The Valparaiso women’s track and field team continued the 2010 outdoor campaign on Saturday, competing at the Dave Rankin Invitational, hosted by Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Ini Umana (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) led the Crusader effort in the field events on Saturday.  Umana registered one top-ten finish on the day, a ninth-place showing with a toss of 130’9” in the discus throw.  She also paced the Crusaders in the javelin throw, finishing 12th with an effort of 94’9”, and in the hammer throw, registering a mark of 135’7”, good for 17th place.

On the track, Sara Christensen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) paced a trio of Crusader runners in the 5,000m run, placing 13th with a time of 18:58.11.  Haley Kerlin (Rensselaer, Ind./Rensselaer) and Whitney Bowman (Portage, Ind./Portage [Purdue]) finished right behind Christensen in the same event in 14th and 15th place, respectively.  Meanwhile, Jorie Ballun (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) finished in eighth place in the 400m hurdles, crossing the line in 1:16.77.

Valparaiso returns to action next Saturday at the Aquinas Open in Grand Rapids, Mich., the Crusaders’ final tuneup for the Horizon League Outdoor Championships.