2023 NCAA Division III Championships Website

Pittsford, N.Y. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's track & field team is in 13th-place after the first day of action Thursday night at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Outdoor Championships at Polisseni Track and Field Complex.  The championships are being hosted by St. John Fisher University (N.Y.) and Visit Rochester.

The Eagles have 7.0 team points while Tufts University (Mass.) leads with 14.0 and Loras College (Iowa) is second with 12.0. Nebraska Wesleyan University and Wartburg College (Iowa) are tied for third with 11.0. 

A pair of UWL student-athletes earned NCAA III All-America honors on Thursday with Skye Digman finishing third in the discus throw (159-8) and Ainsley Hansen eighth in the high jump (5-5 1/4). It is Digman's seventh career NCAA Divisoin III Outdoor All-America accolade, including third in the discus. She captured the national title in 2022 after placing seventh in 2021. 

Hansen earned her first career All-America award with her eighth-place finish in the high jump. 

In other field event finishes, Gabby Johnson placed 14th in the javelin throw (128-2) while Macie Todd was 16th in the high jump (5-3 1/4). 

After four events in the heptathlon, UWL's Allison Anderson is in 15th-place with 2,644 points while Skylar White is in 20th-place with 2,607. Athletes competed in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash on Thursday. The heptathlon continues Friday, May 26 with the long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run. 

In preliminary action on the track Thursday, UWL advanced both of its relays to Saturday's finals. The 4x100-meter relay of Bella Seitz, Lauren Jarrett, Emma Lawrence and Emily Dawidowich recorded the second-fastest time at 46.23. The Eagles' 4x400-meter relay of Lilly Halvorson, Amber Johnson, Morgan Jennings and Dawidowich also qualified for the finals with Friday's preliminary time of 3:47.60.  The 4x100-meter relay is scheduled for Saturday, May 27 at 12:15 p.m. while the 4x400-meter relay is May 27 at 4 p.m. 

Lawrence qualified in the 400-meter hurdles preliminaries with a school record time of 59.03. She broke her own school record of 59.62 set last week at the UWL Qualifier. This year's 400-meter hurdles final is May 27 at 2:25 p.m. Lawrence had the second-fastest time in Friday's preliminaries. UWL's Melanie Kunze (1:01.80) and Brooke McDowell (1:01.86) failed to advance to the final on Saturday. 

Jarrett (24.09) moved onto the finals in the 200-meter dash on Thursday, recording the fastest-time in the preliminaries. The final is set for Saturday at 2:50 p.m. Dawidowich failed to advance to the finals with a time of 24.66.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a pair of UWL runners advanced to Saturday's final at 11:45 a.m. Emma Malooly (10:32.86) and Maddy Vantassel (10:44.71) will both run in the finals. The Eagles' Katelyn Chadwick (11:02.89) did not advance to the finals. 

Action continues Friday, May 26 at 10:30 a.m.