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Toussaint to Compete in NCAA Women's Indoor Championships on Friday

Toussaint to Compete in NCAA Women’s Indoor Championships on Friday


First MU athlete ever to qualify for NCAA Women’s Indoor Championships


Monmouth University senior long jumper Mariah Toussaint (Tulsa, Okla./Brooke Point/Midland) will become the first Monmouth athlete ever to compete in the NCAA Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend when she travels to Albuquerque, N.M. for the two-day event. Toussaint qualified for the NCAA Championships after ranking tenth nationally in the long jump. 

“We’re very excited that she is going to be a part of the NCAA Championships this weekend,” said Head Coach Joe Compagni. “It’s a very difficult championship to make.”

At the MU Blue/White Invitational on January 11, Toussaint recorded a jump of 20 feet, eight inches, which stood at the time as the top jump nationally for the indoor season. When all was said and done, Toussaint stood at tenth in the country, qualifying for NCAA’s to earn her trip to Albuquerque. Only the top 16 marks in the nation in each event qualify for the NCAA Championships.

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Following her efforts at the home meet on 1/11, Toussaint earned Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Performer of the Week accolades, winning four events total at the meet in The MAC. She took first in the 60 meter dash, the high jump and the 200 meter dash, as well as the long jump, helping the Monmouth women’s team win the meet.

This past weekend, Toussaint was named All-East at the ECAC/IC4A Championships at Boston University in Boston, Mass. She is now the first female ECAC Indoor Track & Field Champion in school history. She placed first in the long jump at the meet to earn her All-East accolades. At the MAAC Championships at the New York Armory, Toussaint scored 37 total points to help lead the MU women to a conference title in the program’s first year in the league. At the MAAC’s, she won the 60 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, and the long jump in addition to a high jump second place mark.

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“She’s been tremendous for the program,” added Compagni. “Of course you wish you had her for more than two years, but she’s made the most of those two years so far, for sure.”

While Toussaint is the first Hawk to qualify for the NCAA Women’s Indoor Championships, former Hawk thrower Jon Kalnas qualified for the NCAA Men’s Indoor Championships from 2000-2002 in the shot put. MU has also had two previous qualifiers for the NCAA Women’s Outdoor Championships, as Rachel Watkins participated last spring in the 400 hurdles, and Tisifenee Taylor, who qualified in the long jump in the spring of 2007.

This weekend’s meet in Albuquerque, N.M. concludes the 2013-2014 indoor track and field season, with the best nationally competing at the Albuquerque Convention Center, near the campus of the University of New Mexico.

The events on Friday will be streamed live on ESPN3 beginning at 7:55 p.m. Eastern, and Saturday beginning at 7:50 p.m. Eastern. All events will be replayed on ESPNU on Saturday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. You can also follow Toussaint’s performance live by following @MonmouthUTFXC on Twitter.

 





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