Friday NCAA Track: Bestul , Heckman reach finals

May 25, 2001
Seniors Katie Bestul and Jeremy Heckman reached Saturday's finals in their respective events at Friday's NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships in Decatur, Ill.

Bestul ran 14.72 to grab the eighth and final qualifying spot in the 100 hurdles in preliminary action Friday. Heckman ran 47.89 for second in his heat and eighth overall in the 400 meters. He'll run the finals Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Soph Tish Dusich just missed a spot in the 800-meter finals. Her time of 2:12.87 was third in her heat and ninth overall to miss the eight-women field for Saturday's finals.

Kelly Faris placed ninth out of 19 runners in the 3,000 meters in 9:59.38. Only the top eight score team points. Kara Hedin jumped 37-2 1-2 in the triple jump but didn't make the finals.

Thursday's highlights
The St. Thomas men's team broke through in a big way in the 4x400 relay preliminaries Thursday night.

The Toms won the first heat and broke both the UST school and Lindsey Stadium record with a 3:12.37 clocking. The quartet of Mark Bates, Justin Hall, Jeremy Heckman and Andrew Hilliard has the second best time going into Saturday's 4:05 p.m. finals, as Central (Iowa) came back to win the second heat in 3:11.68. Heckman is a senior and three other three runners are sophomores.

Thursday's time also broke the UST and MIAC all-time record by .23 of a second. Last May, the same St. Thomas foursome ran 3:12.60 in the 2000 NCAA Divisoon III finals for fifth place. That time broke a 15-year-old St. Thomas record and also broke the MIAC's all-time record of 3:13 converted from a 4x400 relay ran by Macalester in 1968.

Earlier Thursday, the Toms missed the finals in the 4x100 relay with Hall, Tom Hart, Heckman and Hilliard. The Toms clocked 41.48 but took fifth in the heat. Heckman also missed the finals in the 200 meters (22.01) and Hilliard missed the finals in the 400 hurdles (55.59).

UST competitors--Thursday
Jeremy Heckman in 200 prelims (22.01)
Andrew Hilliard in 400 hurdles prelims (55.59)
UST men's 4x100 prelims (41.48), 5th in heat, missed finals
UST men's 4x400 prelims (3:12.37), 1st in heat, 2nd overall

UST competitors--Friday
--Tish Dusich in 800 prelims (2:12.87), third in heat, ninth overall, missed finals
--Katie Bestul in 100 hurdles prelims (14.72), third in heat, eighth overall, in Saturday's finals
--Kara Hedin in triple jump finals (37-2 1-2), missed finals
--Kelly Faris in 3,000 finals, 9th of 19 (9:59.38)
--Heckman in 400 prelims (47.89), second in heat, 8th overall, in Saturday's finals

UST competitors--Saturday
--11:30 a.m./Katie Arnes in high jump finals
--1:20 p.m./100 hurdle finals (Bestul)
--1:30 p.m./400 finals (Heckman)
--3:40 p.m./Kelly Faris in 5,000 finals
--4:05 p.m./4x400 finals (UST men)

see link to NCAA track results here