April 12, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Sophomore Olga Cronin (Cork, Ireland) has become the first Western Kentucky University athlete this season to qualify for the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, it was confirmed Thursday afternoon.
Cronin posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 10:59.89 to win the 3,000-meter steeplechase April 7 at the Cardinal Challenge in Louisville, Ky. Her time was more than 10 seconds better than the NCAA minimum provisional standard of 11:10, and it was the 31st-fastest time in the country this season. It also places Cronin under consideration to compete in the NCAA meet, which will be held May 30-June 2 at legendary Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore.
Under NCAA track and field rules, if the field for a particular championship event is not completely filled with automatic qualifiers, athletes with the next fastest provisional times will be permitted to enter the race.
The Western men's and women's track teams will be back in action this weekend with a pair of meets. A split WKU squad began competing Thursday afternoon in the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn. That meet will continue through Saturday. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Hilltopper and Lady Topper teams will head to Tallahassee, Fla., Saturday for a quadrangular meet with Florida State, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman.
