NEW YORK, N.Y. -
Esther Seeland returned to competition in her favorite event on Saturday, competing in the 800 Meter at the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge in the Invitational heat. Seeland turned in a time of 2:05.90 to finish fourth in the event against stellar competition. Unofficially, with her time of 2:05.90 Seeland sets a new NCAA Division III record for the Indoor 800 Meter, competed on a 200-meter track. Overall her time is the third-fastest Division III time in an Indoor 800 Meter.
Seeland opened her run with an opening lap of 30.16 and followed with splits of 31.31, 32.05, and 32.38.
She moved up throughout the race, starting in seventh after the opening lap and eventually finishing in fourth.
As mentioned, Seeland was racing against some top competition with Division I and post-graduate runners filling the field. Seeland was the lone Division III competitor in the field and performed exceptionally well.
As mentioned, unofficially she becomes the fastest woman to ever run the 800 Meter indoors in NCAA Division III history on a 200-meter track and easily turns in the fastest time of the 2021-2022 indoor season in Division III. Even after a flat-track conversion (2:07.35), Seeland is more than three and a half seconds ahead of the second-best time of 2:10.86 turned in by Emma Kelley from Washington University earlier this season.
