EUGENE, Ore. – Late Thursday night, the entries for the USA Track & Field (USATF) National Meet was announced and among the field in the National Meet was recent Messiah graduate, Esther Seeland. Seeland qualified for the USATF National Outdoor Meet in the 800 Meter with a seed time of 2:02.24, placing her in the field of 32 in the event.
 
Seeland is one of just nine collegiate runners to qualify for the 800 Meter at the meet and the lone NCAA Division III runner. The field is mostly comprised of sponsored professional runners. Seeland is scheduled to race next Thursday in Eugene, Ore. at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. The prelims are scheduled for Thursday with the top-16 runners advancing to the Semifinals on Friday and the top-eight moving into the Finals on Saturday.
 
The Falcons have seen a handful of alumni compete in the USATF National Meet, most recently Pat Roach in the 800 Meter, Chris Boyles in the decathlon, and Brian Sell, but Messiah has not had a student-athlete qualify for the Meet in their collegiate season before Seeland.
 
Seeland is coming off a double National Championship effort at the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet in Geneva, Ohio over Memorial Day weekend. Seeland claimed her fourth and fifth individual National Championships with titles in the 1500 Meter and 800 Meter. Just a week after those two titles, Seeland set a new personal best in the 800 Meter with a time of 2:02.24 at the Music City Track Carnival hosted by Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.
 
That personal best time of 2:02.24 in Nashville allowed her to qualify for the USATF National Outdoor Meet next week. The prelims are scheduled for 7:25 p.m. ET on Thursday in Eugene, Ore.

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