MARIETTA, Ohio — It was a busy weekend for the Marietta College track & field athletes that have remained on campus with the goal of competing at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship, which will take place May 21-23 in Marietta, Ohio. Pioneers traveled to three different meets in three separate states over the course of Friday (May 8) and Saturday (May 9). When the results were posted, Marietta had achieved four more NCAA provisional qualifying marks, increasing its team total to seven qualifiers.

The Women's 4x400m Relay, which featured a new lineup that consisted of freshman Corryn Muench (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic), senior Jessi Larrison (Batavia), freshman Brittany Sims (Columbus/Eastmoor Academy) and senior Sheena Spencer (Marietta/Parkersburg), traveled to the Billy Hayes Invitational at Indiana University on Friday. The Pioneers made the most of their trip by running a school record time of 3:54.98. That performance was under the NCAA provisional time of 3:56.60 and placed the Pioneers among the top 10 4x400m Relays in the nation.

The rest of Marietta's team spent Friday evening competing at the Gator Invitational, hosted by Allegheny (Pa.) College. While at the meet, the Pioneers set three school records and had two more athletes provisionally qualify. Marietta freshman Kim Keesler (Chagrin Falls) joined her teammates as a NCAA provisional qualifier after she cleared a school record 3.50m (11-05.75). This mark matched the provisional qualifying standard.

Senior Brian Pallini (Medina) threw a school record 52.36m (171-09) in the Hammer Throw. This mark surpassed the NCAA provisional mark of 52.00m and made Pallini the first Pioneer this season to qualify in two events; he had previously provisionally qualified in the Shot Put.

The Men's 4x100m Relay once again just missed its NCAA provisional mark at the Gator Invitational. Freshman Caleb Downey (Heath), freshman Jayshon Irvin (Vero Beach, Fla./Sebastian), freshman Rodney Endicott (Lavalette, W.Va./Wayne) and sophomore Matt Hickman (St. Marys, W.Va.) combined to run a school record time of 41.97 seconds, which is just 0.07 seconds off their provisional mark.

On Saturday, Marietta participated in the Bobcat Invitational, hosted by Ohio University. There, Pallini improved his ranking among the NCAA provisional qualifiers in the Shot Put when he unleashed a school record mark of 15.78m (51-09.25). Pallini entered the weekend with the 18th best Shot Put mark in the nation.

The Pioneers will return to action on Monday (May 11) evening when they compete at the Swathmore (Pa.) Last Chance Meet. Marietta will then participate in the North Central (Iowa) Last Chance Meet on Thursday (May 15) and Friday (May 16).

Marietta's NCAA Provisional Qualifiers (As of 5/9):
Brian Pallini - Shot Put (15.78m); Hammer Throw (52.36m)
Tiffany Kovacevich - Hammer Throw (47.25m)
Zach Gay - High Jump (2.02m)
Kim Keesler - Pole Vault (3.50m)
Jayshon Irvin - 100m Dash (10.71 seconds)
Corryn Muench, Jessi Larrison, Brittany Sims, Sheena Spencer - 4x400m Relay (3:54.98)