TWO FERRIS TRACK ATHLETES HEADED TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bulldog Senior Duo Will Compete At This Weekend's Meet In Minnesota

The final meet participants were announced recently by the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee. A total of 400 student-athletes qualified for the meet by reaching the automatic or provisional standards established for each event. Minnesota State-Mankato will serve as hosts of the championships. The top eight finishers in each event will earn All-America recognition.

Amy Woodman

Kamitra Carroll

Both Carroll and Woodman will represent the Bulldogs in two events each at the NCAA-II Championships.

Carroll will compete in both the shot put and weight throw competitions. In the weight throw, Carroll's best toss (57-7) this year is 10th of the 15 student-athletes slated to compete Friday (March 14) at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). Her seed mark (45-8) in the shot put is listed 13th overall of 15 throwers. The women's shot put will be held Saturday (March 15) at 12 p.m. (EDT). Carroll will throw in the first of two weight throw flights and will be involved in flight two of the shot put competition.

Meanwhile, Woodman has been chosen to take part in both the long jump and the 200 meters at the national meet. She holds the nation's top overall performance of 15 competitors in the long jump (19-10.75) going into Friday's event, which begins at 3:45 p.m. (EDT). The preliminary round of the 200 meters starts later the same evening at 7:31 p.m. (EDT) with Carroll maintaining the 21st-fastest time entering the meet. She'll be in the third of six preliminary heats. Saturday's event final starts at 5:43 p.m. (EDT).

Carroll previously earned 2007 NCAA-II Indoor All-America kudos in both the weight throw and shot put following her performances at the national indoor meet last year (3/9-10) in Boston, Mass. She claimed national runner-up honors in the weight throw last year during the opening day of action (3/9) with a best toss of 59-4 in the event. Carroll, who was FSU's lone participant a year ago in the NCAA-II Indoor Championships, then placed sixth overall in the shot put with a top toss of 46-5.50 on the final day (3/10).

In 2006, Carroll took ninth place overall among 18 throwers in the women's shot put at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships (May 26-27) on Emporia State's (Kan.) Zola Witten Track inside Fran Welch Stadium at Emporia, Kan. Her best toss of 46-4.75 fell one spot short of earning All-America accolades. During the 2005-06 season, Carroll was also named the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region Women's Indoor Field Event Athlete Of The Year as announced by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). She placed 11th overall in the shot put competition at the national indoor meet in 2006 with a toss of 45-2.50 in the final round of the event at Boston's Reggie Lewis Center.

Carroll surpassed national qualification marks while coming in fourth in the shot put (45-8) and sixth in the weight throw (57-7) among a field of high-caliber throwers at the 2008 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Indoor Championships held last week (Feb. 29-March 1) in Findlay, Ohio.

Woodman paced the FSU women's team by placing among the top eight finishers in four events at this year's GLIAC Championships. She captured All-GLIAC honors with a third-place finish in the long jump (18-3.25) and also placed fifth in the 55 meters (7.40), sixth in the 200 meters (25.89) along with sixth in the triple jump (34-9.50).

Woodman, who is in her first season with FSU after transferring from the University of Wales, posted a school-record leap of 19-10.75 in the long jump earlier this year at the Eastern Michigan Classic (Feb. 16) in Ypsilanti, Mich. Woodman claimed first place at the meet in a field of 34 jumpers, which included a number of student-athletes from NCAA Division I schools such as Michigan, Michigan State, Western Michigan and Central Michigan. Her record-breaking mark bettered the second-place performance by 11 inches at the EMU Classic.

Entering the national meet, Woodman's 19-10.75 effort in the long jump is six inches better than the second-place individual on the NCAA-II listing, which happens to be Kirby Blackley of fellow GLIAC member Findlay.

The Bulldog women's indoor track and field team finished fifth with 53 points at last weekend's GLIAC Indoor Championships.

Nationally, the Bulldog women's squad is currently ranked 29th in the latest United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II Coaches Power Rankings. FSU is one of six GLIAC schools listed in the national top 30 rankings on the women's side.

Portions of this weekend's Division II Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships will be available via broadband videostreaming on the Division II/CSTV Web site (http://www.cstv.com/ncaa/divii). Nine hours of coverage will be provided each day of the championships using three cameras, two stationed outside the track and another mobile camera dedicated to field events. Coverage will be devoted primarily to the event finals during times when events overlap.

More information on the NCAA-II Championships can be found at this link:
NCAA-II Championships Website