Saturday, May 06, 2006

Danielle Nunnelly (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) paced the Valpo effort at the Butler Twilight Saturday, breaking the school record in the 800m run.

Nunnelly brought home the gold in the 800m with a time of 2:14.37, lowering the Crusader record formerly held by All-American Collette Liss by nearly eight-tenths of a second. Nunnelly currently sits second all-time at Valpo behind Liss in the 1,500m and 5,000m runs.

Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) had the Crusaders' lone second place finish of the meet. Zellner recorded a time of 16.09 seconds in the 100m hurdles for the runner-up spot.

Melanie Wilson (Saint Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain H.S.) narrowly missed matching her own school record in the long jump, leaping 18'1 ½", good for a third-place finish.

Amanda Body (Harlan, Ky./Harlan H.S.) also registered a third-place finish with a time of 12.77 seconds in the 100m dash. Patricia Kloth (Medford, Wis./Medford Area H.S.) finished right behind Body in fourth place, crossing the line in 12.96 seconds. Kloth also notched a fourth in the 200m dash in 26.12 seconds.

Two Crusader relay teams recorded the third-fastest times in program history. The 4x100m relay team of Carissa Heinold (Charleston, Ill./Charleston H.S.), Kloth, Zellner, and Wilson finished in third place, finishing the race in 49.37 seconds. The 4x400m team of Zellner, Wilson, Body, and Jennifer Plaskota (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley H.S.) came home in 4:05.83, en route to taking fourth place.

Valparaiso will look to improve upon last year's fourth-place finish when the Crusaders return to the track at the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day meet, taking place in Macomb, Ill., will begin Thursday, May 11 at 9:30 a.m.