Nine Slippery Rock University track and field athletes earned berths in the NCAA Division IINational Championships, set for May 22 to 24 at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif.

In the women's competition, Nicole Blaesser will compete in the 10,000-meter run, Jennifer Hansen in the pole vault, Jan Harpp in the 5,000 meters, Whitney Hendershot in the high jump and Allison Smith in the 400-meter hurdles.

Hansen is the No. 3 seed with a school record vault of 13 feet, 5¼ inches.

The top eight finishers in each event earn All-America status.

Representing The Rock men are javelin thrower Nate Hardic, sprinter and Mars graduate Brad Mueller in the 100 meters, Pat Reagan in the 5,000 meters, and Reagan and Jeff Weiss in the 10,000 meters.

Mueller is seeded 13th with a school-record time of 10.47 seconds.

Women's Tennis

The 29th-ranked Rock was scheduled to open NCAA Division II Championship round play this morning against fourth-ranked Valdosta State (Ga.).

The national round of 16 is hosted by Brown University in Providence, R.I.

SRU (22-3) is making its second trip to the round of 16, losing 5-2 to Northwest Missouri in 2003.

SRU's lineup will be Kayla Blackburn (19-5) at No. 1 singles, Laura Handy (16-3) at No. 2, Samantha Blackburn (14-5) at No. 3, Jessica Hilborn (16-4) at No. 4, Chelsea Gibson (13-3) at No. 5 and Lara Rizzi (16-3) at No. 6.

In doubles, Kayla Blackburn and Handy (14-4) are at No. 1, Samantha Blackburn and Hilborn (13-2) at No. 2, Gibson and Rizzi (15-7) at No. 3.