LA CROSSE, Wisc. -- For the second time this year, Allegheny College's Evie Ellenberger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) will compete on the biggest stage in the country at the NCAA Division III Championships.

After earning All-America laurels with a fifth-place finish at the indoor national championships in March, Ellenberger qualified for the outdoor meet in her signature event, the long jump. She will compete on Thursday, May 21, at 6 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. She is one of only five women from the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) to qualify for the outdoor national championships.

Out of 22 qualifiers, Ellenberger enters the NCAA Championships ranked 10th in the long jump. Over the last month, she's rewritten her own personal record and broken the program's outdoor record four times. That included a 5.72-meter jump for a victory at the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Outdoor Championships, a 5.82-meter jump at Baldwin Wallace University's Harrison Dillard Twilight, and a 5.88-meter mark in her latest gold-medal performance at the All-Atlantic Regional Track and Field Conference (AARTFC) Outdoor Championships. Ellenberger first broke the team's 32-year-old record at the annual Marty Goldberg Gator Invitational at the Robertson Athletic Complex by clearing 5.67 meters.

Ellenberger's toughest competition at the NCAA Championships will include two of the top three jumpers from the indoor season. Chloe Hein, a junior from Centre College, is the top-seeded athlete at nationals (6.37 meters) and won the title at the indoor meet by reaching 6.25 meters. Sophomore Annabelle Lanik of Trinity University (Texas) is the only other athlete with an outdoor mark above six meters at 6.18 and placed third indoors at 5.88 meters.

Fans can follow along with Thursday's long jump with live results by clicking here.
 

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