At the 2012 NAIA Championships, the UBC women’s track and field squad will be looking for a top ten finish in the team standings at the upcoming NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meet is being held at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana for the third consecutive year. Leading a deep squad into the 2012 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships are two freshmen: Maria Bernard and Devan Wiebe.

Maria Bernard will be the class of the field in the women’s 1,500m run. Currently ranked number #1 in the NAIA with her effort of 4:29.30 from the Mt. SAC Relays, the freshman will be looking to lay down a good run to secure her first championship podium performance of her college career. Furthermore, if things go smoothly, Bernard could put herself in a position to run the IAAF World Junior Championships standard of 4:28.00. The talented Calgary-native hopes to lead the way in introducing a resurgence of UBC women’s middle distance running. Maria will also take part in the 4x800m relay with teammates Mariah Robinson, Heather Slinn and Devan Wiebe. The relay team is ranked 12th, at 9:22.79 – a performance achieved at the Mt. SAC Relays (despite sitting out top 800m runner Devan Wiebe).

Devan Wiebe has a few things in common with Bernard. Just like her teammate, Wiebe will be looking to finish on top of the podium on Day 3 of championships. After running a personal best time of 2:10.57 by nearly 2 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford last month, the half-miler is poised for another breakthrough that could very well land her in the winners circle in Indiana. With her mind focused simply on smart racing tactics, a run that would book her ticket to the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona would be icing on the cake. As well, having chosen to skip out on the 4x800m in Mt. SAC – where the women qualified for NAIAs – Devan could very well be the key that leads the women’s 4x800m team onto the podium in Indiana.

The distance running depth of the women’s team does not stop at Wiebe and Bernard.

Sarah Reimer holds the #3 NAIA ranking in the half-marathon with her time of 1:21:31.00. She will run the full marathon and will be looking for a sub 3-hour performance.  Her teammates Lissa Zimmer and 2010 NAIA marathon silver medalist Nelly Amenyogbe, who battled injuries much of the spring, will join her on the starting line.

Heather Slinn comes into the championships with a #10 NAIA ranking in the 1,500m. The sophomore will be looking to qualify for the final in the metric mile in order to obtain valuable team points for the Thunderbirds.

Freshman Jackie Regan will make her second appearance on the national stage after an impressive performance in the fall at the NAIA Cross Country Championships. Regan is entered in the 5,000m run, and has run 17:43.26 this season, ranking her in the top-25.

Senior Anne-Mari Nano will make her final appearance at NAIAs in the 400m hurdles. The Victoria-native will be looking to run a new personal-best time.

Nano won’t be the only T-Bird jumping over barriers; Micha Gutmanis will take part in the 3,000m steeplechase.

On the field, Christine Ausman will be a threat in the javelin. The first-year has been steadily improving all season long. Her personal best toss of 42.36m ranks her #7 in the NAIA, putting her in the mix to earn some team points.

Lastly, one of the strongest T-Bird competitors lies in veteran jumper Erin Templeton. Templeton is no stranger to the big stage and will looking to take down some of the top dogs in the triple jump competition. Her jump of 11.79m ranks her #6 in the NAIA, and in points territory.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCORING

The top eight finishers in the finals of each event score points for their team in a descending order of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 from first to eighth. The points earned by each team are added together to determine the team standings at the conclusion of the meet.

T-BIRDS' WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

Note: all events are listed here in Pacific Standard Time (PST)

Thursday, May 24

W 1500M Trials 10:35am (Heather Slinn, Maria Bernard)

W Javelin Final 1:00pm (Christine Ausman)

W 800M Trials 1:10pm (Devan Wiebe)

W 400M Hurdles Trials 2:15pm (Anne-Mari Nano)

W 3200M Relay Trials 3:35pm (Slinn, Robinson, Wiebe, Bernard)

W Steeplechase Trials 4:30pm (Micha Gutmanis)

Friday, May 25

W 800m Semi 12:20pm (Devan Wiebe)

W Triple Jump Final 2:30pm (Erin Templeton)

W 3200M Relay Final 3:00pm (Slinn, Robinson, Wiebe, Bernard)

W 5000m Semi 3:40pm (Jackie Regan)

Saturday, May 26

W Marathon Final 3:00am (Sarah Reimer, Nelly Amenyogbe, and Lissa Zimmer)

W 3000m Steeplechase Final 11:00am (Micha Gutmanis)

W 1500M Final 12:00pm (Heather Slinn, Maria Bernard)

W 400M Hurdles Final 12:50pm (Anne-Mari Nano)

W 800m Final 1:30pm (Devan Wiebe)

W 5000m Final 2:10pm (Jackie Regan)

FURTHER INFORMATION

NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championship website: http://www.naia.org/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=27900&SPID=98897&SPSID=644848

Indiana Wesleyan University National Championship website: http://www.indwes.edu/naia/

Live scoring: http://www.naia.org/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=27900&SPID=100401&SPSID=648660

Complete schedule of events: http://www.indwes.edu/naia/Event-Schedule/

Follow UBC Track & Field (@ubctrack) and the NAIA (@Play_NAIA) on Twitter for live updates: https://twitter.com/#!/ubctrack https://twitter.com/#!/Play_NAIA