Jasper, Deininger To Compete At NCAA Outdoor Championships

Women's Outdoor Track Leaps Into Top 30 In USTFCCCA National Composite Index  | Jasper Highlighted In Wednesday's Brockton Enterprise

Worcester, MA --- Junior Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) and senior Christy Deininger (N. Attleboro, MA) have both been chosen to participate in this week's NCAA Division III Track & Field Outdoor Championships as announced by the selection committee on Sunday morning.

Both were tabbed to the field for finishing their outdoor campaigns among the top 22 times, distances, heights and point totals in each of their respective events. The meet will run from Thursday, May 22 through Saturday, May 24.

Jasper has qualified in two events as the seventh seed in both the open javelin and the heptathlon while Deininger earned the top seed in the 100 meter hurdles.

Deininger gets one last crack at going for All-American accolades in the 100 meter hurdles as she has come close in each of the last two outdoor campaigns. Competing at the National meet as a sophomore she tied a school record with 18th place (14.57) before she reset her own standard as a junior last season in 14th place (14.46). 

To wrap up an outstanding senior year, Deininger has come out with a vengeance, running the fastest times she has ever sprinted to at Worcester State dropping a 14.37 for third place at the Open New England Championships two weeks ago as the only Division III athlete in the field that included five Division I student-athletes.

Last Saturday, Deininger solidified the top seed entering this week's championships with a blistering time of 14.08, which is the best time nationally as she became WSU's eighth female ECAC Division III Champion in the 100 meter hurdles.

The field of 22 includes four returning All-Americans while the New England competitors include senior classmates Jacqueline Brew (Amherst, NH) (seeded sixth) and Jaclyn Konopka (Norvi, MI) of MIT (seeded 17th).

The preliminary round of the 100 meter hurdles will take place on Friday at 6:30 PM EST with Deininger in lane one of the first heat with the finals at 2:25 PM EST on Saturday.

Deininger also has experience competing on the national stage as she was the lead leg on 4x100 relay teams in each of the last two years while she also placed 15th in the 60 meter hurdles (8.94 at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Jasper will try to place for the first time after falling short in the open javelin in each of the last two years. As a freshman, she finished 15th overall (131-9/40.15m) before taking 12th in last year's Outdoor Championship competition (131-3/40.01m).

With the seventh longest throw in the event in Division III this season, she successfully defended her Division III New England Championship crown with a heave of 143-11 (43.88m).

The event features six returning All-Americans, four of whom are seeded among the top 10, highlighted by last year's National Runner-Up, sophomore Kerry Wright (Beverton, OR) of Whitworth as the first seed and sophomore Allie Hadley (Bothell, WA) of Cal Lutheran, who is seeded second.

New England regional representatives include junior Lauren Pincus (Upper Montclair, NJ) of Middlebury (11th seed), junior Tilly Taylor (S. Deerfield, MA) of MIT (17th seed) and senior Leigh Fryxell (Simsbury, CT) of Colby (22nd seed).

The open javelin kicks off all events at 12 PM EST on Saturday.

Jasper also competes in the heptathlon at the Outdoor Championships for the first time in her career.

She starts off her run in a field of 22 entrants on Thursday at noon beginning with the 100 meter hurdles followed by the high jump, shot put and 200 meters, 30 minutes after each heptathlon event finishes. On Friday, with a 1 PM start, she will finish the competition with the long jump, javelin and 800.

Jasper put up the seventh highest point total nationally in the heptathlon when she rewrote an eight-year mark, taking home top honors in the heptathlon at the Division III New England Championships three weeks ago with 4,741 points. She was just 108 off resetting four-time WSU All-American Elke Aun's school mark, who won the institutions only women's National Championship in 1996 Heptathlon.

The heptathlon field is highlighted by defending National Champion, senior Elizabeth Krug (Herber Springs, AR) of Hendrix (seeded 11th – 4,539 points) and sophomore Amelia Campbell (Sturgeon Bay, WI) of Carleton, who put up the third-highest total in Division III history for the top seed (5,132 points) the same exact week that Jasper had her double win at the New England Championships.

Jasper is joined by senior Abigail Bishop (Hancock, MA) of Coast Guard (12th seed) and senior Addison Carvajal (Seattle, WA) of Bowdoin (18th seed) who are also representing New England institutions. 

NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Championship Accepted Entries

Photo Below (Left to Right): Christy Deininger and Alyssa Jasper, Courtesy of Ken Deininger

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