Feb. 27, 2008

Complete MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships Information

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois women's track and field team returns to action after a four-week hiatus, Friday, when the Huskies open competition at the Mid-American Conference Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich.

The Huskies will be competing for the first time since the Feb. 14 tragedy on campus put all university activities on hold. NIU hasn't seen the track since Feb. 2, when the team took first place at the Tadd Metzger Invitational in Kenosha, Wis., and has competed in only five meets this season.

"My staff and our athletes will be dedicating our performances this weekend to the memory of the students who passed on," NIU head coach Connie Teaberry said. "We look forward to representing Northern Illinois University in a positive light."

At the Metzger, Huskies won a season-high eight events. NIU athletes swept the field events, with the exception of the pole vault, in which they didn't compete.

Though no Northern Illinois athletes have hit a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships, senior thrower Meagan Guenther's performances have neared it. In the weight throw, Guenther recorded a season-best toss of 59'04.75" in winning the event at the Eastern Illinois Mega Meet. Her throw was only 25.5 inches behind the mark needed to provisionally qualify.

Guenther is one of Northern Illinois' likely point-scorers at the championships. She scored in 2007 with a 55'02.75" effort in the weight throw that garnered eighth place, and she's beaten that mark in competition four times this year.

"Meagan was ready to go in December," Teaberry said.

Two more Huskies who scored in 2007 will be competing for NIU this year. Junior distance runner Meghan Ginter (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) ran a time of 17:45.6 to place eighth in the 5,000-meter run last year, and sophomore Jessica Statler (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Rapids Prairie) placed sixth in the high jump with a leap of 5'06.5".

The Huskies could also look to high jumper Elizabeth Berquist (Toddville, Iowa/Alburnett) for points. Berquist and Statler have had a healthy in-team rivalry all season, with Statler taking the year's opening two competitions, and Berquist getting the better in the last three.

"The high jumpers are looking forward to competing," Teaberry, a former Olympic high jumper, said. "They're two very competitive athletes, and not just with each other. They want to go one-two with no separation between them."

Another competitive weapon for NIU is sprinter Coretta Evans (Wheeling, Ill./Evanston Township). The senior holds four school records, but has been slowed by injury this season. Last year, Evans finished eighth in the outdoor 400-meter dash, and ninth in the outdoor 200.

"Coretta is a tough competitor, and each time she gets out there she strives to win," Teaberry said.

Teaberry mentioned long jumper Brittany Houghton (Freeport, Ill./Dakota), and triple jumper Shoshanna Brown (Plainfield, Ill./Romeoville) as other athletes she expects to do especially well this weekend.

While the MAC Indoor Championships are the culmination of the indoor season, some Huskies may compete at the Last Chance Qualifier, Mar. 8 in South Bend, Ind. in a final attempt to hit an NCAA provisional mark.