Kristen Galligan Earns NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship Invite
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Washington & Jefferson College sophomore Kristen Galligan (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) has qualified to compete in the 2013 NCAA Division III Indoor 5,000-meter track race at North Central College’s Al B. Carius Track in Naperville, Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
Galligan will run the 5,000-meter event at 4:40 pm (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday. Galligan earned her spot in the national championship field after posting a career-best and school-record indoor time of 17:04.75 on Friday night during her ECAC Division III championship victory at The Armory in New York City. That time was the eighth-best mark in NCAA Division III this winter.
Galligan will be one of 15 runners in the national championship field. Wisconsin-Whitewater junior Christy Cazzola owns the nation’s top time at 16:40.52. Cazzola won the cross country national championship in November.
Galligan becomes the third Washington & Jefferson College female student-athlete to compete at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship in history, joining Kelli Gee ’06 (2005) and Summer Baumgard Spencer ’10 (2008 and 2009).
During the fall season, Galligan became the first cross country runner (male or female) to earn NCAA All-America honors after claiming 12th place at the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships. Eleven of the 15 competitors for the indoor 5,000-meter championship placed among the top 35 finishers at the NCAA cross country race.
W&J will have a student-athlete at the national indoor track & field championships for the second consecutive season as Taylor Hockman ’12 participated last year in the men’s long jump.
Washington & Jefferson College is led by second-year Head Coach Shawn Marek.
