Saturday, April 24, 2004

Behind six individual event victories, the Valparaiso women's track and field team claimed the championship at the Puma Invitational on Saturday afternoon in Rensselaer, Ind.

Valpo tallied 221 points, 40 more than runner-up St. Joseph's (Ind.). IPFW was third with 81 points.

The Crusaders took home four victories in the field events. Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) continued to up her school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 152'4" to take home top honors in the event.

The jumps saw Valpo with three more events, as Amanda Meyer (Somerset, Wis./Somerset H.S.) posted the victory in the long jump with a leap of 16'11 ½". Annie Elzey (Cornell, Ill./Flanagan H.S.) turned in a leap of 33'6 ½" in the triple jump to claim first place, while Emilie Marsicek (Splading, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) was first in the high jump clearing 4'10".

On the oval, Valpo won a pair of middle distance events. Amy Mikel (Lemont, Ill./Fenwick H.S.) won the 800m run with a time of 2:21.36, while Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) crossed the finish line first in the 1500m in 4:45.63.

Valpo will return to action on Friday and Saturday evenings at the Butler Twilight Invitational held in Indianapolis.