INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – On Friday night, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced the qualifiers for the Division III National Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Among the list of qualifiers was three-time National Champion Esther Seeland, who will race in both the 800 Meter and 1500 Meter. Seeland holds the top time in the country in both events by sizable margins.
 
The National Championships will take place at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio where Seeland claimed her first individual National Championship in the 800 Meter at the 2019 Championship Meet. Since raising her first walnut and bronze trophy, Seeland has clinched two more 800 Meter National Championship, winning he 2021 Outdoor Title as well as the Indoor Championship in 2022.
 
Seeland carries the top seed into the National Meet in both the 800 Meter and 1500 Meter. This will be the first time Seeland will race the 1500 Meter on the national stage. She previously ran the 3000 Meter at this year's indoor meet, claiming All-American honors in the event.
 
Her seed time in the 1500 Meter is 4:18.28, a mark that she turned in at the Penn Relays on Apr. 28. Of the 22 accepted entries, Seeland is one of only six women to break 4:30 this year. Baldwin Wallace's Hope Murphy holds the second-fastest seed time with a mark of 4:26.27.
 
In the 800 Meter, Seeland is once again the runner to beat. She is the second-fastest Division III runner to ever run the event and enters this year's National Championship with a seed time of 2:03.66, nearly four and a half seconds better than anyone else in the field. Middlebury's Cassie Kearney holds the second-fastest time in the country with a mark of 2:08.05.
 
Seeland's final National Championship Meet as a Messiah student-athlete will get underway in less than a week. The Championships are slated to get underway at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio from May 26-28. Seeland is scheduled to get underway on Thursday with the 1500 Meter Prelims.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com in the coming days for a complete preview of the National Championship Meet.
 

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