3-Time All-America Varsell Set for 5th Trip to NCAA Championship
WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University All-America Amy Varsell (Burlington, Conn./Lewis S. Mills HS) is confirmed for her fifth trip to an NCAA Division II national championship in the last 15 months.
The junior is seeded fourth in the 800 meters for the 2012 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held in Pueblo, Colo., on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo, May 24-26. The 800 prelims will be Friday, May 25, at 6 pm MT, with the finals the following day at 6:55 pm MT.
Varsell, whose previous trips to the nationals have taken her to Albuquerque, northern California, Washington state and Minnesota, is one of only six Division II athletes who'll be competing in their fifth straight NCAA championship later this month.
Other than Varsell, the select group who have previously been to the 2011 and 2012 indoor championships, the 2011 outdoor championship and last fall's cross country championship includes just Runa Falch (Augustana, S.D.), Kate Griewisch (Lenoir-Rhyne), Lauren Kleppin (Western State), Sarah Lyle (Western State) and Amanda Putt (Hillsdale).
Varsell, who captured both the 800 and 1500 meter titles at the Northeast-10 Championships earlier this month, is coming off a third-place finish in the 800 at the New England Championships. She broke her own school record, set at last year's NCAA championships, with her time of 2:09..46 the fourth best recorded by a Division II athlete this spring.
Fourth is where Varsell finished in the 800 at both championships as a sophomore. She bettered that in March with a third-place effort in the 2012 indoor championships.
The field for the 800 includes Putt, the 2012 indoor champion, and Grand Valley's Chanelle Caldwell, whose resume includes five top-three finishes in the 800. Caldwell has the top qualifying time (2:07.74) and Putt is seeded 15th in a field of 19.
The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced its 2012 Division II Women's Outdoor Track and Field All-East Region team, with Varsell Bentley's only representative. She earned the honor in both the 800 and the 1500 after also doubling indoors (800, mile). Her 800 time was the best in the region by 4.39 seconds, and her 1500 clocking of 4:30.17, a school record set April 29 at Brown, was also a region-best by more than four seconds.