BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Western Washington University track & field student-athletes Anna Paradee, Alex Barry, Raquel Pellecer and Natalie Vetto are set to compete at the 2018 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships held Thursday through Saturday at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The WWU competitors will be in action Thursday and Saturday, beginning with Paradee (Sr., Tacoma, WA/Decatur) in the women's pole vault on Thursday at 11 am PT. Barry (Jr., Sequim, WA) will compete in men's javelin beginning at 7:30 am PT on Saturday morning, followed by Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State) and Vetto (Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington) in the women's javelin at 10:15 am PT.

NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships

The championships will be held May 24-26 at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. Johnson C. Smith University is serving as host.

The Irwin Belk Complex, which opened in 2003, has previously hosted the 2007 and 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships as well as many other track & field events. The facility has an Olympic-sized track and 4,500 seats for spectators among other features.

A total of 754 participants make up the championships field, composed of 377 men and 377 women. Student-athletes qualify to compete at the national championships by posting automatic or provisional standards during the season.

The four Vikings set to compete are part of 54 Great Northwest Athletic Conference student-athletes announced as selected entries.

Meet Details:
Event: NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships
Site: Charlotte, North Carolina (Irwin Belk Complex)
Date:May 24-26, 2018

• Schedule of Events
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Women's Start Lists
• Men's Start Lists

How to Follow

The national championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com with live results also available. The live results home page features a sidebar menu with entries, start lists, team scores and daily schedules. Results will be entered as the events take place.

A video stream of the national championships can be found on NCAA.com/liveschedule by clicking on the desired date at the top of the page and navigating to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field link.

Links to the live results and video stream will also be available on the WWU track & field schedule, Facebook and Twitter.

Women's Pole Vault -- Thursday, 11 AM PT, 2 PM ET

Paradee returns to the NCAA II Championships for the second consecutive year after placing 11th in the pole vault at the outdoor championships last year to earn U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Second Team All-America honors.

She holds the 8th-best mark on the national championships performance list during the season at 3.97m (13-0 ¼), a season-best mark set in winning the event at the WWU Team Invitational in early April.

The 2018 outdoor championships marks the third trip to an NCAA Championships for Paradee after competing at the both the indoor and outdoor national championships last season. Before finishing 11th at the outdoor championships in 2017, she placed 7th at the indoor championships last year to net USTFCCCA First Team All-America accolades. Paradee did not compete during the 2018 indoor season and is set to compete during the 2019 indoor season.

Paradee is the GNAC and WWU outdoor record holder in the pole vault with a personal-best height of 4.01m (13-1 ¾) set last year. She is also the WWU record holder in the indoor pole vault and is tied for the indoor conference record at a height of 3.92m (12-10 ¼). Paradee is a four-time outdoor and three-time indoor All-GNAC honoree in the pole vault, including a two-time conference champion.

Two GNAC pole vaulters are among the field for the national championships, as Paradee is joined by Central Washington's Halle Irvine in the field of competitors.

Here is a look at the championships field and height progression:

Men's Javelin - Saturday, 7:30 AM PT, 10:30 AM ET

Barry returns to the national championships for the second time in his career after finishing 14th in the javelin at the championships as a freshman in 2016. His personal-best throw set this season came at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with a mark of 65.63m (215-4) to place 2nd at the meet.

He will enter the national championships with the 10th-best mark on the performance list among entries. On all-time performance lists, his top mark ranks No. 8 in GNAC history and No. 2 in WWU history.

Barry was a GNAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honoree once during the 2018 outdoor season and placed 1st or 2nd in the javelin at six meets during the season. He has placed among the top 4 in the javelin at each of the last three GNAC Outdoor Championships, winning the conference title last season and placing 4th in 2016.

Barry will compete in the first javelin flight on Saturday morning and is one of four javelin throwers from the GNAC among the field of 18 competitors. Here is a look at the championships field:

Women's Javelin - Saturday, 10:15 AM PT, 1:15 PM ET

Pellecer enters the national championships with a personal-best javelin mark of 48.01m (157-6), ranking 6th on the performance list heading into the championships. Her mark came while placing 2nd at the GNAC Outdoor Championships.

After transferring from Portland State, Pellecer has been named GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week three times during her first season of competition for WWU. She has finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at each meet in which she has competed during the season with five 1st-places finishes. Her personal-best mark is No. 7 in WWU history and No. 9 in GNAC history.

Vetto (Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington) is 14th on the performance list entering the championships, also recording her personal-best javelin mark at the GNAC Outdoor Championships during her true freshman season. She finished 4th at the conference championships with a personal-best throw of 46.38m (152-2).

The top mark for Vetto is No. 9 on the WWU top-10 list and No. 17 in GNAC history.

Pellecer and Vetto are two of seven GNAC javelin throwers in the field of 20 at the national championships. Vetto will be in the first flight while Pellecer is set to compete in the second flight. Here is a look at the championships field:

PRIDE OF THE PROGRAM

The Vikings have a tradition of national success in each of the events represented for WWU at the upcoming championships, including during recent history.

WWU's long tradition in the javelin includes recent national champions Monika Gruszecki (2007 & 2011) and Bethany Drake (2014 & 2017), and four-time First Team All-American Katie Reichert (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) for the WWU women. Anosi Laupola was also a javelin All-American in 2016.

For the men, Alex Harrison (2010), Slater Hirst (2014, 2015) and John Haskin (2014, 2016) have all been javelin All-Americans for the WWU men in the last eight years.

In the women's pole vault, former Viking and current volunteer assistant coach Karis Carter was a two-time outdoor All-American in 2011 and 2012.

The four Vikings selected to the national championships field were part of a group of 13 WWU student-athletes who recorded NCAA II provisional-qualifying marks during the outdoor season.

WWU had three student-athletes at the outdoor national championships in 2017 with former Vikings Drake and Brittany Grant competing along with Paradee. Drake was the javelin national champion last year, the second national title of her career, as the WWU women tied for 27th at the championships.

USTFCCCA All-West Region

The four Vikings headed to the national championships were part of a larger group of seven earning USTFCCCA All-West Region recognition for WWU, announced May 15.

All-Region honors are given to individuals with a top-5 regional performance in each region for a USTFCCCA member school along with top-3 relay teams in each region.

In addition to Paradee, Barry, Pellecer and Vetto, WWU high jumpers Maddie Taylor (Jr., Seattle, WA/Auburn Mountainview/Montana) and Tupre Wickliff (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Evergreen/Clark College) were honored as well as javelin thrower Spencer Claeys (Jr., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap/Olympic). Click here to read more.

GNAC Outdoor Championships

The WWU men's track & field team placed 2nd while the women's team finished 4th at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, held Friday and Saturday at McArthur Field on the campus of Western Oregon University.

The Viking men finished with 127 points, 11 points back of conference champion Concordia with 138 points. Central Washington scored 123 points in 3rd, as only 15 points separated the top 3 teams. The WWU women totaled 105 points in 4th behind champion Seattle Pacific (154.5 points) as well as Central Washington and Concordia in a tie for 2nd with 121 points apiece.

WWU concluded the meet with 12 All-GNAC performances and two individual championships in Taylor winning the high jump and sophomore Cordell Cummings (Arlington, WA) winning the 110m hurdles. Click here to read more.

GNAC HONORS

WWU has been honored with six GNAC weekly awards during the outdoor season, including three honors for Pellecer and one for Barry.

• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 5): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (April 2): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Alex Barry (Jr., Sequim, WA)
• GNAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week (March 12): Bryant Welch (Fr., Burien, WA/Mount Rainier)
• GNAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week (April 30): Emily Sytsma (Jr., Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian/Concordia)

The conference office announced GNAC All-Academic Team on Monday with 21 Vikings, 13 women and eight men, earning recognition. Among those recognized were 12 repeat honorees for the Vikings. Click here to read more.

COACH HALSELL

Head coach Pee Wee Halsell is in his 31st year at the helm for WWU as the longest-tenured coach in WWU history. He has received 33 Coach of the Year honors with 26 league honors, five regional honors, one district honor and one area honor. Halsell has coaches 10 national champions with 95 Vikings earning All-America honors in track and 30 in cross country, along with numerous scholar-athletes in both track & field and cross country.

THE 2018 SCHEDULE