Two Ferris State Track Athletes To Race In D2 National Championships In West Michigan
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Big Rapids, Mich. - A pair of Ferris State University senior distance runners have been chosen to compete in the 2015 NCAA Division II Natiaonl Outdoor Track and Field Championships as the Bulldogs' Samantha Johnson (Troy) and Breeann Ovokaitys (Cedar Springs) were both selected for the national field announced late Tuesday.
Both Johnson and Ovokaitys will race in the 1,500 meters at the Division II nationals set to be held in West Michigan for the second consecutive year next Thursday thru Saturday, May 21-23, in Allendale. Grand Valley State and the West Michigan Sports Commission will host the D2 national meet at the GVSU Track & Field Complex with live streaming offered at NCAA.com.
Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event with the final selected participants chosen based on their performance marks.
A total of 20 runners will race in the prelims of the 1,500 meters and only 13 total seconds seperates the highly-competitive field. Johnson holds the nation's ninth-fastest entry time of 4:28.54 while Ovokaitys is 18th at 4:32.34 entering the championships.
The duo will compete in the prelims on day one Thursday (May 21) at 5:10 p.m. (ET) with the final round for those who advance on Saturday (May 23) beginning at 2:25 p.m. (ET). The top eight finishers in each event will claim All-America accolades.
Johnson was among the national provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in both the 800 meters and the 1500 meters. During the outdoor campaign, she's posted four first-place finishes in the distance events and placed among the top six finishers overall in all five meet appearances, which includes five top-two efforts. Earlier this year, Johnson received 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Track All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the mile run at the national meet on March 14 in Birmingham, Ala.
A GLIAC Commissioner's Award winner for Excellence a year ago, Johnson was chosen as the 2013 United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Midwest Region "Runner of the Year" and the 2013 GLIAC Cross Country "Athlete of the Year" for her efforts in cross country. She has been an all-conference pick multiple times and a multiple-time GLIAC All-Academic Team selection in her career. For her performance last year in 2013-14, Johnson was also chosen as a 2014 Capital One Academic All-America selection.
In her final season of cross country in the fall of 2013, Johnson won three cross country races, including the GLIAC and NCAA Midwest Regional titles while also winning the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational. She qualified individually for the NCAA Division II Championships where she placed fifth in the country and claimed All-America kudos. The veteran four-year letterwinner helped Ferris State to be ranked as one of the region's top 10 squads throughout her collegiate career and ranked nationally multiple times.
Meanwhile, Ovokaitys will race in the national outdoor championships for the second-straight year after finishing 18th overall in the prelims of the 1,500 meters a year ago with a clocking of 4:40.18 in Allendale. Last year represented her first appearance at the national championships. She previously earned All-America honors in 2014 at the Division II National Indoor Championships held in Winston-Salem, N.C., as a member of FSU's distance medley relay team that claimed All-America honors with a seventh-place national meet finish. She was also chosen as a 2014 USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region pick and has been a GLIAC All-Academic Team selection multiple times in her collegiate career.
Both Johnson and Ovokaitys earned all-conference accolades during the outdoor track campaign this year by finishing second and third, respectively, at the GLIAC meet held in Hillsdale (May 1).
The NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee announced the participants for the 2015 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. A total of 754 participants, 377 men and 377 women, will compete in the championships.
For more information on the NCAA-II Championships, please visit this link:
http://www.primetimetiming.com/liveresults/2015/ncaad2outdoor/