Fitter Competes at NCAA Track and Field Championships

The following information is courtesy of Keene State College

Keene State College will be represented by three athletes at the NCAA Division III Indoor track and Field Championships this weekend at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. It’s the first time North Central has hosted the Indoor Championships.

Seniors Maggie Fitter (Branford) and Janel Haggerty (Guilford) will compete in the 800-meter and pentathlon events, respectively, while junior Ryan Widzgowski (Camden, Maine) will race in the mile.

Fitter and Widzgowski first competed in preliminaries in their events.  Fitter is making her fourth trip to a national championship. She, along with Haggerty, earned All-America honors on KSC’s DMR team as a sophomore. Fitter also qualified for the NCAA outdoor meet last spring in the 800 and represented Keene State at the national cross country championships this past fall.

“I think those experiences are going to help me a lot. I know what it’s like to suddenly be thrown into a good field of athletes,” said Fitter, who is seeded 10th in the 800 (2:13.94). “It’s so easy to talk yourself out of the race. Staying confident is something that I learned the past two times I’ve gone. I’m more confident.  I know that I’m just as good as anybody else”  

Thomas also has a lot of confidence in Fitter. 

“I’m pretty sure she’ll make finals and be an All-American,” he said. “She’s running well and I expect her to run two good races out there.” 

While Thomas feels the top two seeds (Tara Clemens from Illinois Wesleyan and Carmen Graves from Roanoke) will be hard to catch, he feels Fitter can compete with the rest of the field.

“All three of them seem to be hitting their best marks at the end of the season, so they just have to stay healthy, get some good rest and keep the nerves under control,” said Thomas.   

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