Friday, February 20, 2004

Valparaiso University junior Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) set a pair of school records on Friday evening, helping to lead the Crusaders to a fourth place finish at the Chicagoland Championships held in Romeoville, Ill.

The Crusaders tallied 58.5 points on the day, more than 100 behind champion Northern Illinois' 164 points. Lewis finished second with 91.5 points, while Carthage was third with 86 points in the 18 team meet.

Hagen broke her own school records in both the weight throw and the shot put on the day. In the weight, her toss of 52'3 ¼" placed her third in the event, and was 1'4 ¼" further than her prior record set last season. In the shot put, Hagen turned in a throw of 41'3 ¼" to earn fifth place. That toss was five inches further than her 2002 mark.

Also on the infield, Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) scored in a pair of events for the Brown and Gold. She finished in second place in the pole vault, clearing 10'8" and rebounded with a seventh place effort in the long jump, leaping 16'2 ¼". Emilee Marsicek (Spalding, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) finished sixth in the pole vault as well, jumping 9'2 ¼". Martha Josephson (Detroit Lakes, Minn./Detroit Lakes H.S.) earned Valpo's other points in the field events, placing second in the height jump by clearing 5'2".

On the oval, Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) placed fifth in the 400m dash with a time of 1:01.11. Meyer continued her stellar day in the 800m run with a runner-up finish in a time of 2:22.53, just .37 seconds off the pace. Ashley Billstrom (Hales Corners, Wis./Whitnall H.S.) finished fourth for Valpo in the 3000m, running a time of 10:50.26.

Valpo will return to action next weekend as the Crusaders head to the Mid-Continent Conference Indoor Championships to be held in Sterling, Ill. Action will get underway on Friday beginning at 2 p.m.