NCAA Division III Indoor Championships Website

Birmingham, Ala. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's track and field team is tied for the lead after the first day of action Friday at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex. The Eagles have 19.0 team points, tied for the lead with the University of Chicago (Ill.) and Loras College (Iowa). 

Washington University-St. Louis (Mo.) is in fourth-place with 17.0 points while Williams College (Mass.) and Ithaca College (N.Y.) are tied for fifth with 16.0. Johns Hopkins University (Md.) is in seventh (14.0) while The College of St. Benedict (Minn.), UW-Whitewater and Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) are tied for eighth (10.0). A total of 34 teams scored points on Friday. 

Birmingham-Southern College and City of Birmingham are serving as hosts of the championships. 
 

UWL's Skye Digman captured the national crown in the weight throw (62-11 1/2) on Friday, her second career indoor NCAA III title. She won the shot put last season. Digman is the second thrower in school history to win the NCAA III Championship in the weight throw, joining Patti Franckowiak who took the crown in 1998 and 1999. 

Ashley O'Connell and Araceli De Leo Lopez earned All-America honors in the pole vault on Friday with O'Connell finishing fourth (12-7 1/2) and De Leo Lopez seventh (12-7 1/2). It is O'Connell's second All-America award in the pole vault after finishing seventh last season. 

The Eagles' distance medley relay also earned NCAA III All-America accolades on Friday, placing seventh overall (11:50.10) with Julia Anderson, Melanie Kunze, Greta Koehler and Emma Malooly. It is the second career award for Malooly who was a member of UWL's sixth-place distance medley relay last season. 

Skylar White placed 13th (3,362 points) in the pentathlon on Friday, competing in the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800-meter run.

UWL's Maddie Hansen placed 20th (16-5 3/4) in Friday's long jump.  

In preliminary track action, UWL's Emma Lawrence qualified for Saturday's 60-meter hurdles final after finishing with the fourth-fastest time (8.52) on Friday. Brooke McDowell failed to advance to Saturday's final after running 8.78 in the preliminaries.  Lawrence also advanced to the 200-meter dash final scheduled for Saturday with the fifth-fastest time (24.70) in Friday's preliminaries. 

Lauren Jarrett advanced in the 60-meter dash. She recorded the second-fastest qualifying time (7.59) in Friday's preliminaries. Jarrett set a school record in the 60-meter dash, breaking Savannah Rygiewicz' record of 7.62 set in 2019 and 2020.

Emily Dawidowich (24.91) and Jarrett (24.96) failed to advance to Saturday's 200-meter dash. 

The Eagles' Maddie Hannan posted the fourth-fastest time (4:52.84) in Friday's mile run to advance to Saturday's final. Hannan broke her school record of 4:55.78 set earlier this year.

UWL's 4x400-meter relay of Mara Schroeder, Morgan Jennings, Dawidowich and Lawrence finished with the second-fastest time (3:47.85) in the 4x400-meter relay to qualify for Saturday's final. 

UWL is seeking its second NCAA Division III indoor title after capturing the championship in 2015. The Eagles have finished runner-up six times (1993, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2014, 2022) at the indoor national championships. 

 Action continues Saturday, March 11 at 10:40 a.m.