ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University indoor track and field team is sending five athletes to compete at the 2018 NCAA Division II Men and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships this Friday and Saturday in Pittsburg, Kansas.
 
Hosted by Pittsburg State University and the Crawford Country Convention and Visitors Bureau, the meet will be held at the Robert W. Plaster Center. The championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com. 
 
Senior Ali Anderson is scheduled to compete in both the 400-meter dash and pentathlon. The Camano Island, Wash.-native recorded a season-best time of 55.68 seconds in the 400 at the GNAC Indoor Championships earlier this month and enters the NCAA Championships ranked 19th in the country. She also ranks 14th in the pentathlon with a personal-best mark of 3,605 points.
 
Joining Anderson in the pentathlon will be fellow senior HarLee Ortega. Nationally, Ortega ranks ninth in the event after registering 3,651 points at the WSU Cougar Indoor.
 
Mariyah Vongsaveng returns for her second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance after recording the 11th fastest time in Division II in the 60-meter hurdles at the GNAC Championships (8.58 seconds). The junior just missed qualifying for the finals in the same event last year with a time of 8.57 seconds, which was good enough for tenth overall.
 
Representing the Wildcats in the pole vault will be sophomore Halle Irvine. Irvine cleared a height of 12 feet, 4.75 inches last week at the SPU Final Qualifier and enters the meet ranked 18th in the nation.
 
The lone competitor from the men's squad will be senior Kodiak Landis. Landis recorded a personal-best mark of 5,407 points earlier this season at the UW Invitational to rank fourth in the nation. The Snohomish, Wash.-native earned All-American honors last year after finishing third in the event with a total of 5,342 points. 
 
Check back to WildcatSports.com following the meet for a full recap and results.
 
-CWU-