Saturday, April 26, 2003

Valparaiso University's 4x400m relay set a new school record with a time of 4:07.79 at the Boilermaker Open on Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind.

The relay of Mary Frisch (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.), Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.), Amy Mikel (Lemont, Ill./Fenwick H.S.), and Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) bettered the previous best by .40 seconds set earlier this season.

The nonscoring meet opened up on Friday evening and Crusader sophomore Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) turned in a pair of top-ten finishes. In the hammer throw she finished in ninth place with a heave of 139'2", while finishing in eighth position in the shot put with a toss of 37'1 ¼".

In the triple jump, Valpo took fifth and sixth place. Alicia McNair (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins H.S.) leaped 32'8 ½", outdistancing teammate Lindsay Haan (Westminster, Colo./Denver Lutheran H.S.0 by just ¾".

Heidi Nathan (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) earned a seventh place finish in the 10,000m run with a season's best time of 39:15.36, also on Friday night.

On Saturday, in addition to the school record, sophomore Jessica Cherrington (Roseburg, Ore./Umpqua Valley Christian H.S.) placed fifth in the javelin with a toss of 117'1".

On the track, Zellner finished tenth in the open 400m with a time of 59.58 seconds, while Nelson earned a fifth place finish in the 800m run, crossing the line in 2:18.53. Mikel placed eighth in the 800m, 2.56 seconds behind Nelson.

Frisch earned a sixth place effort in the 400m hurdles in 1:07.14 as well.

The Crusaders will return to the oval next Saturday when the team divides between competitions at the Butler Twilight and the Puma Invitational at St. Joseph's.