CSR (NCAA III Track and Field Championships Day One Report)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 24, 2007 (PART TWO)

NCAA III TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY ONE REPORT
(written by Bruce VanBaren '09)

Oshkosh, Wis. -- Amidst scattered downpours and thirty plus mile per hour
winds, which eventually combined into a driving, swirling rain for the final
half of the NCAA III Track and Field at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium,
Calvin’s men’s and women’s track and field teams began the first of the three
day event with four All-American performances.

After the first day of the competition, the women’s team is in a four way tie
for second place with St. Thomas, University of Redlands, and Loras College
each with 10.0 points. They trail Amherst College who sits alone in first with
15.0 points. Wisconsin La-Crosse is in sixth with 9.0 points. Meanwhile the
men’s team sits in a four way tie for ninth place with 5.0 points. Wisconsin
La-Crosse leads with 12.0 points.

For the women, senior Megann VanderVliet (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Trafalger)
highlighted the first of three days of nationals giving Calvin its first
All-American performance of the 2007 championships in the discus throw.
VanderVliet, who was seeded fourth, finished fourth throwing a distance of
141-7 feet. Her NCAA automatic qualifying and season best distance was 151-1
feet.

“It was tough to know how she was going to throw,” Coach Norm Zylstra said.
“Megann always throws her best in shot put at nationals, but the discuss has
been a struggle. She has been inconsistent in the past weeks [in the last
chance meets], but she really competed well [today] under the conditions. I
didn’t expect her to throw as well as she did [given the conditions]. She
scored five points and that was the goal.”

But VanderVliet said she is used to poor throwing conditions. “We haven’t had
good throwing conditions all season,” she said. “It’s mentally hard when you
think you throw it hard and then it doesn’t go as far as you think.”

VanderVliet’s best distance came in the final throw of the second flight of
trials. VanderVliet placed first in the second flight, while the top two
distances overall were placed in the first flight. St. Thomas’s Shara Guidry
was crowned national champion and Loras College’s Ellen Thys finished in the
runner up spot with those two times.

In the finals, Freshman Marissa Banks knocked VanderVliet from third place when
her third and last throw of the finals landed at 142-5 feet.

“I knew she had moved in front of me [before my final throw], but I wasn’t
really thinking about that; I was going for the win. I’m very satisfied with a
fourth place finish because we [the team] scored points with that and that was
my goal,” VanderVliet said.

VanderVliet is also a two-time All-American in the shot put, finishing third at
the 2005 NCAA III Championships and seventh at the 2006 national meet. She was
also the MIAA Champion in the shot put and discus this spring and landed a spot
on the All-MIAA team for a third straight year. In addition, she was named the
MIAA's Most Outstanding Field Event Performer. VanderVliet is seeded ninth for
Saturday’s shot put which is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (CDT).

“A top four would be fantastic [in the shot put],” she said.

Calvin’s other senior captain, Lisa Winkle (Grand Rapids/ Grand Rapids
Christian), was named an All-American for the second consecutive year in the
long jump, finishing one spot lower than she did last year in eighth place.
The MIAA champion in the long jump and third seed jumped a distance of 18- 1 ½
in her fourth straight appearance in the NCAA III track and field
championships.

The three time All-MIAA selection will also compete in the 400 meters and as a
member of Calvin's 4x400 meter relay team. She is seeded second in the 400
meters (54.81) and third in the long jump (19-2). Winkle has been a part of
five All-America relay teams at Calvin and has earned individual All-America
accolades twice, finishing seventh in the long jumeters last year. In 2004, she was part of 4x100 team that took fourth and a
4x400 team that took third. In 2005, she was part of a 4x400 team that took
fourth. In 2006, she was part of a 4x100 meter relay team that was eighth and a
4x400 meter relay team that was fourth. She was also a member of Calvin's MIAA
championship 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams.

However, tonight she didn’t run in the 4x400 meter relay trials as Coach Kim
elected to keep her out of the trials in order to focus on the long jump. The
NCAA rulebook states that each relay team can have one substitute in the
trials. Winkle will run in the final on Saturday.

Calvin, though, snuck into the finals finishing with the sixth best time of
3:51.32 and will occupy lane two in Saturday’s final event of the 2007
championships. Calvin’s 4x400 team consisted of freshman Jourdan Johnson
(Gales Ferry, CT/Nedyard), freshman Heather Koning (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo
Christian), sophomore Lauren Bergstrom (Rochester, Minn/ Rochester Century) and
Junior Sarah Wittingen (Grand Rapids/ East Grand Rapids). Bergstrom filled in
the third leg of the relay for Winkle.

Calvin’s third All- American performance came from junior captain Christina
Overbeck (Seattle, Washington/ Bellevue Christian High School). A year ago,
Overbeck qualified for the national meet in the 10,000 meters and finished
13th. Overbeck made her second straight trip to the NCAA III Championships a
success finishing fifth in the 10,000 meters with a school record time of
35:44.36 after she had been seeded seventh (35:53.17). Overbeck was the final
Calvin athlete of the night to take the podium and did so to an extremely loud
ovation from Calvin fans and athletes.

Overbeck will compete in the 5,000 meter run where she is seeded sixth
(16:59.88) on Saturday. This fall, Overbeck earned All-America cross country
honors, finishing sixth at the NCAA III Championships. This spring, Overbeck
defended her MIAA champion in the 10,000 meters and landed a spot on the
All-MIAA team for the second straight year.

Wittingen (Grand Rapids/ East Grand Rapids) was the top seed in the 400 meter
hurdles with a 60.64 and this afternoon breezed past the competition in the
second trial heat, recording a time of 61.39. She will face tough competition
as the other two heat winners broke the J.J. Keller field record and
Rensselaer’s Jen Dias recorded a Division III season’s best time of 60.55.
Wittingen was an All-American with a sixth place finish last year and will
start from the fourth lane in Saturday’s 400 hurdle finals. This year,
Wittingen won the MIAA Championship and was also named the leagues Most
Outstanding Runner for the second consecutive season. She was also named the
United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Great Lakes Region
Athlete of the Year.

On the men’s side, senior Josh Meckes (Bay City/ Saginaw Lutheran) ended his
stellar Calvin athletics career with an All-American performance in the long
jump. Meckes was making his fourth straight trip to the NCAA III
Championships, but unlike the previous three trips Meckes finished in the top
eight as an All-American.

“It’s my fourth trip to nationals and I haven’t been an All-American yet so I
would have been happy with any place in the top eight,” Meckes said.

Meckes’s distance of 23-10 ¼ feet tied him for second, but because of poor
results on his other five jumps which included four fouls and a 17-4 ¼ , he
dropped to fourth place on the podium. Loras College senior Geoff Kaiser took
the top spot with 23-10 ¾ and Heidelberg College junior Greg Tyson and Fisk
University freshman Kamar James finished second and third respectively tying
Meckes’s 23-10 ¾, just ½ inch off of the winning distance.

“It was a combination of the wind today (which he said was worse than he’s ever
seen at a track meet) and the fact that I haven’t jumped since the Aquinas meet
when I hurt my back,” Meckes said.

Meckes was the MIAA runner-up in the long All-MIAA team for the fourth straight year. The MIAA Champion, Albion senior
Jason Bowman, did not qualify for the finals.

A star basketball player and now an All-American track and field athlete,
Meckes concludes an outstanding career, but right now he is just relieved to be
done. “I’m sure next year when I go to games or meets, I will miss it; but
right now my body is just ready to be done,” he said.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Thu May 24 23:35:51 2007