Harlow successfully defends high jump national championship, three Wheaton sprinters advance to Saturday's 400M finals

March 9, 2007

TERRE HAUTE, IN- Senior standout Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) successfully defended her high jump national title in day one of the 2007 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Entering the meet with the nation's highest jump of 5' 8 3/4", Harlow cleared 5' 7" to capture this afternoon's crown. In doing so, Harlow became Division III's first back-to-back high jump champion since Nebraska Wesleyan University's Kim Oden did so during the 1989 and 1990 seasons. Today's performance was just a half an inch taller than her closest competitor, as the top six finishers jumped 5' 5 1/4" or higher in the 15-athlete field.

Harlow's decorated indoor career now includes a pair of national championships and three All-America honors. She landed a height of 5' 7 3/4" to win the 2006 title as a junior and tied for fifth in 2005 with a jump of 5' 3 1/4". In addition to her field event, Harlow also qualified for the 55-meter hurdles, but a false start caused her to be disqualified.

On the track this afternoon was a quartet of 400-meter dash runners, including two for each the men and the women. Sophomore All-American Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and first-year Merzudin Ibric (Revere, MA/Phillips Academy) each advanced to tomorrow's finals, with Ibric running the day's fourth-fastest time of 49.37 and Cunha finishing third in his heat at 49.65.

Sophomore All-American Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) joined the men's tandem by qualifying for Saturday's women's finals with a time of 57.49. Freshman Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) raced to a 58.42 finish during her collegiate national championship debut.

Ezeigwe returns to the track on Saturday for the 400M finals at 2:45 p.m., while Cunha and Ibric will follow at 2:55 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., Ezeigwe, Thompson, sophomore Natana Jules (Brooklyn, NY/Boys and Girls) and freshman Kamia Smith (Cincinnati, OH/Cincinnati Country Day School) are slated to compete in the meet's final event, the 4x400-meter relay.

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