NATIONALS PREVIEW: Eagle Divers, Wrestlers, Track & Field Striving For Gold

Twenty-two Ashland University student-athletes will go for NCAA Division II national championships at three different events in three locales around the United States this week.
 
DIVING
Three Eagle divers will compete in the D-II nationals qualification meet on Tuesday (March 10) in Evansville, Ind., at the Deaconess Aquatic Center.
 
Junior Riley Hunt, senior Joey Lenczyk and freshman Macey Wade all look to become the latest AU divers to earn D-II All-American honors. Hunt was a second-team All-American a season ago, and she can become the first Eagle swimmer/diver to be an All-American in consecutive years since Hannah Mattar from 2013-16.
 
Those who move on from the qualification meet will compete at nationals on Wednesday (March 11, men's 1-meter diving), Thursday (March 12, women's 3-meter diving), Friday (March 13, men's 3-meter diving) and Saturday (March 14, women's 1-meter diving) – all in Evansville.
 
WRESTLING
Five Ashland grapplers will go for the program's first individual national title in eight years, and first All-American award since 2023, at the D-II Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Friday and Saturday.
 
The No. 17-ranked Eagles have three seeded wrestlers at their respective weight classes:

• Junior 197-pounder Peyton Lemon is the No. 3 seed (28-6 this season with two pins, six technical falls and five major decisions).
• Junior 149-pounder Hayden Kuhn is the No. 7 seed (29-4 with seven pins, 11 tech falls and three major decisions).
• Senior 174-pounder Sevriano Garza is the No. 8 seed (22-4 with two pins, three tech falls and four major decisions).

Both senior 165-pounder Nate Barrett, a 2023 All-American (11-6, one pin, four tech falls, two major decisions), and redshirt freshman 184-pounder Fletcher Rose (31-10, four pins, two tech falls, eight major decisions) enter nationals unranked.
 
TRACK AND FIELD
Fourteen Eagle athletes – seven for the No. 9-ranked women and seven for the No. 15-ranked men – seek to earn the track and field program's first national championship since 2022 at indoor nationals in in Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday and Saturday.
 
Junior Molly Winner, a four-time All-American, is the top-ranked women's weight thrower in D-II at 21.45 meters/70-feet-4½, and No. 2 in the nation in the women's shot put at 16.71 meters/54-feet-10. Fellow junior Leslie Pollock is No. 2 in the country in the women's weight throw at 20.82 meters/68-feet-3¾.
 
Senior Jade Avance is a five-time All-American, looking for more in both the women's 800 run and distance medley relay.
  Senior Jade Avance – 800-meter run
Junior Leslie Pollock – weight throw
Senior Hope Sievert – 800 run
Junior Odessa Smith – 60 hurdles
Sophomore Miranda Stone – weight throw
Junior Molly Winner – weight throw and shot put
Distance medley relay – senior Emilie Lemon, sophomore Olivia Saylor, Avance and Sievert
  Sophomore Ty Allen – 60 hurdles
Graduate Brayden Jackson – pole vault
Freshman Jon Lutz – 60 hurdles
Junior Colton Thress – 800 run
Distance medley relay – sophomore Wes Taylor, senior Joe Wahl, Thress and junior Zach Vales
  2:45 p.m. – Men's 60 hurdles prelims - Allen and Lutz
3 p.m. – Women's 60 hurdles prelims – Smith
3:20 p.m. – Men's pole vault finals - Jackson
5:05 p.m. – Women's weight throw finals – Pollock and Winner
5:05 p.m. – Men's 800 run prelims - Thress
5:25 p.m. – Women's 800 run prelims - Avance and Sievert
7:05 p.m. – Men's distance medley relay finals – Taylor/Wahl/Thress/Vales
7:25 p.m. – Women's distance medley relay finals - Lemon/Saylor/Avance/Sievert
  3:40 p.m. - Men's 60 hurdles finals - Allen and Lutz (if qualify)
3:55 p.m. – Women's 60 hurdles finals – Smith (if qualify)
5:15 p.m. – Women's shot put finals – Winner
5:25 p.m. – Men's 800 run finals – Thress (if qualify)
5:35 p.m. – Women's 800 run finals - Avance and Sievert (if qualify)