Men's Accepted Entries  |  Women's Accepted Entries  |  Meet Schedule

INDIANAPOLIS – Slippery Rock University track and field standouts Dalton Anderson, John Eakin, Trinity Clark and Cecily Greggs were accepted into the NCAA Division II National Championships when the NCAA announced the field for the 2022 Outdoor Track and Field National Championships Tuesday evening.
 
All four of The Rock's selections will compete at the national meet on the final day of the three-day competition May 26-28 when they compete Saturday, May 28 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.
 
Clark will be making her second straight appearance at the Division II National Championships and is looking for a second straight All-America finish. Greggs will be making her outdoor debut at nationals, but is coming off an All-America finish at the indoor national meet back in March. Both Anderson and Eakin will be making their Division II debut at the national meet.
 
The NCAA did away with the automatic standard this year at the Division II level and only had a provisional standard this spring. All athletes that met the provisional standard could declare their intent to compete. From there, the NCAA selected the final list of participants, choosing anywhere from 19 to 24 athletes from the descending order list to compete in all individual events.
 
The top eight finishers at nationals will earn first team All-America honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), while finishers 9-12 will be named to second team All-America honors.
 
Anderson will be the first SRU athlete to compete next Saturday when the men's javelin finals begin at 10:30 a.m. He enters the competition seeded seventh in a field of 19 entries with a career-best effort of 66.85 meters. The top seed in the event, Laurenz Waldbauer of Northwest Nazarene, has a mark of 72.38 meters.
 
Clark will be the next SRU athlete to compete when the women's javelin begins at 1:30 p.m. After finishing 10th last spring, Clark is looking to repeat as an All-America selection. She enters the competition seeded third with a season-best throw of 49.55 meters. The top seed in the event is Texas A&M Commerce's Candesha Scott at 51.09 meters.
 
Shortly after the women's javelin begins, Greggs will open the high jump competition at 2:05 p.m. She earned second team All-America honors at the indoor championships in March and will be looking to close her career as a two-time All-American. She enters the meet tied for 10th in Division II with a season-best clearance of 1.73 meters. The top seeds in the event are Lucy Walker from Queens (N.C.) and Josie Coffey from Colorado Mesa at 1.81 meters.
 
Eakin will be the final SRU athlete to compete when the men's shot put goes off at 3 p.m. Fresh off setting the SRU program record at 17.95 meters last week, Eakin will enter his first national meet seeded No. 13. The top seed in the event is Southern Connecticut State's Turner Kelly at 19.67 meters.
 
Slippery Rock narrowly missed out on a few other athletes earning a trip to the national meet this year. Senior multi-event specialist Jason Goodman was No. 18 on the national list in the decathlon with a mark of 6,791 points, but the field was capped at 15 entries with a cutoff of 6,901 points. Jena Reinheimer was No. 27 on the national list in the discus at 46.43 meters, but the field was capped at 21 entries with a cutoff of 46.93 meters. The final narrow miss came from javelin thrower Skylar Sherry, who was No. 26 on the national list at 44.11 meters. The javelin field was cut at 21 entries with a cutoff mark of 44.75 meters.
 
The National Championships will mark the final competition in the career of legendary Slippery Rock head coach John Papa, who will retire June 3 after serving 35 years as the head coach at SRU. Earlier Tuesday, The Rock announced that longtime assistant coach Bill Jordan will take over as head coach in June when Papa retires.
 
A full meet preview, including live coverage links, will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com next week before the National Championships.
 
 
 
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