CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 22, 2008
NCAA III TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY ONE REPORT
OSHKOSH, WI -- Calvin junior Jed Christiansen highlighted a strong day of performances for the Calvin men's and women's track and field team on Thursday, finishing fifth in the 10,000 meter run with a time of 30:37.95 to garner All-America accolades for the first time in his track and field career. Thursday marked Christiansen's third consecutive trip to the NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the third time proved to be the charm for the Greenville, Pennsylvania, native in earning an All-America certificate.
Running in a field of 17 competitors, Christiansen sat near the back of the pack until the final 3,000 meters and then began to make a move. With four laps to go, Christiansen moved into the top seven. In his final lap, Christiansen burned off a lap of .62.04 to move into fifth place to nip Wheaton's Brandon Mull by a half-second and finishing a half-second behind New York University's Hany Abdalah. The race for first place also proved to be a photo finish as Tyler Sigl of Wisconsin-Platteville held off a lean by Kevin Balster of Wartburg at the tape to win by three-hundreths of a second with a time of 30:34.51.
"It was a crazy 10,000 meter race," said Calvin distance coach Al Hoekstra. "At times the field burned off some extremely fast laps and at other times, some extremely slow laps. It was the kind of race that played into Jed's hands because he has a fast finishing kick."
Calvin co-distance coach Brian Diemer agreed. "Jed stayed within 15 meters of the lead runner the entire way even though he was at the back of the pack for much of the race," said Diemer. "As the race went along, we were all getting excited because we knew Jed had a great chance to move up and finish well."
The All-America finish left a feeling of satisfaction for Christiansen who missed All-America honors in the 10,000 as a freshman in 2006 and also missed in the 5,000 meters in both 2006 and 2007.
"It (All-America finish) feels really good," said Christiansen. "The past two years, I had some breathing problems at nationals but I've finally figured the problems out and tonight I felt great."
Christiansen is scheduled to run the 5,000 meters on Saturday and is confident of having enough gas left in the tank for another strong run. "I'm used to coming back off of hard workouts so I'm confident that I'll run well on Saturday," said Christiansen. "I'm looking forward to having another opportunity to run on this track."
Christiansen's finish helped the Calvin men's track and field team move into 19th place through one day of competition as the Knights now have four points.
The Calvin women's track and field team did not collect any All-America finishes on Thursday but did qualify in three events for Saturday's finals. Junior Lauren Bergstrom (Rochester, MN) was the first Calvin runner to qualify for the finals, doing so in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:37.76 that was good for second place in her qualifying heat. Senior Sarah Wittingen (East Grand Rapids HS) also qualified in the 400 meter hurdles, clocking the second-best time of the afternoon in 1:00.83. Sumer Rohrs of Frostburg State had the top time in the prelims in 1:00.34.
In addition, Calvin's 4x400 meter relay team of Wittingen, freshman Rachel Boerner (Bergenfield, NJ), junior Kristen VanSickel (Pittsburgh, PA) and sophomore Heather Koning (Kalamazoo Christian HS) posted the top time in the prelims to advance to Saturday's finals. The quartet cruised in with a season-best time of 3:47.12. All four runners ran season-best splits with Boerner competing in the relay for the first time this year. Koning ran the anchor leg, closing with a careeer-best split of 55.82. Koning is scheduled to run in the (open) 400 meter trials on Friday.
In addition, senior Christina Overbeck (Seattle, WA) and freshman Jessica Koster (Grand Rapids Christian HS) competed in the 10,000 meters but did not score with Koster finishing 10th (36:18.08) in her first trip to nationals and Overbeck placing 13th (36:50.08). The race was won by Esther Erb of Case Western Reserve with a time of 35:45.01.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Thu May 22 22:24:08 2008
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