DC Places Five on Preseason Athletes to Watch List
GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Defiance College women’s track and field team received 77 total points in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason indoor track and field poll on Tuesday.
GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Defiance College women's track and field team received 77 total points in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason indoor track and field poll on Tuesday. The 77 points placed the Yellow Jackets in fourth place in the voting, one point behind Franklin. DC also had five members of its squad selected to the preseason athletes to watch list.
Placed atop the preseason poll was Hanover, which received 89 total votes including seven first place votes. Hanover is followed by Rose-Hulman (82), Franklin (78), Defiance (77) and Manchester (65). Rounding out positions six through ten are Anderson (50), Mount St. Joseph (45), Earlham (28), Bluffton (20) and Transylvania (16).
Two of the Jackets' five athletes to watch are seniors. Distance runner Ellen Stryffeler and sprinter/hurdler Marlea Rolander are set to lead the DC team in the upcoming season with strong performances.
Rolander is looking to build on her strong showing in last season's HCAC indoor championships. The senior placed fourth in the 55-meter dash, second in the 55-meter hurdles, and in the top 10 in the 200-meter dash. Rolander is the current record holder for Defiance in the 60-meter hurdles and second in the 55-meter hurdles.
Stryffeler enters the 2012 campaign coming off a solid cross-country season. The senior currently ranks in the top five of DC's indoor track record book for the 1-mile run, 3,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run.
Two juniors join Rolander and Stryffeler on the athletes to watch list for DC, who are pole-vaulter Katie Heitkamp and mid-distance runner Erika DeBos. Heitkamp is the Yellow Jacket pole-vault record holder and was a member of DC's second fastest 4x400-meter relay team. DeBos ranks in the top five of the 500-meter dash, 600-meter dash, 800-meter dash and 1-mile run, to go along with a number of other top 10 ranks in the record book.
The lone DC sophomore that was tabbed as an athlete to watch was jumper and sprinter Kali George. In last year's championships, George placed seventh overall in long jump and fourth in triple jump as a freshman. George was also a member of the fourth place 4x400-meter relay team.
The Yellow Jackets open up the 2012 campaign on Friday, January 20 at 6:00 p.m. in the Northwest Ohio Invitational. The invite will be held in Findlay, Ohio.