1 out of 3 Hoosiers reach NCAAs

Three Hoosiers attempted to qualify for the NCAA Indoor championships one last time, but only one succeeded. \nSophomore Lorian Price and juniors Kelly Siefker and Larra Overton all competed in the Alex Wilson "Last Chance" meet held at Notre Dame this past weekend, but only Overton will be moving on. \nOverton placed third in the 800-meter dash for a provisional qualifying time of 2:08.22, with the standard time being 2:09. \nSixteen runners compete in each event at the NCAA Championship, and Overton's provisional mark currently places 22nd among all NCAA qualifiers. If spots in the particular event are still open after all of the automatic qualifying athletes are seeded, the remaining spots go to the provisional qualifiers. "I am so excited to have the opportunity to race again," Overton said, "The track we will race at is 320 meters instead of the usual 200 meters, which means faster times. In other meets it's been more for place instead of time to get a good team score, but at nationals you can go all out and get your fastest time."\nPrice placed eighth in the long jump with a final jump of 5.94 meters, but did not make the provisional qualifying distance of 6.20 meters.\nHowever, Price will compete at the NCAAs in another event. Price qualified for the national championships in the 60-meter hurdles when she ran 8.31 at the Big Ten Championships, which passed the provisional standard of 8.43. \nSiefker finished 12th in the one-mile run with a time of 4:50 -- just a little over three seconds shy of the provisional standard time of 4:47.00.\n"I just wanted a fast race," Siefker said, "But it didn't go the way I wanted it to. I just wanted to (run a personal record), not necessarily go on to nationals."\nRegardless of outcomes, Siefker said that competing at the Last Chance meet was a great experience and a confidence booster for IU's outdoor season.\n"Ending on the note I did, I have a lot of confidence going into the outdoor season," Siefker said. \n-- Contact Staff Writer John Fischer at jbfische@indiana.edu.