Esther Seeland; Division III Dual-Sport Star in Soccer and Track & Field

Esther Seeland is a senior soccer player and track and field runner at Messiah University, and is a native of State College, Pennsylvania. The former State College High star was a state champion in the outdoor and indoor 800 meter run in 2018, and chose the private college located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania because she liked the small school atmosphere centered on faith and community.

She’s gone on to become a two-sport athlete at one of the top Division III athletic programs in the United States, something impressive in itself. However, she’s excelled in both sports for the Lady Falcons, playing in over 60 games on defense in soccer. So far on the pitch, she’s become a winner of the Elite 90 Academic Award and a CoSIDA Academic All-American Second Team selection. She also helped Messiah to two MAC crowns, two NCAA Tournaments, and a national title in 2019.

Photo courtesy of Messiah Athletics.

In track and field, she’s excelled as one of the top runners in the nation in each of her three years of competition. Her freshman campaign was a strong one as she won the 800m and the mile races at the 2019 MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships. She also helped the the team to first place in the 4x800m relay at the indoor conference championships. This helped her to be named the 2019 MAC Indoor Rookie of the Year.

Additionally, she helped the Falcons qualify for the Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in the distance medley and make it to the finals. As if this was not enough, she became an NCAA Champion in the 800 meter run for the first time while setting a new program record in the process.

Her sophomore year included All-American honors by USTFCCA, a win in the 800m and mile runs at the MAC Indoor Championships, a win with the Lady Falcons 4X800m at the MAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, a seclusion as a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America, a selection as a USTFCCCA Academic Award winner, and she was named to Winter Academic All-MAC team, with a spring GPA of 3.94.

Her junior year was one for the record books as she took home gold for the second time in her career at the NCAA DIII National Championship Meet. This 800 meter run was a meet record at 2:02.52, a time she will be aiming to break in 2022 as she goes for a three-peat. She also became named an All-American in the 800m, was named All-Region and Mideast Region Track Athlete of the Year by USTFCCCA, was honored as MAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, and was named to the Academic All-MAC squad.

Additionally, she became a First Team All-MAC in the 800m, 1500m, and 4x400m relay, a Third Team All-MAC in the 400m, was named the MAC Track Athlete of the Week six times, was named National Athlete of the Week by USTFCCCA, set new program records in the 400m, 800m, and the 1500m, set new MAC conference records in the 800m and 1500m, was named a NCAA Division III All-Academic Athelte by USTFCCCA, earned a CoSIDA Academic All-District tab, and was named CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she maintains two years of eligibility and hopes to continue running collegiately until 2023. This May, she will finish a biomedical engineering degree and hopes to work on a masters degree in exercise physiology.

Her favorite memories include road trips with her soccer team, running relays with her teammates, and having the chance to run in and travel to some really cool cities so far in her time as an athlete. One interesting fact about Esther is she did not plan to run in college, but rather committed to Messiah initially to play soccer.

Esther with some of her teammates at Messiah. Photo submitted by Esther Seeland.

Best of luck as you try to make it a three-peat in the MAC for soccer and a three-peat in the 800 meter at NCAA’s, Esther! Thank you for the opportunity to share your incredible career to date 🏃🏼‍♀️⚽️👩‍💻🏆

Messiah Women’s Soccer after their national championship. Photo courtesy of Messiah Athletics.