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Bates, Roach Prep For NCAA Nationals; Fogelsanger, Roach Honored
Junior Kristen Bates (left) and senior Patrick Roach will compete for individual national chamionships this weekend, while Fogelsanger (center) joined Roach with all-region awards Wednesday.

UPDATE 5.22.09: Junior Kristen Bates and senior Patrick Roach have advanced to finals competition in a pair of events at the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championships, as Bates will run in the championship of the women’s 100-meter hurdles and Roach the men’s 800-meter open run Saturday.

Bates tied her school record time of :14.14 in Friday’s 100-meter hurdles preliminaries at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships Friday afternoon, advancing to Saturday’s final race as a result.

Bates, who ran her personal-best :14.14 at the MAC Championships three weeks ago, set a Marietta College Don Drumm stadium record with her pace in the first heat of Friday’s preliminaries, automatically qualifying for Saturday’s final as a result of her heat win.

Bates’ stadium record stood for a total of just 10 minutes, however, as Frostburg State University junior Sumer Rhors ran a :14.07 in Friday’s third preliminary heat.

Bates and Rhors will help to comprise an eight-athlete field in Saturday’s 100-meter hurdles finals, set to take place at Marietta College, host of the 2009 NCAA Division III Track & Field Outdoor National Championships.

Senior Patrick Roach took to the track about an hour after Bates, finishing second in heat number two of the men’s open 800 Friday.

Roach posted a 1:51.63 — just a shade off the University of St. Thomas’ Brian Sames’ heat-winning 1:51.76 — to automatically qualify for Saturday’s championship heat.

The Boiling Springs, Pa. native now joins seven other athletes in Saturday’s finals, six of which posted a faster time in Friday’s three rounds of preliminary heats.

That matters little in a race such as the 800, however, as strategy in comparison to competing runners is paramount. On Friday, Roach was able to stay step for step with Sames, edging Keene State College’s Peter Najem (1:52.14) to nab the final automatic qualifying spot in the day’s second heat.

Bates will next compete in the triple jump at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, while the finals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles are slated to take place at 1:55 p.m. Roach, meanwhile, will race in the men’s 800-meter finals at approximately 2:50 p.m. Saturday.

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Marietta, OH — Just hours before a pair of Messiah track and field athletes prepared to compete at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, the United States Track & Field and Cross Country coaches Association again honored the Falcons program, naming senior Patrick Roach the Mideast Region Track Athlete of the Year and head coach Dale Fogelsanger the Mideast Women’s Coach of the Year.

The honors were announced at Wednesday evening’s national championships banquet, a ceremony for coaches and athletes competing at the championship meet.

Fogelsanger earned his second consecutive regional honor on the women’s side, leading Messiah to the 2009 MAC Championship — its fourth straight league title. The Falcons scored points in 19 of the 21 events at that meet, while finishing with 17 first- or second-place event finishers to score a total of 207 points.

Roach, meanwhile, earned his first regional award after being named the MAC Track MVP, scoring 30.5 of Messiah’s 168 points at the championship event. (A complete press release detailing the USTFCCCA Regional award winners can be viewed here.)

Roach will compete in this weekend’s 800-meter open run while junior Kristen Bates will compete in both the women’s 100-meter hurdles and the triple jump.

Roach enters the national championships seeking to become the school’s second-ever male national champion, entering the 800-meters as the second seed behind a school-record time of 1:48.91. That clip broke a 27-year old program mark, while it was the second-fastest time run at the NCAA Division III level this season and ninth fastest time in NCAA Division III history.

Roach will have sound competition in the 800 race, as top-seeded Ohio Northern University’s James O’Brien (1:48.68) and fourth-seeded Frostburg State University’s Brian Leiter (1:50.50) will be running in both the 800- and 1,500-meter runs. Third-seeded Emmanuel Bofa (Whitworth University, 1:49.93) and the University of St. Thomas’ Brian Sames (1:51.02) round off the top five competitors.

Bates, meanwhile, enters as the third seed in the 100-meter hurdles (:14.14) and the eighth seed in the triple jump (39 feet, ¼ inches).

In the former, Bates will be looking to dethrone two-time outdoor national champion and three-time indoor national champion Sumer Rohrs of Frostburg State. To do that, Bates will have to win her preliminary heat, most likely getting the stiffest competition from fellow heptathlete and fourth-seeded Ashley Huston (Hardin-Simmons University, :14.28).

In the triple jump, Bates will look to add to her collection of hardware, as the Landisburg, Pa. native finished third in the event during the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships.

Bates will race in the 100-meter hurdle prelims at 3:20 p.m. Friday., while Roach will compete in the 800-meter trials at 4:40 p.m. Women’s 100-meter hurdles finals are slated to begin at 1:55 p.m. Saturday, while the men’s 800 championship is set for 2:50 p.m.

The triple jump trials and finals are scheduled to take place Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m.

The 2009 NCAA Division III National Championships are taking place at Don Drumm Stadium on the campus of Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. Fans can get detailed information on the meet at the official NCAA Championships site, while streaming video of all events is scheduled to be shown live on NCAA.com.