.
Both Tanya Zeferjahn (Hesperia, Calif., Hesperia High School), the reigning NCAA outdoor 10,000-meter champion, and Meagan Nedlo (Mt. Pleasant, TX, Pittsburg, HS) will compete in Saturday's 5,000-meter final at 5:35pm. Zeferjahn is ranked second in the event with her 16:13.70 which is actually the fastest DII mark before it was converted for an oversized track. Nedlo is ranked eighth at 16:54.67.
The Royals have an impressive two-year tradition of success at the NCAA track championships having walked away with four national titles out of seven national qualifiers. Queens will be looking for its fifth national champion and All-American honors as the top eight in each event earn that designation.
Fans can view the action live at the NCAA's site http://www.ncaa.com/sports/c-itrack/champpage/c-itrack-div2-index.html