Wittenberg’s national qualifiers preview NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Interviews conducted by Wes Mayberry, Associate Director of Athletics Communications
SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg track and field program is sending four student-athletes to this week's NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Juniors Taylor Weiss (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) and Julissa Williams (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) will compete in the women's high jump, junior Meghan Frazier (Alliance, Ohio/Alliance) will run in the women's 400 meters, and junior Conor Kolka (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) will run in the men's 10,000 meters.
The top 22 declared student-athletes in each individual event and the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, qualified for the national meet, which is scheduled for May 23-25. The top eight finishers in each event at the NCAA Championships will earn All-American honors.
The men's 10,000 meters is scheduled for Thursday at 9:15 p.m., followed by the women's high jump on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and the women's 400 prelims on Friday at 5 p.m. with the top eight finishers advancing to the final on Saturday at 5:10 p.m. To follow the live results, click here.
Before departing for Myrtle Beach, the four nationally qualifying Tigers met with the Wittenberg Athletics Communications office to answer a few questions about their careers and their thoughts on the upcoming national meet.
Taylor Weiss, junior, high jump
Weiss enters the NCAA Championships with a season-best mark of 1.70 meters in the high jump, which she achieved at the Otterbein Twilight on April 19 and is currently tied for seventh nationally. She qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the high jump in March, finishing tied for 15th, and is a four-time All-NCAC performer.
Q: This will be your second appearance at an NCAA Championships meet this season. How has your experience at the indoor meet helped prepare you for this week's meet?
A: That national meet during the indoor season was so different from any other meet I'd ever been to. Being able to experience that during the indoor season, I now know what to expect, and I think I'll do better this time.
Q: Talk about how you've developed into such a successful high jumper.
A: Coach (Josh) Lynch has been awesome. We had a coaching change after my sophomore year, and that helped me immensely. I also do Olympic weightlifting with Jenny Borda over the summer and when I go home for breaks. That has helped me a lot as well.
Q: What is it like getting to compete with an event teammate like Julissa and share so many successful moments together?
A: We've been together all three years. It's really cool to be able to grow with somebody, and she's become a great friend.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about this trip to Myrtle Beach?
A: The weather and being by the beach. That's what I enjoyed so much about the indoor meet (in Virginia Beach, Va.) too. But I'll just enjoy the experience. A very limited number of people get this opportunity, so it's really cool to be a part of it.
Q: What are your expectations of yourself going into the national meet?
A: I want to be an All-American. I think I will be an All-American, and I'm trying to manifest that. I've done all the work I need to do to in order to be an All-American, and it would be really cool to have that pay off this weekend.
Julissa Williams, junior, high jump
Williams enters the NCAA Championships with a season-best mark of 1.69 meters in the high jump, which she posted as the champion of the event at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships on May 3 and is currently tied for 11th nationally. This marks her third appearance at a national meet in the high jump, as she finished 15th and 19th, respectively, at the indoor NCAAs in 2023 and 2024. She swept the indoor and outdoor conference titles in the high jump this year after placing second in each event in 2023 and holds the school record in the indoor high jump at 1.70 meters.
Q: You will be making your third appearance at an NCAA Championships meet. How have your experiences at the prior two shaped your preparation for this week's meet?
A: At the first two meets, I was getting stuck in my head and getting really nervous to the point I would shut down, and my performances weren't as good as they could have been. Now I know the steps I can take to not be so nervous and to perform to the best of my ability.
Q: Talk about how you've developed into such a successful high jumper.
A: My coaches have played a huge part. Getting one-on-one coaching and dialing in when I'm off campus and getting stronger in the weight room have all helped as well.
Q: What is it like getting to compete with an event teammate like Taylor and share so many successful moments together?
A: It's really great. We're sisters in track and field. We go hand in hand with everything. It's really fun to have a teammate like her.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about this trip to Myrtle Beach?
A: I'm excited to be on the beach and to take pictures in the sun and have some fun. I've never been there before, so it's going to be pretty awesome.
Q: What are your expectations of yourself going into the national meet?
A: I want to leave as an All-American and come home with a trophy.
Meghan Frazier, junior, 400 meters
Frazier enters the NCAA Championships with a season-best time of 55.82 seconds in the 400 meters, which she recorded at the Augustana Midwest Final Qualifier on May 16 and ranks 16th in the qualifying field. That time marked a new school record, breaking a mark that had stood since 2016. Frazier qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 400 in March, placing 15th in the prelims. Named Wittenberg's 2024 NCAC women's Scholar-Athlete Award winner and a member of the NCAC 40th Anniversary All-Decade Women's Outdoor Track and Field Team, Frazier is a two-time NCAC Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year and a nine-time NCAC champion who holds school records in three individual events and two relays.
Q: Take me through the Augustana meet and breaking the school record in the 400 with a time that qualified you for the national meet.
A: The time I had run at Baldwin Wallace was 56.29 seconds, and we knew that it might get me to nationals, but if I wanted to really secure my spot, I needed to run a little faster. I wanted to break into the 55s to secure that spot, and the school record was 55.97. So I knew there was a chance I could break the school record and secure a spot in the national meet at the same time. There was a weather delay during the meet when I was about to run, and they sent everybody inside for two hours. So I went in and recollected myself and came back out and laid it all on the line and ran a really good race against some really fast girls and was able to punch my ticket to nationals. It was really exciting knowing I had broken the school record and secured my spot at nationals. I went and laid in the grass for half an hour because the 400 takes it all out of you, but I was super thrilled. Coach (Chris) Marco and (teammate) Abbey Danne were there with me, and celebrating with them was really fun.
Q: What does it mean to you to be making your second appearance at an NCAA Championships meet?
A: I'm really excited to go to my second national meet. I think the nerves will be less this time, and I'm excited to go out there and compete. I know what the atmosphere will be like, and there will be lots of familiar faces.
Q: How did competing in the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season help prepare you for this week's meet?
A: I had never been to nationals before the indoor season this year, so I was a little star-struck in seeing some of the big names at that meet. To get to run against some of those girls was really cool, but it was definitely a little nerve-wracking. It's very official, and there are lots of fans there. But I know what to expect this time, so I won't be as nervous.
Q: Out of the numerous accolades you've earned this season, which one stands out as being the most meaningful and why?
A: The NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award. This is Division III athletics, and I'm not going to go on to the Olympics and be a professional athlete, so my academics do come first. To be recognized for my success in academics and athletics simultaneously was really special.
Q: What are your expectations of yourself going into the national meet?
A: My ultimate goal is to make the final and be an All-American, but if I can just go out there and run another really good race and break my own school record, I'll be happy. There are a lot of ways I'll be satisfied coming out of this meet.
Conor Kolka, junior, 10,000 meters
Kolka enters the NCAA Championships with a season-best time of 29:42.25 in the 10,000 meters, which he posted at the WashU Distance Carnival on March 28 and is 15th in the qualifying field. That time broke his own school record that he set last year. Kolka was the NCAC champion and was named NCAC Runner of the Year in cross country en route to setting the 8K school record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the fall. He is a three-time NCAC champion in track and field and was named the NCAC Distance Runner of the Year for the 2024 outdoor season. A school record-holder in four track events, Kolka is making his first appearance at a national track and field meet.
Q: What does it mean to you to be making your first appearance at an NCAA Championships meet in track and field?
A: It means a lot to me, especially after last year when I was the first person not to make it in the field. So this year is my redemption, and I'm excited for the opportunity.
Q: You bested your previous school record in the 10,000 by 25 seconds earlier this season in St. Louis. What was that experience like for you?
A: It was really cool to be there in that atmosphere. A lot of it came down to the coaching from Coach (Chris) Marco, but also just the atmosphere there with everybody gunning for a fast time. To be surrounded by a couple teammates out there made it a whole lot better.
Q: How has running at the NCAA Championships meet in cross country helped prepare you for a national meet in track and field?
A: For cross country, it's a whole lot crazier because there are about 200 people in the race, and they funnel you into a very small and narrow path. The bumping and anticipation and physicality of that will help me for this meet, especially since it's a smaller group of guys running. The similar length of the races and the mental fortitude you need to compete in both meets have prepped me really well for this week.
Q: Talk about how special this year has been for you in both cross country and track.
A: This year has been crazy. I won my first conference MVP in cross country and in outdoor track, which sets me up well for the national meet. I was also All-Region in cross country and outdoor track for the first time this year, so it's been a special season.
Q: What are your expectations of yourself going into the national meet?
A: The expectation is for me to place in the top eight and be an All-American.