Laura Rolf (Rochester, Mich./Lutheran Northwest) and Amanda Body (Harlan, Ky./Harlan) both earned top of the podium finishes Friday at the Chicagoland Championships in Romeoville, Ill., helping the Valparaiso women’s track and field squad to a seventh-place team finish.

The Crusaders tallied 47 points Friday evening to finish seventh of the 19 competing schools.  Host Lewis University took the team title with 107 points.

Rolf defeated a field of 23 runners in the 5,000m run, breaking the tape in 16:59.88, almost 40 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.  It was a new career-best time in the event for the senior, who moved into second place on Valpo’s all-time chart in the event, less than three seconds behind record-holder Collette Liss.

Body out-paced 47 other runners in the 200m dash by nearly a half-second, crossing the line in 25.84 seconds for her event victory.  The win was one of three top-five placements on the day for Body.  She posted the second-fastest time in Crusader history in the 55m dash during the preliminary round, finishing in 7.33 seconds, and ended up placing fifth in the event finals.  She also registered a fourth-place showing in the long jump, leaping 17’5 ½”.

Alyssa Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) tallied two top-three finishes in the middle distance events for Valpo.  The junior placed second in the mile run with a time of 5:16.02 and crossed the line in the 800m run in 2:24.93, good for third place.  Both times also were season-bests for Bradford.  Junior Sara Christensen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) added to the Crusader cause with a fifth-place finish in the 3,000m run, covering the course in 10:59.53.

The Crusaders return to the track next Saturday at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.  The first event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CST.