RICHMOND, Ind. — Chad Wertman has earned another week of competition.
Wertman will represent the
Earlham College men’s track team this weekend at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Championships at
DePauw University.
“We’re very proud of
Chad and his work ethic,” Earlham Co-Head Coach Nick Johnson said. “To see everything pay off in this way is quite an accomplishment for him.”
The two-day event begins on Friday in Greencastle and Wertman is scheduled to compete on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“I’m proud of this accomplishment,” Wertman said of qualifying. “But last week is over and it’s time to start preparing again for another meet.”
Last Friday, Wertman had a school record throw of 53’9¼” on his final opportunity as he won the shot put title for the second year in a row at the North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Championships at
Denison University.
“It was a tremendous performance last weekend,” Johnson said. “It was an exciting championship event for us because he won the title on his last throw.”
Before his final toss, Wertman was in second place and he was focused on a victory. “I knew I had to have a throw that was going to win the meet and not necessarily one to just qualify for nationals,” he said.
After the throw, Wertman knew it was a great effort. “I started yelling and going crazy because I knew I had won,” he said. “I also realized that it was going to probably going to be good enough to get me to nationals.”
It was. Wertman’s distance is listed as tenth in the nation and he would need to finish in at least in eighth place to become an All-American.