Feb. 23, 2007

Results

Grand Valley State tallied 44 points on day one of the GLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Saginaw Valley State University. The Lakers hold a slim two point lead over Ashland (42) and a 24 point lead over host school Saginaw Valley who is in third place with 20 points. The final day of competition will be on Saturday, Feb. 24 with the first event beginning at 10:00 a.m. The Laker women will be looking to capture its eighth straight GLIAC Indoor Track and Field Championship title.

Senior Stacey Kandas captured the individual title in the 5,000 meter as she ran a winning time of 17:06.27. The time was a meet record and also an NCAA automatic qualifying time. Freshman Leah Borns finished in fifth place with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 17:38.89, while senior Sarah Jaquith also recorded a qualifying time (17:59.17) with a sixth place finish. Freshman Jessica Koster took seventh place as she ran a time of 18:04.73.

The women's distance medley relay team of junior Susie Rivard, junior Ashley Jager, freshman Katherine McCarthy, and senior Mandi Zemba, also won the GLIAC Championship as they posted a meet record and an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 11:43.1.

In the field events, freshman Tanisha Johnson took sixth place in the long jump with a mark of 17-01.25. Three Lakers earned points in the 20# weight throw, as junior Kathie Posa led the way with a second place finish. She recorded a throw of 56-10.25. Junior Mary Bogner placed sixth with a toss of 53-01.75 and sophomore Emily Fox finished in eighth place, recording a mark of 49-03.00.

Numerous Lakers recorded qualifying times in the prelims to compete in the finals tomorrow. Sophomore Dianna Noonan finished in fourth place in the 55 meter dash prelims with a time of 7.34, while senior Jennifer O'Shesky took eighth as she posted a time of 7.53 to also qualify. Freshman Candice Wheat ran a time of 26.10 in the prelims of the 200 meter, which was good for seventh place and a chance to compete again tomorrow. Wheat also qualified in the 55 meter hurdles with a third place finish as she ran an NCAA provisional time of 8.31. Juniors Micaela Mayer and Ashley Jager both qualified for the finals in the 400 meter. Mayer finished in third place in the prelims with a time of 58.26 and Jager ran a 59.13 for a sixth place finish.