Championship Info
TROY, N.Y. – The NCAA has announced the participant field for the 2010 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete
Erik Whiting has been selected to represent the Engineers. This year's meet, which will feature 688 participants, will be held at George Finnie Stadium on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.
Whiting will compete in the men's hammer throw in his first trip to nationals. He qualified with a personal best distance of 56.20 meters, a mark he set at the Liberty League Championships in April. He is among the 17 entrants and is the only Liberty League participant in the event.
A senior from Fultonville, N.Y., Whiting has competed in all nine meets this season, posting third or better in the hammer throw. A five-time Liberty League Field Performer of the Week selection, he has placed in the top two six times, including four first place finishes. Whiting has also recorded eight straight NCAA Provisional marks in his event this season.
In addition to the hammer throw, Whiting has also had success in the discus throw this year. Competing in the event in seven meets, he finished 11th or higher, including five top-three finishes and four victories.
Several of his top performances this season came at the Liberty League Championships and the NYSCTC Championships. At the conference meet, he claimed victory in both the hammer throw and the discus, while finishing third in the shot put. For his efforts, he was named the meet's Most Outstanding Performer.
Whiting then repeated those same results at the State Championships, garnering his second straight hammer throw title at the NYSCTC meet on his way to being named the Outstanding Field Performer of the Year.
In his four-year career, the Fonda-Fultonville High School graduate has earned seven titles. Four of those have come this season as the dual champion at Liberty League and States.
The preliminaries for the men's hammer throw take place on Thursday at 5pm. The top eight competitors advance to the finals, which will be held later that day following the trials. Each individual who advances earns All-America status.
