March 12, 2009

Live Video

NEW ORLEANS, LA -

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Wednesday that junior Laura Paulsen of the Johns Hopkins women's track & field team has been named Women's Athlete of the Year for the Mideast Region.

Paulsen scored 24 points at the Centennial Conference Indoor Track Championships two weeks ago, anchoring a 4x800 meter relay squad that broke the school record and won the event. The junior ranks fifth nationally in the one mile run with her seed-time of 4:55.92 and 14th in the 5,000 meter at 17:27.48. Paulsen is also the anchor of the third-best women's distance medley relay team in the country with a seed-time of 11:51.64. The NCAA Championship meet record for the DMR is 11:34.46 The College of New Jersey and Tufts each ran faster distance medley relay times

Seniors Rachel Hogen, Jordan Ireton and Paula Osborn will join Paulsen in the distance medley relay at the NCAA Championships on Friday and Saturday. The relay team competes on Friday at 6:05 p.m. at the Rose Hulman Institute.

Paulsen will compete in the one mile at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The junior has been seeded in the same heat at fellow Centennial Conference student-athlete Cait Mullarkey from Swarthmore. If Paulsen qualifies for the finals, it will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Fans, you can catch all of the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship action via live video at http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/ncaatrack/pages/video.htm.