Saturday, January 24, 2004

Valparaiso's women's track and field team earned a second place finish in a field of ten on Saturday afternoon at the Chicago Invitational hosted by the University of Chicago.

The Crusaders tallied 125 points on the afternoon, trailing just the champion, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, by 50 points.

The Brown and Gold excelled in the distance events, led by a victory by Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) in the 800m. The junior crossed the finish line in a time of 2:23.50, nearly a second in front of her nearest competitor.

Valpo also finished second and third in the 3,000m, while placing second and fourth in the mile. Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) was the runner-up in the 3,000m with a time of 10:33.28, while teammate Elizabeth Whiting (Parma, Mich./Western H.S.) was just 3.71 seconds behind. Whiting also earned a second place finish in the mile with a time of 5:15.76, while Amy Mikel (Lemont, Ill./Fenwick H.S.) placed fourth, crossing the line in 5:19.36.

The Crusaders also won the distance medley relay as Elizabeth Kinneer (Brighton, Mich./Brighton H.S.), Kristy Popp (Bowman, N.D./Bowman H.S.), Mikel, and Nelson set a new building record with a time of 12:44.59.

On the infield, Martha Josephson (Detroit Lakes, Minn./Detroit Lakes H.S.) finished in second place in the high jump, clearing 5'0 ¼". Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) earned third place honors in the pole vault with a leap of 10'6 ¾".

Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) turned in a pair of second place finishes on the afternoon. The junior earned runner-up honors in the shot put with a toss of 39'0 ¼". Hagen also placed second in the weight throw with a heave of 48'10 ¾".

Valpo will take next weekend off before returning to action on February 6 in the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.