May 19, 2011
Jorgensen, Martin, Anderson
The Vanderbilt track and field team will be sending six athletes to the NCAA East Regional Preliminary Championships. The meet will take place at May 26-28.
The six Commodores that qualified for the East Preliminary are Rita Jorgensen, Jordan White, Alexa Rogers, Liz Anderson, Meagan Martin and Katherine Hendricks.
Although this is Jorgensen’s fourth consecutive year qualifying for the NCAA Preliminary, this is the first year she will compete in the 800-meter race. She qualified for the event after breaking a 13-year school record with a time of 2:05.54.
White and Rogers will both compete in the 1500-meter race. White qualified with a time of 4:25.58, while Rogers’ time of 4:26.54 that she ran at the SEC Championships was fast enough for her to qualify.
Anderson will compete in the 5000-meter race after qualifying with a time of 16:37.21.
“It’s great to see Vanderbilt qualify six athletes,” said distance coach Steve Keith. “Everyone is fit and ready to go, as all of these athletes performed well at the SEC meet last weekend. Rita is very excited to have some distance running company, and it’s great to see the vaulters get another chance and improving their school record yet again.”
Competing in the pole vault, Martin and Hendricks both set school records multiple times this year, and currently share the record with a height of 12’8″. which was set at the SEC Championships.
“It’s nice to see our shared school record holders getting to the national meet,” said jumps coach Clark Humphreys. “They are very deserving and have worked hard all year for the honor.”
The top 48 athletes in each region – East and West – of the country will compete at the preliminary round. The top 12 finishers in an event at each regional preliminary will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will be held June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Hendricks, White, Rogers
