INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Seniors Steve Ambrosi, Timothy Layng and Abby Schaffer of the Moravian College indoor track & field teams have qualified to compete in the 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships being hosted by Grinnell (Iowa) College on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10.
The NCAA changed qualifying for 2012. Instead of automatic and provisional marks as had been used in the past, starting this winter, the top 13 men's times/distances and the top 15 women's times/distances in individual events and the top ten relay times for both genders on the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) list will compete at the NCAA meet.
Ambrosi, who is making his first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships, is tied for 11th in the 800-meter run entering the championships with a time of 1:53.17. That is a converted time from the 1:52.57 Ambrosi ran on the banked track at the New York City Armory on Saturday as he captured the 2012 ECAC Division III championship in the event. Ambrosi's preliminary race at the National Championship will be on Friday, March 9 at 6:35 p.m. CST. If he advances to the final, Ambrosi will run in the title race on Saturday, March 10 at 4:55 p.m. CST.
Layng is making his second straight trip to the NCAA Indoor meet after finishing tenth in 2011. Layng enters the competition tenth in the pole vault, clearing a school record height of 4.96 meters (16 feet, 3 ¼ inches) to win the Landmark Conference title in the event on February 25. Layng will complete in the pole vault on Friday starting at 4:00 p.m. CST.
Schaffer, who is the defending NCAA Division III National Champion both indoors and outdoors, enters the NCAA meet tied for second in the nation with a season best height of 4.01 meters (13 feet, 1 ¾ inches) that she cleared to win her second straight Landmark Conference title on February 25. Last March, Schaffer set the NCAA Division III meet record, clearing 4.17 meters (13 feet, 8 ¼ inches) to win her first national title. Schaffer will compete in the pole vault beginning at 12:00 p.m. CST on Friday, March 9.
