Saturday, April 01, 2006

Valparaiso notched five new meet records, including one track record, and took top honors in 11 events on its way to a runner-up finish Saturday at the DePauw Quad Meet in Greencastle, Ind.

The Brown and Gold tallied 198 points for their second-place finish. Indiana Wesleyan won the meet with 217 points. The host Tigers registered 156 points, while Butler rounded out the field with 62 points.

Danielle Nunnelly (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) crossed the line as the winner twice on Saturday. She set a new track record in the 1,500m run with a time of 4:38.19, which moves her into second on Valpo's all-time chart in the event. Nunnelly followed that up with a victory in the 800m run in 2:16.65, fourth-best in Crusader history. Laura Rolf (Rochester, Mich./Lutheran Northwest H.S.) finished as runner-up to Nunnelly in each event, recording times of 2:20.29 over 800m and 4:46.65 over 1,500m.

Melanie Wilson (Saint Louis, Mo./Rosati-Kain H.S.) took top honors in three events for the Crusaders. Wilson set a meet record, running a time of 15.12 for the 100m hurdles, and also won the triple jump (35'0 ½") and the long jump (17'8 ¼"). Wilson led a 1-2-3 Valpo finish in the triple jump, as she was followed by Amanda Body (Harlan, Ky./Harlan H.S.) and Carissa Heinold (Charleston, Ill./Charleston H.S.).

Body won two sprint events as well, setting a new meet record of 25.86 seconds in the 200m dash. Her time of 12.66 seconds in the 100m dash moves her into fourth in Crusader history in the event.

Also notching one event victory apiece for the Brown and Gold were Renae Swift (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.), who broke the tape in 18:46.27 in the 5,000m; Maggie Zellner (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy), who posted a new meet record with her time of 1:06.11 in the 400m hurdles; and Jobeth Schmiesing (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West H.S.), who registered a time of 11:49.56 over the 3,000m steeplechase course.

Valpo also crossed the line first in the 4x100m relay. The Crusader team of Heinold, Patricia Kloth (Medford, Wis./Medford Area H.S.), Zellner, and Wilson finished in 50.74 seconds.

Valparaiso returns to the track Friday, April 7 at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational. The first event of the two-day meet is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m.