The Valparaiso University women's track and field team concluded the Mid-Continent Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday with a fourth place finish in Cedar City, Utah.

The Crusaders tallied 87 points over the three-day championship, 30 more than fifth place UMKC. Southern Utah was crowned team champion with 270 points followed by Western Illinois with 218.5. Oral Roberts finished third with 142.5 while Chicago State was sixth with 37 points.

Jessica Cherrington (Roseberg, Ore./Umpqua Valley Christian H.S.) started the field event portion of the day off with a second place finish in the javelin. Last year's event champion turned in a toss of 123'4". Heather Furr (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield H.S.) and Emilie Marsicek (Spalding, Mich./Carney-Nadeau H.S.) each placed in the event as well. Furr was sixth with a toss of 105'10" and Marsicek was seventh with a throw of 105'4".

Holly Hagen (Hobart, Ind./Hobart H.S.) led three placers in the discus for the Brown and Gold. Her toss of 119'7" marked a season's best and placed her fourth. Marsicek was seventh with her throw of 106'9", while Rachel Liptak (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley H.S.) was eighth with a toss of 91'6".

Annie Elzey (Cornell, Ill./Flanagan H.S.) was Valpo's top finisher in the triple jump but did not score finishing in 11th place with a leap of 33'11 ¼".

On the oval, the Crusaders began the day with a fifth place finish in the 4x100m relay with a time of 50.68 seconds. Jobeth Schmiesing (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West H.S.) then just missed out on scoring by less than a second in the 1,500m run with her ninth place finish in a time of 5:02.87.

Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) placed eighth for the Crusaders in the 400m dash with a time of 59.53 seconds, while Laura Arloszynski (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield H.S.) earned the same finish in the 100m dash crossing the finish line in a time of 12.69 seconds.

The 800m run saw Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) cross the finish line in fifth place with a time of 2:18.90, missing a top-three spot by just .59 seconds. A pair of Crusaders placed in the 400m hurdles, as Furr turned in a time of 1:09.58 to finish sixth, while Mary Frisch (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton H.S.) was seventh crossing the line in 1:10.97.

The final individual event of the day, the 5,000m, saw Elizabeth Whiting (Parma, Mich./Western H.S.) and Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) finish seventh and eighth respectively. Whiting finished in a time of 20:16.06 while her teammate was 1.50 seconds behind.

The championships wrapped up with the 4x400m relay where Valpo finished in fourth place with a time of 4:00.13.

The Crusaders have now concluded their 2004 season.