MARIETTA, Ohio — Members of the Marietta College track and field team participated in a series of last chance meets this weekend with the goal of hitting or improving their qualifying marks for the upcoming NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship, hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College May 27-29.

Senior #Chad Byers (New Matamoras/River)# hit the provisional qualifying mark in the Discus Throw Saturday (May 8) at the Ohio Open. Byers finished with a top toss of 47.88m, which placed him among the 2010 NCAA qualifiers.

Sophomore #Brittany Sims (Columbus/Eastmoor Academy)# ran a NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 400m Hurdles Sunday (May 9) at the Duke Twilight Meet. Sims crossed the line in a school record 1:03.88.

On Friday (May 7), Sims joined sophomore #Corryn Muench (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic)#, senior #Christi Tims (Olmsted Township/Olmsted Falls)# and sophomore #Lauren Asbury (White Sulphur Springs, W.Va./Greenbrier East)# in improving the squad's NCAA provisional time at Indiana's Billy Hayes Invitational. The Pioneers crossed the line in a school record 48.50 seconds.

Two other Pioneers have already qualified for the NCAA Championship. Sophomore #Kim Keesler (Chagrin Falls/Chagrin Falls)# cleared 3.86m (12-08.00) in the Pole Vault at the OAC Championship to secure an automatic berth into the national meet. In addition, sophomore #Mike Pankowski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills)# hit a provisional mark of 61.67m (202-04) in the Javelin Throw at the OAC Championship.

Marietta student-athletes will look to add representatives at the NCAA Championship when they are scheduled to compete at Allegheny on May 14, at North Carolina A&T on May 16 and at North Central May 20-21.