10 Tommies ready for NCAA Track and Field championships

May 23, 2001
The St. Thomas men's and women's track and field teams will send 10 athletes to Decatur, Ill., for the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Millikin University May 24-26. Five men will compete in three individual events and two relays, and five women will compete in six individual events.

Seniors Jeremy Heckman and Kelly Faris will each compete in two individual events. Heckman is entered in the 200 and 400 meters with seedings of 10th and ninth, respectively. Faris will run the 3,000 meters and the 5,000 meters. She had NCAA qualifying times in three events but chose to withdraw from the 10,000 meters.

Heckman will also run on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Sophomore Justin Hall, freshman Tom Hart and sophomore Andrew Hilliard will join Heckman on the 4x100 meter relay. The 4x400 relay is comprised of Hall, sophomore Mark Bates, Heckman and Hilliard. Hilliard will also compete in the 400- meter hurdles.

Besides Faris, the Tommie women will send three seniors and one sophomore to the NCAA championships. Soph Tish Dusich, the lone underclassman, will run the 800 meters. Kara Hedin qualified in the triple jump, Katie Arnes will compete in the high jump, and Katie Bestul will run the 100-meter hurdles.

UST competitors--Thursday
--3:15 p.m./Jeremy Heckman in 200 prelims
--3:45 p.m./Andrew Hilliard in 400 prelims
--5:30 p.m./UST men's 4x100 prelims
--6:25 p.m./UST men's 4x400 prelims

UST competitors--Friday
--4:45 p.m./Tish Dusich in 800 prelims
--5:15 p.m./Katie Bestul in 100 hurdles prelims
--6 p.m./Kara Hedin in triple jump finals
--6:05 p.m./Kelly Faris in 3,000 finals
--6:45 p.m./Heckman in 400 prelims

UST competitors--Saturday
--11:30 a.m./Katie Arnes in high jump finals
--12:30 p.m./4x100 relay finals (UST men?)
--1:20 p.m./100 hurdle finals (Bestul?)
--1:30 p.m./400 finals (Heckman?)
--2:45 p.m./800 finals (Dusich?)
--3 p.m./400 hurdle finals (Hilliard?)
--3:20 p.m./200 finals (Heckman?)
--3:40 p.m./Kelly Faris in 5,000 finals
--4:05 p.m./4x400 finals (UST men?)

The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) will be represented well with multiple athletes qualifying from St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Hamline, Macalester, St. Catherine, Carleton, Augsburg, Gustavus, St. John's and St. Ben's.

NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships
May 24-26/Decatur, Ill.
MIAC Entrants (35)
(Qualifying times and seeding in parentheses)

Men (15)
100 Meters--Jerry Washington, SO, Gustavus (5th, 10.52)

200--Jerry Washington, SO, Gustavus (6th, 21.44); Jeremy Heckman, SR, St. Thomas (10th, 21.57)

400--Jeremy Heckman, SR, St. Thomas (9th, 47.88)

800--Mark Bresnan, SR, St. Olaf (11th, 1:51.87)

1,500--Eric Stafford, SO, Hamline (10th, 3:53.86)

110 Hurdles--Desman Oakley, SR, Augsburg (15th, 14.62)

400 Hurdles--Andrew Hilliard, SO, St. Thomas (6th, 52.86)

4x100 Relay--St. Thomas (Justin Hall, Tom Hart, Jeremy Heckman, Andrew Hilliard) (15th, 41.63)

4x400 Relay--St. Thomas (Mark Bates, Hall, Heckman, Hilliard), (9th, 3:14.22)

Long Jump--Cory Dingels, JR, St. Olaf (12th, 23-6 1/4)

Shot Put--Luke Speltz, SO, Gustavus (10th, 52-9 1/2)

Discus--Luke Speltz, SO, Gustavus (10th, 166-0)

Javelin--Tom Engwall, SO, St. John's (12th, 197-9)

Decathlon--Jon Berg, SR, St. Olaf (8th, 6526)

Women (20)
400--Stacy Horner, SR, Gustavus (11th, 56.56)

800--Tish Dusich, SO, St. Thomas (14th, 2:13.58); Megan Daymont, SO, St. Olaf (18th, 2:14.35)

1,500--Teresa Olsen, SR, Hamline (9th, 4:40.07); Megan Daymont, SO, St. Olaf (16th, 4:41.95)

3,000--Kelly Faris, SR, St. Thomas (14th, 10:08.97)

5,000--Kelly Faris, SR, St. Thomas (9th, 17:27.25); Laura Bloedorn, SO, Carleton (21st, 17:52.19)

10,000--Laura Bloedorn, SO, Carleton (6th, 36:47.86)

100 Hurdles--Liz Hajek, JR, Macalester (13th, 14.56); Katie Bestul, SR, St. Thomas (15th, 14.65)

400 Hurdles--Carrie Stuart, JR, Carleton (4th, 62.08)

Triple Jump--Kara Hedin, SR, St. Thomas (11th, 37-11 1/2)

Shot Put--Jackie Luehmann, FR, Gustavus (7th, 44-5 1/2); Tona Schmidtke, FR, Gustavus (15th, 43-5)

Discus--Alicia Tull, SR, Concordia-M'head (15th, 144-2); Jeanna Spannring, SR, St. Catherine (16th, 144-0)

High Jump--Katie Arnes, SR, St. Thomas (5th, 5-7)

Pole Vault--Caroline Boatz, SR, St. Ben's (10th, 11-6 1/2); Janet Hengel, SR, St. Olaf (14th, 11-6 1/2)