Outstanding Performers of the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships Announced

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Monday the Division III student-athletes who earned Outstanding Performer of the Meet honors for their efforts at the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on March 13-14.

UW-Eau Claire’s Carly Fehler was named the Women’s Track Outstanding Performer of the Meet honor, while the Men’s Track honor was split by St. Olaf’s Jake Campbell and Travis Morrison of North Central (Ill.).

Earning Men’s Field honors was Dominique Neloms of UW-La Crosse, while the Women’s Field award went to UW-Oshkosh’s Melanie Brickner.

Each year the USTFCCCA honors the Outstanding Performers of the Meet at both of the national Division III championships. Winners are determined using a formula that takes into account team points scored plus meet records (five additional points), Division III season-bests based on the converted qualifying lists (three points) and facility records (one point). Relay points are split equally between the four team members.

Fehler (Senior/Oak Creek, Wisconsin) swept the 60- and 200-meter finals, the latter of which she won in 24.64 for the season’s fastest time based on qualifying conversions. Lehman’s Adriana Wright set the all-time DIII record at 200 meters of 24.33 earlier this year on a banked track, but that time converted to 24.71 for qualifying to account for the flat track on which the NCAA Championships were held.

Fehler also took the 60 title in 7.58. She ended up No. 7 all-time at 200 meters in Division III indoor history, and No. 8 at 60 meters.

The Men’s Track award was split between two men who alternately finished first and fourth at 3000 and 5000 meters. In Friday’s 5000, Morrison (senior/Hoffman Estates, Illinois) took the win in 14:23.94, while Campbell (junior/Edina, Minnesota) was back in fourth. Based on track conversions for NCAA Championship qualifications, Morrison’s time was the best of the 2015 season.

The next night the roles were reversed. It was Campbell who took the win at 3000 meters in 8:10.55, while Morrison was fourth. Campbell’s winning time was the fastest of the Division III season, regardless of track conversions, and is the sixth-fastest time in Division III history.

Neloms (senior/Joliet, Illinois) became the first man to win both the long jump and high jump at the same meet since 1994 en route to Men’s Field honors.

He took the long jump title by more than half a foot with a leap of 7.37m, though he would have won over Southern Maine’s Jamie Ruginski with three of his jumps. He also took the high jump in a tiebreak on misses with Steven Vazquez of RIC after clearing 2.11m on his first attempt.

Brickner (senior/Marathon, Wisconsin) earned the Women’s Field award with a win in the weight throw to go along with a sixth place finish in the shot put.

She took the weight throw title with a heave of 19.55m to win by more than a meter over runner-up Whitney Simmons. That throw was the best of the Division III season, moving her to a share of the No. 5 spot on the all-time DIII performers list.

She also took third in the shot put with a mark of 13.97m.