Track: Stechschulte To Compete At Nationals
March 07, 2006 07:48 PM | General
March 7, 2006
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| Abbie Stechschulte |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Multi-event athlete Abbie Stechschulte will compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 10-11, in the pentathlon.
The junior from Columbus Grove, Ohio, recorded the 12th-highest point total in the country in the pentathlon this year when she posted a career high 3,972 points at the BIG EAST championship.
“My performance at BIG EAST was my personal best,” Stechschulte said. “I felt I gave everything I had in every event. I guess things just went my way that day.”
Her mark was the second highest point total in school history behind former national champion Pat Itanyi.
“Abbie deserves where she has gotten so far, she is such a hard worker,” head coach Jeff Huntoon said.
Teammates Jessica Czaikowski and Susan Davis posted NCAA qualifying times in the 60-meter hurdles and one mile run, respectively, but just missed the cut to make the trip to Arkansas. Czaikowski’s best hurdle time was 8.26 seconds this season, but the NCAA took Rutgers’ Shameka Marshall (8.25) as the last qualifier. Marshall had the 18th fastest time in the nation.
“Even though they missed the NCAA championships, I am very pleased with their progress over the course of the indoor season,” Huntoon said. “Now, they have to get ready for outdoor season.”
West Virginia, as a team, finished up the indoor season with an 11th place finish at the ECAC championships. Czaikowski took second in the 60-meter hurdles and fourth in the 60-meter dash, while senior Junique Morris placed sixth in the 200-meters and eighth in the 60-meter dash. Senior Jen Hall set a new personal best in the pole vault at 3.65 meters to take seventh place.
The distance medley relay team of Halimah Bashir, Davis, Raeleen Hunter, and Alison Spiker, ran to a fifth place finish with a time of 11:28.47. That time ranked among the national top 20 for the eighth straight year.
