Editor's Note: This article was written on 2/24/2024.  

A small Shippensburg University´s track-and-field team travelled to the Fastrack Last Chance Qualifier in Staten Island, New York, on Friday, Feb. 23, in the hopes to improve the athletes’ seeding in the National Division II ranking.

Eight athletes competed at the meet. All of them have hit a provisional NCAA qualifying mark throughout the season and were looking to improve their marks to secure a spot at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships. Athletes must hit the provisional mark and be in the Top 16 of Division II to qualify for the national meet.

The highlight performance of the team was Drew Dailey´s 800-meter run. Dailey, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Champion in the event, ran a time of 1:50.28. His time was within a second of his personal best and the old conference record of 1:49.49, which was broken at the same meet by Noah Bernarding from California University (Pa.).

Head Coach Dave Osanitsch sees Dailey´s chances to qualify for the NCAA meet good, saying, “Drew Dailey’s performance in the 800 will give him an excellent shot to qualify for the NCAA Championships.”

As of Sunday evening, Dailey sits in 14th place and would be qualified.

Osanitsch said he was overall “very pleased” with his athletes’ performances and mentioned that other athletes had strong performances as well.

Sasha Lee had one of those strong performances with a lifetime best in the triple jump of 12.11 meters (39 feet, 8 three-fourths inches). Lee improved her ranking in the nation but not by enough to be in the Top 16.

Leah Graybill finished the 200-meter dash in 24.48 seconds and was unable to improve her season-best mark but can still hope to make it to the national meet.

The preparation for the meet was challenging, as the team just finished the PSAC Championships on Monday before competing in Staten Island on Friday. The coaches tried to prepare the athletes as good as possible for the latest meet, according to Osanitsch.

“It was of course challenging,” Osanitsch said. “We did our best to have some recovery and activation built in.”

Osanitsch sees a good chance for multiple athletes to qualify for nationals, but it depends on the pending results from many championship meets around the country this weekend.

For the athletes who did not qualify for the national meet, the indoor season is over. They now have a block of training coming up before the start of the outdoor season after spring break.

“We have a great four-week cycle for training now until the first outdoor meet,” Osanitsch said. “We plan to ramp up training during this periodization.”

According to Osanitsch, the goal for the outdoor season is to win the PSAC Championship with both teams. Osanitsch said, “I feel both programs are built for the outdoor season, so we will do everything we can to be ready to host the PSAC Outdoor Championships the first week in May here at Shippensburg U.”

The track-and-field teams ended their indoor season with the Fastrack Last Chance Qualifier, except for a few athletes who might qualify for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships. The championship meet will be held at Pittsburg State University in Kansas on March 8 and March 9. After that, the outdoor season will start on March 22 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

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