March 15, 2008

Complete Results

Mankato, Minn. - Maegan Doyen went into the high jump seeded 14th and left the event as a national champion. The sophomore cleared a height of 5'8" on her third try to claim 10 points and an individual championship at the Division II National Indoor Track and Field Championships. Grand Valley State finished sixth overall at the meet, finishing with 36 points, just three out of third place.

"It was a great team effort by our women to come just three points out of third place," said Jerry Baltes, head track and field coach at Grand Valley State. "We have a very young team coming back, so the future, not to mention the present, is bright."

Katherine McCarthy earned the team four points by finishing fifth overall in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.20. Candice Wheat gave Grand Valley another four points when she finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.64 seconds. Her time was just seven one-thousandths of a second in front of sixth place in a photo finish. McCarthy joined Katie Mandziara, Katie Alfredson and Kelly Gibbons on the fifth-place distance medley relay team, which contributed four points to the team with a time of 11:49.73.

Doyen's 10 points were the most earned by a Laker. Six other jumpers were able to clear 5'7", but Doyen was the only one to get over 5'8", and it took her all three tries to clear it.

"It was just an outstanding effort by Maegan to come in seeded 14th and win," Baltes said. "It's really just a credit to her preparation and drive."

Two Lakers scored in the pole vault. Miranda Farr and Dianna Noonan tied by clearing aheight of 12'5.5". Both cleared it on their first attempts, but could not get over the next level, so they both earned 2.5 points for Grand Valley State. The Lakers also had two student-athletes point in the weight throw. Mary Bogner and Kathie Posa finished fourth and fifth, respectively, by recording distances ofr 59'6.75" and 58'8".