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RELEASE DATE: 5/12//08
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Chris
Cummings, Ryan Detwiler and Mike Gray earn trip to NCAA Division II Outdoor
Track and Field National Championship
MANSFIELD – Chris Cummings
(Mansfield/Mansfield), Ryan Detwiler (Liberty/Liberty) and Mike
Gray (Elmira,NY/Horseheads) have all qualified for berths at the NCAA
Division II National Championship later this month at Walnut Creek, CA.
“It’s quite a personal and team
achievement,” said head men’s track and field coach Mike Rohl.
“Mansfield’s never had three national qualifiers from the same team and all
three are capable of earning All-American honors. “
Only two other schools in the 14-member
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) have more national qualifiers than
Mansfield.
 Cummings
is no stranger to the NCAA Championships. A graduate student, Cummings has
already run at the Cross Country and Indoor National Championships this year and
is making his third trip to the outdoor National Championship.
Cummings ran the 5,000 meters at the
2005 National Championship in Texas and finished second in the 1,500 meters in
2006 held in Kansas. He finished second in the mile run at this year’s Indoor
National Championship in Minnesota. His automatic qualifying time of 3:48.14 at
the Bison Invitational at Bucknell University is the 6th best among
the field at the National Championship.
Cummings will compete in the 1,500
meters again this year where he has the sixth best time among the qualifiers at
this year’s championship.
Detwiler could be the most surprising
story of the National Championship. A sophomore, Detwiler had never high jumped
at
any level until nine weeks ago when he was spotted by Coach Rohl playing
basketball in Kelchner Center during an indoor track practice.
A quick learner, Detwiler first tied and
then broke the school high jumper record with a leap of 6-9 ¾ at Cornell
University three weeks ago. He ranks 10th among the qualifiers for
the National Championship.
Just a sophomore, Mike Gray is making
his first trip to the National Outdoor Championship after winning the discus at
the PSAC Championship two weeks ago. Gray broke his own school record last week
at the Gator Invitational with a toss of 176-10 (53-91 meters) and is ranked
eighth among National Championship qualifiers.
The 2008 NCAA Division II National
Outdoor Track and Field Championship will be held May 22-24.
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