Western State College of Colorado

INDIANAPOLIS - Six Western State student-athletes will compete for national titles next weekend in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 12-13 in Albuquerque, N.M. Lauren Kleppin and Iain Donnan will compete in the 5,000-meter run while Tyler Rasmussen, Andy Crook, Jerrett Swarr and Loren Ahonen will compete in the distance medley relay.

The distance medley relay team will be the first to compete Friday night at 7:45 p.m. Three of the members - Rasmussen, Swarr and Ahonen - were All-Americans in the same event a year ago. The team qualified with an adjusted time of 9:56.23 on the same track a month ago at the New Mexico Classic. The Mountaineers are one of four RMAC teams in the event out of the nine total teams accepted for the national championships.

Kleppin will compete in her first national championship meet for the Mountaineers Saturday at 5:35 p.m. Kleppin automatically qualified for the championships with an adjusted 16:55.12 at Grand Valley State Feb. 12 and has the ninth-best time in the nation this season. She stands sixth in the all-time program records and is seven-hundredths away from fifth on the record charts.

Donnan is going for his second All-America title in the 5,000-meter run right after Kleppin at 5:55 p.m. Donnan finished sixth at the national championships a year ago and enters with the No. 10 time in Division II this season. He was the RMAC champion in the event and is one of nine conference athletes in the event.

The national championships will be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center and begin with the men's heptathlon at 9:45 a.m.