Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Valparaiso turned in a fourth place finish at the Mid-Continent Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships which concluded on Tuesday afternoon in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Valpo finished with 69.5 points, two more than fifth place UMKC. Oral Roberts won the team title with 223 points, followed by Western Illinois with 119.5 and Southern Utah with 116.5. Chicago State was sixth with 18 points.

Melanie Wilson (Saint Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain H.S.) shattered her own school record from earlier this season in the triple jump on the way to a runner-up finish. The freshman turned in a leap of 38'4". She also finished second in the 60m hurdles, tying her school mark from prelims the day before with a time of 9.00 seconds.

Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) tied Rachel Matthews' 1999 school mark in the pole vault. Meyer cleared 10'11 ¾" to finish fourth in the event. Katrina Roberson (Shelton, Wash./Shelton H.S.) was seventh in the pole vault after clearing 10'0".

In the shot put, Emilie Marsicek (Spalding, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) and Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) finished second and third respectively. Marsicek turned in a toss of 43'6" while Hagen trailed her by 2 ¾". Rachel Liptak (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley H.S.) grabbed the eighth and final scoring spot with a toss of 32'10 ½".

In the high jump, Martha Josephson (Detroit Lakes, Minn./Detroit Lakes H.S.) finished 14th clearing 4'7 ¾".

On the oval, Rachael Button (Farmington Hills, Mich./Farmington H.S.) and Jobeth Schmiesing (Mankato, Minn./West H.S.) finished seventh and eighth respectively in the 5,000m run with times of 19:44.23 and 20:17.94. Schmiesing was also sixth in the mile with a time of 5:29.01 while Danielle Nunnelly (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) was seventh finishing in 5:42.59.

Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) led the way for Valpo in the 800m run with a tenth place finish in 2:25.65 while Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) was eighth in the 400m dash (59.99).

Valpo closed the meet with a fifth place finish in the 4x400m relay as Zellner, Mary Frisch (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.), Meyer, and Wilson turned in a time of 4:09.18.

Valpo closes its 2005 indoor season Friday and Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational. Friday's events begin at 5 p.m. CST in Notre Dame, Ind.