NCAA Division III National Outdoor Championships
BEREA, OHIO -- Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets are two seniors Eric Schmuhl (Medina/ Senior) in the 110-meter hurdles and Jon Shoffstall (Lakeville / Indian Lake) in the discus and hammer throws.
This will be the second trip to the national meet for Schmuhl, who ran the 2004 national meet in the 400-meter hurdles but did not reach the finals. This season, Schmuhl earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors in the 55-meter, 110-meter and the 400-meter hurdles and All-Ohio Division III honors in the 400-meter hurdles. Schmuhl enters the meet ranked 10th in Division III with a best time of 14.61 seconds.
Shoffstall, the current school record-holder in the discus with a throw of 170-feet and six inches and hammer at 181'8", is qualified automatically in both events. Entering the meet, he is ranked seventh in the discus and 13th in the hammer (180'7"). A year ago, Shoffstall qualified provisionally for both events but did not meet the final meet standard. So far this season, he has claimed an individual title at the All-Ohio Division III Meet in the hammer and at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Meet in the discus. All three years at B-W, Shoffstall earned All-Ohio in the hammer and discus. The past two years, he has earned All-OAC honors in both events. Shoffstall transferred to B-W after spending his freshman year at Hillsdale (Mich.) College.
In addition to Schmuhl and Shoffstall, sophomore Kara Weaver (Myrtle Creek, Ore. / South Umpqua) will compete in the long jump, freshman Jim Roy (West Simsbury, Conn./ Simsbury) in the javelin and freshman Kristen Paulsen (Oberlin / Firelands) in the seven-event women's heptathlon.
For Weaver, the current school record-holder in the long jump at 19' 1.25", it is her second trip to the national meet in her first year at B-W. The Columbia (N.Y.) University transfer earned NCAA Division III All-American accolades this winter with an eighth place showing at the 2005 NCAA Division III Indoor National Meet in March in Bloomington, Illinois. She enters the outdoor championship meet ranked in a tie for fifth. Weaver's career-best long jump is 19'4.5" and is a Columbia school-record.
Even though it will be the first trip for both Roy and Paulsen, each has proven they belong in Waverly and at the national meet and will be forces to contend with in the future.
Roy qualified for nationals at very first meet of the outdoor season at the Disney Relay Meet in Orlando, Florida and has continually improved his mark all spring. Roy, the All-Ohio Division III and OAC champion in the javelin, enters the meet ranked seventh in Division III with a career-best throw of 200'5".
Paulsen is competing in her first year as a heptathlete and has improved her score by 569 points over the course of the season. She enters the meet ranked 13th overall with a score of 4,449 points. An outstanding hurdler, Paulsen also provisionally qualifed for the national meet indoors in the 55-meter hurdles and outdoors in the 100-meter hurdles but did not make the final cut.
Paulsen will begin the performances by the Yellow Jacket contigent on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. noon CST. when she competes first in the 100 meter hurdles. Other first day events in the women's heptathlon are the high jump, shot put and 200 meter dash. In addition on Thursday, Shoffstall will compete in the discus finals at 1:00 p.m. CST and Weaver in the long jump at 5:00 p.m. CST.
On the second day (Friday), Paulsen will complete competition in the heptathlon when she competes in the long jump, javelin and 800 meter run. The long jump begins at noon CST and is followed by the javelin and 800 eters. In addition, Schmuhl will run in his qualifying heat of the 110-meter high hurdles at 4:20 p.m. CST.
On the final day (Saturday), Shoffstall will compete in the hammer at 11:00 a.m. CST. With a qualifying time on Friday, Schmuhl will run in the 110-meter hurdle finals at 1:45 p.m. CST. Roy will end Yellow Jacket participation when he throws the javelin at 2:00 p.m. CST.
FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu.
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