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

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 25, 2007

NCAA III TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY TWO REPORT
(written by Jeff Febus and Bruce VanBaren)

OSHKOSH, WI -- With one day of competition left in the NCAA III Track and Field
Championships, the Calvin women sit in second place with 20.5 points. Amherst
(MA) leads the competition with 27 points. The Knights added to their total
with a pair of All-America performances in the high jump on Friday as seniors
Lauren Colyn (Battle Creek/Kalamazoo Christian HS) and Katie Bolt (Grand
Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) were third and fourth respectively in the
high jump.

The Calvin women also advanced a pair of individuals into Saturday's finals as
senior Lisa Winkle (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) had the fourth-fastest
time out of the 400 meter prelims (55.81) while junior Sarah Wittingen (East
Grand Rapids HS) slipped into the ninth and final slot for Saturday's 100 meter
hurdles finals with a time of 14.70. Wittingen will also compete in finals of
the 400 meter hurdles on Saturday and will join Winkle and freshmen Jourdan
Johnson (Dales Ferry, CT/Nedyard HS) and Heather Koning (Kalamazoo/Kalamazoo
Christian HS) in the finals of the 4x400 meter relay.

Also scheduled to compete for the Calvin women on Saturday are senior Kristen
Kalb (Stow, OH/Stow Munroe Falls HS) in the javelin, senior Megann VanderVliet
(Oakville, ON/Oakville Trafalgar HS) in the shot put and junior Christian
Overbeck (Seattle, WA/Bellevue Christian HS) in the 5,000 meters.

“I’m very happy for those two [Colyn and Bolt],” Coach Jong-Il Kim said. “They
showed you need to compete hard. As seniors they showed experience and I’m
proud of them.”

Colyn gave Calvin its best chance thus far at crowning a national champion.
She ended in a three way tie for first in the high jump clearing a height of
5-7, but placed third.

“I’m especially happy for Lauren,” Kim said. “As a senior she’s had
All-American talent for four years but has run into some injuries during her
career so I was very happy to see her break through to become an All-American.”

“I’m happy [with my finish],” Colyn said. “It feels good to finally compete
where I should. It was a long four years, but it feels good to finish as an
All-American.”

Three of the seventeen athletes competing in the high jump remained in the
event at 5-8 and missed all three tries. Colyn came through with a clutch jump
in her third attempt at 5-7 to send her into what would be the final height.

“That was probably my best jump [today],” Colyn said. “[My mind set] was ‘just
go do it, I can do it; it’s time to pull it together.”

“As a coach it’s always the same,” Kim said. “I told her to focus on the
fundamentals and she responded well.”

However, the clutch jump may have proved costly as she came up limping after
the landing, appearing to injure her back.

“I’ve jumped with pain all year,” Colyn, who has dealt with back spasms, said.
“I tried not to let it get to me mentally.”

“I had two good attempts at 5-8,” Colyn said. “They were probably the best two
attempts [among the two other athletes remaining at that height]. I did what I
could to come back, but it wasn’t enough.”

Wisconsin River Falls’ senior Jill Crandall and Geneseo SUNY’s junior Amanda
Haney were the other two athletes who made it to the final height. Crandall
was crowned national champion clearing 5-7 on her second try while Haney and
Colyn cleared it on their final attempts. Because Haney cleared 5-5 ¾ on her
first try and Colyn cleared on her second, Haney placed second and Colyn placed
third. Crandall was also an All-American in the heptathlon finishing third.

Colyn started off missing her first jump at a height of 5-1/2, but rebounded
clearing the bar by several inches on her second attempt. Colyn then cleared
on her first attempt at 5-2 ½, cleared on her second attempt at 5-4 ½ after the
bar fell after she hit the mat on her first attempt. At 5-5 ¾, Colyn cleared
on her second attempt.

Colyn was the top seed along with Wheaton College’s (MA) senior Jennifer Harlow
after she set a Calvin College school record clearing 5-8 at the Adrian/Alma
Triangular earlier this year. The 5-7 mark was a J.J. Keller field record, but
was credited to Crandall.

Colyn was making her second trip to nationals. Her first trip came in her
freshman year where she finished sixteenth in the high jump.

“My goal [today] was 5-8 or 5-9, but I didn’t really think like that,” Colyn
said. “I just wanted to jump my best.”

Bolt finished tied for fourth giving Calvin its second All-American performance
in the high jump. Bolt was an All-American in 2004 as a freshman with a sixth
place finish in the high jump.

Bolt cleared 5-1/2 and 5-2 ½ on her first attempts. At 5-4 ½ she missed her
first two attempts, but cleared the third. She cleared 5-5 ¾ on her second
attempt and missed all three attempts at 5-7. Bolt made her third trip to the
NCAA championships including her second straight and was seeded third with a
height of 5-7 ¼.

Bolt captured her second straight MIAA title earlier this spring and was named
to the All-MIAA team for the fourth straight year.

Hope sophomore Christina Lis finished in a tie for sixth place and an
All-America berth. In addition, Hope junior Lindsay Lange was fourth in the
heptathlon and senior teammate Jen VanderMeer fifth in the pole vault for
All-America berths.

Also competing for Calvin on Friday was sophomore Calah Schlabach (St.
Michaels, Arizona/St. Michaels HS) who placed 17th in the 3,000 meter
steeplechase with a time of 11:22.20. Sophomore Lauren Bergstrom (Rochester,
MN/Century HS) also competed in the prelims of the 800 meters but did not
advance to the finals, clocking in with a time of 2:13.72.

"Our goal tomorrow is to finish among the top four teams," said Calvin head
track and field coach Jong-il Kim of his women's team. "But we can not worry
about our place while we are competing. If we compete hard and do our best
tomorrow, everything else will take care of itself."

Wittingen will be competing in the finals of the 100 meter hurdles for the
first time after narrowly missing a spot in the finals last year. Winkle will
be running in the finals of the 400 meters for the second straight year. She
took fourth a year ago.

On the men's side, Calvin senior Todd Schuster (Denver, CO/Denver Christian HS)
qualified for the finals in the 800 meters with a career-best time of 1:51.24
that was the third best time of the prelims. Schuster sat near the back of the
pack for the first 500 meters of the race, then moved into the front pack of
his heat and roared down the stretch.

Also scheduled to compete for the Calvin men on Saturday is sophomore Jed
Christiansen (Greenville, PA) in the 5,000 meter run.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri May 25 21:01:50 2007