Eight Shippensburg University track-and-field athletes were named All-Americans at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Bradenton, Florida, after strong performances May 26-28.

There were 16 total Raiders that were invited to the competition, including regular season standouts like Sarah Hunt and Caleb Bartlett. The events spanned over three days with at least one Raider representing both the men and the women each day. Half of SU’s athletes made either All-American First or Second Teams.

Of the eight total All-Americans, four were men and four were women. Morgan DeFloria and Crystal Hartman were both named to the First Team after finishing third and fifth respectively in the javelin; Abby Wagner made the First Team after taking seventh in the triple jump; and Sarah Hunt was named to the Second Team after finishing 12th in the long jump.

For the men, Caleb Bartlett took sixth in the hammer throw, earning himself a spot in the First Team; Derek Nothstein was also named to the First Team after finishing fourth in the javelin; Bryan Pearson put on an impressive performance in the discus, taking 10th and landing on the Second Team; and Jalen Ramsey tied for eleventh in the high jump to also earn a spot on the Second Team.

Nothstein closed out an impressive career for the Raiders in his fourth appearance at nationals, earning a First-Team finish for the third time. His first throw of the competition was a new PR (217 feet, 8 inches) and he later threw another PR (220 feet, 9 inches), good enough to give him his highest career finish at the Outdoor Championships. Nothstein graduated as a three-time PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) champion and now as a three-time NCAA All-American.

The women also performed well in the javelin, with DeFloria and Hartman both hitting season bests to earn their high finishes. Hartman’s best of 154 feet, 6 inches, was also a new PR to give her fifth place. It was Hartman’s third straight trip to the Outdoor Championships and it was the second straight year that she set a new PR at the competition. This was DeFloria’s second trip to the championships and she improved 12 places from her 15th-place finish last year with a top throw of 157 feet, 6 inches.

Wagner had some tough competition to make it into the finals of the triple jump, but she posted a top mark of 41 feet, 2 1/2 inches, to secure a spot in the finals. The mark was good enough for seventh in the event. Wagner is now the second All-American in the triple jump in SU’s history, joining Tunisia Lacy.

Bartlett continued his strong outdoor season at nationals, finishing sixth in the hammer throw with a new PR and school-record distance of 204 feet, 2 inches. He is the first All-American in school history in the hammer throw. Before his throw at nationals, Bartlett already owned the school record in the hammer throw (200 feet, 6 inches), achieved last season. He hadn’t reached 200 feet all season before breaking through at the tournament.

Pearson was the only Raider competing in the discus for SU and put together a splendid finish, placing 10th as a Second-Team All-American. It was Pearson’s second year in a row at the outdoor championships for the discus, finishing sixth last year. He is the PSAC record holder for the in the discus with a career-best throw of 181 feet, 10 inches. Pearson just missed the finals by an inch, with a top throw of 171 feet, 1 inch.

Another impressive Raider career ended at nationals. Jalen Ramsey closed out his career with an 11th-place finish in the high jump. He was unable to clear the third bar at 6 feet, 10 3/4 inches, to make it to the finals, but did make the 6 feet, 9 inches, mark. It was Ramsey’s fourth trip to outdoor championships and his finish this year matched his career-best finish at the competition.

It was the third year in a row that Hunt was a Second-Team All-American in the long jump. Her top mark was 19 feet, 9 1/2 inches, good enough to finish in 12th. Hunt is the school-record holder in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 9 3/4 inches. She ends her Raider career with five All-America finishes: two in indoor competition and three in outdoor. Hunt has made three trips to the outdoor championships and was named an All-American every year.

Other Raiders competing at Nationals were Casey Norton in the 10K (17th place), Kali Hepner in the pole vault (tied for 16th place), Danielle Sciremammano in the long jump (19th place), Tamara Ovejera in the shot put (17th place), Tra-C Davis in the high jump (tied for 13th place) and Alec Rideout in the shot put (16th place). The men tied for 30th place in the overall standings and the women tied for 23rd.

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