Peterson qualifies for national championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu March 1, 2016 Peterson qualifies for NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships MSUB Track and Field on Facebook Schedule of Events NCAA Championships

Senior Robert Peterson has qualified for the NCAA Division II Track and Field Indoor Championships.

MSUB senior Robert Peterson qualifies for second straight NCAA indoor championship.

INDIANAPOLIS – MSUB senior Robert Peterson has officially qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships set for Mar. 11-12, the NCAA announced today.

Peterson, a native of Billings, Mont., will compete in the men’s mile at the NCAA Championships for the second straight season. Peterson is seeded 12th in the race with a time of 4:07.67, which he ran last week at the Seattle Pacific Final Qualifier. The senior placed third in the race and topped his previous MSUB indoor record of 4:10.76 which he ran in 2014.

Last year at the national championships, Peterson finished 10th with a time of 4:11.29. He finished seventh in his heat with the seventh fastest time overall, but at the championships two heats are run with the top-3 from each advancing to the finals along with the next three fastest times.

Peterson became the first track and field All-American for MSU Billings last year with his trip to the national meet. This year he reclaimed his Great Northwest Athletic Conference title in the mile (which he won in 2014) with a photo-finish at the line in 4:10.13.

A total of 540 participants, 270 men and 270 women, will compete in the championships. Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event. The complete list of qualifiers is available at here. Heat sheets will be available at this same website on Monday, March 7.

The championships will be held March 11 and 12 in Pittsburg, Kansas at the Robert W. Plaster Center on Pittsburg State University’s campus. Pittsburg State University and the Crawford County Convention & Visitors Bureau will serve as cohosts of the championships. Portions of the championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

Men’s mile Seed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Name Oliver Aitchison Alec Baldwin Brian Baum Brady Speicher Chase Rathke David Ribich Jackson Sayler Chandler Reid Grayson Haws Valentin Pepiot Jeremy Antivo Robert Peterson Josh Hoskinson John Cusick Ben Vaughan Andrew Smith Sam Naffziger

Year JR SR SR JR SO SO SO JR SR SR SR SO JR SO SO SR

School Adams State Black Hills St. Adams State MSU-Moorhead Tarleton State Western Oregon Adams State Adams State Southern Nazarene Academy of Art American Int'l MSU-Billings Colorado Mines Colorado Mesa CSU-Pueblo Flagler Western Oregon

Seed Time 3:58.59 4:00.49 4:04.00 4:04.81 4:05.08 4:05.21 4:05.98 4:06.68 4:06.75 4:06.85 4:07.56 4:07.67 4:07.77 4:08.60 4:08.61 4:09.13 4:09.20

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