TURLOCK, Cal. – The Shippensburg University women's outdoor track and field program had participants in two events on Day 1 of the Division II Outdoor National Championships from Al Brenda Track at Warrior Stadium on the campus of California State University Stanislaus.

In preliminary qualifying, senior Erica Hess posted the 11th-fastest time in the field of 56.34 seconds. The competitors dealt with a strong wind – particularly on the backstretch – that slowed the field. Hess ran in the third and final heat – which proved to be the fastest of the three – but finished just 58 one-hundredths of a second short of the finals.

Thursday's run was the final collegiate race of Hess's career. She concludes her SU tenure as one of the best sprinters in school history – winning six conference championships in the 400 (three indoors and three outdoors) as well as qualifying for nationals all four years. Hess additionally earned All-America honors as a freshman and a sophomore with the 4x400-meter relay and is the school record holder in the indoor and outdoor 400. (view post-race blog here)

Sophomore Katie Spratford competed at night in the 10K - placing 13th in her debut national championship meet with a time of 35:48.45. She finishes her 10K season as SU's new record holder: Spratford posted a time of 35:19.64 at Penn Relays. (view post-race blog here)

On Friday, junior Amanda Raudabaugh and senior Jamie McCollum will run their preliminary qualifiers in the 800 meters at 9:30 p.m.