Lawrence University track and field standout Rose Tepper will take part in the NCAA Division III Championships this weekend.
Tepper (Mount Vernon, Iowa/Mount Vernon) competes Friday at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
Tepper became a provisional qualifier when she jumped 5 feet, 5.75 inches, on Feb. 5 and broke the school record in the process. She didn’t have much of a chance to improve on that jump when she injured her knee and was forced to miss the Midwest Conference Championships.
It appeared as though Tepper was going to be on the outside looking in at the NCAA Championships after the last-chance meets on March 5. Two jumpers went higher than 5-5.75 on March 5, but Tepper got her ticket punched to the national championships when the NCAA took 20 jumpers instead of the anticipated 11.
This is the first trip to the NCAA meet for Tepper, a sophomore and the 2010 MWC outdoor champ in the high jump.
Tepper is the first Lawrence track athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Madeline Steininger went to the outdoor championships in the high jump in 2009. Steininger also qualified for the indoor championships in 2008 and placed fifth in the high jump to earn All-America honors.