National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

Division III

Lincoln (Pennsylvania) trying to make a habit of landing in winners' circle

Event: 1997 Division III Men's Indoor Track Championships.

Overview: In the early 1990s, it seemed that Lincoln (Pennsylvania) would always have to settle for second place. Three times in three years (1991 through 1993), the Lions came close to winning the team title but were runners-up behind champion Wisconsin-La Crosse. That changed when the Lions won the championship in 1995, and now they are forcing other teams to settle for second. As two-time defending champion, Lincoln returns a group of experienced and talented performers in its latest championship bid. A quartet of 400-meter run performers -- Anthony Julien, Eric Schmidt, Robert Woolbright and Larry Lyerly -- lead the Lions' title defense. Joining the quartet are Andre Bogle (800-meter run), Tyrone Watkins (55-meter hurdles), Alonzo Wiggins (55-meter hurdles) and Thomas Thompson (long jump and high jump). Julien, Woolbright and Schmidt also team with Altariq Suber to form the squad's 1,600-meter relay team ... Challengers looking to end the Lions' title reign include Mount Union, six-time champion Wisconsin-La Crosse, and Wisconsin-Stout, which showcases sprint standout Terry Anders ... Mount Union, runner-up in 1996, is led by Shawn Watson, the defending long-jump and triple-jump champion. Mount Union also hopes to get points from Brian Clymer (pole vault), David Cooper (1,500-meter run) and Eugene Kornilov (800-meter run) ... Wisconsin-La Crosse will look to Brad Wilson (1,500-meter run), David Whiteis (400-meter dash) and Travis Horstman (triple jump) ... Anders, striving to become the first Division III men's competitor to win three consecutive 400-meter dash crowns, carries Wisconsin-Stout's hopes for victory on his shoulders. Wisconsin-Stout will also look to Aaron Fruit (pole vault) and its top-rated (through February 11) 1,600-meter relay team of Michael Hallingstad, Jesse Witcraft, John Boldt and Anders.

Field: A maximum of 158 student-athletes will qualify for the championships.

Dates and site: March 7-8 at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1584 for dates/site/schedule, 5272 for qualifiers, 5273 for first-day results, 5274 for second-day results and 5275 for final results only. Championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Results will be published in the March 17 issue of The NCAA News.

Championships notes: Haverford's Karl Paranya is vying to become the first Division III men's competitor to win three titles in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs ... Ambo Bati of Augustana (Illinois) hopes to join Gary Wasserman of Nebraska Wesleyan (1991 through 1993) as the only competitors to win three consecutive 5,000-meter run crowns.