SPORTS STORIES:
SPORTS INFORMATION—2009
THREE SPARTANS HEAD TO NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS...
CLEVELAND, OH (May 18, 2009) - The Case Western Reserve University track and field program will be well represented at the 2009 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships held at Marietta College May 21-23. The Spartans will travel three student-athletes to southern Ohio – two veterans and one rookie.
“If I take one more kid every year we are headed in the right direction,” said second-year Head Coach Steve Rubin, who took two Spartans to last year’s championships. “When kids go to nationals it reflects well on the program in general. This is where we want to be, we want to be conference champions and we want to be a Top 10 national team.”
Case Western Reserve senior thrower Elizabeth Ehrke (Pewaukee, WI) will make her second trip to the outdoor nationals, junior decathlete Obinna Nwanna (Maumee, OH) makes his second outdoor appearance, third overall as he qualified for nationals this past indoor season, and freshman jumper Erin Hollinger (Chardon, OH) will head to the big meet for the first time in her young career.
At the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, despite the heavy winds, Ehrke finished eighth-of-19 competitors, earning All-America [discus] status. Her showing made her the first All-American in outdoor track and field at Case Western Reserve in over a decade. She will participate in both the discus and hammer throw this weekend. Click here to see the participants in the discus and the hammer. Click here to watch a recent video story done on Ehrke and click here to hear a podcast done with Elizabeth this week.
“It was tough last year [2008] when Elizabeth did not qualify for Nationals,” Rubin explained. “It was disappointing for not only her but for me as well. Her qualifying in two events this year makes up for that in a way. It feels good, because she works really hard and is such a great girl. It’s nice to see her rewarded for it.” 
Nwanna, an All-UAA honoree in multiple events became an All-American just a few months [March] ago by tallying 3,627 points in the five pentathlon events at Indoor Nationals. That performance placed him fourth among the 12 athletes competing. His next trip to Nationals in the decathlon wasn’t as easy as Rubin thought it would be. Click here to see the participants in Nwanna's event. Click here to watch a recent video story done on Nwanna.
“The plan was to get an automatic qualifying time a week and a half after his All-America performance at indoors,” Rubin explained. “We were trying to ride out his peak, but he hadn’t thrown the discus or the javelin nearly enough and wasn’t ready for some of the distance running. There was a lot of pressure on him last week at the last chance meet, but he got it [automatic qualifying mark].”
Hollinger placed second in the high jump at the 2009 University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships just a week after completing her first varsity basketball season for the Spartans. It was her first collegiate track meet. She then recorded a provisional mark [1.66m] while winning a 2009 UAA outdoor high jump championship. Click here to see the participants in the high jump. Click here to read a recent feature written on Hollinger.
“The beautiful thing about Erin was she never wavered,” Rubin explained. “She is very passionate about everything she does and is a go getter. She came to me before basketball season ended and said she wanted to jump. It was ironic that we were up at North Central’s last chance meet with Obi and Elizabeth struggling to get the marks with two All-Americans, while Erin, the rookie, sat at home relaxing.”
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