No one expected the Ball State women's track team to be in contention for a second-straight indoor Mid-American Conference title after losing seven key seniors from last year's squad.
On Saturday, however, the Cardinals proved they still had enough talent to compete with the conference's best.
Ball State placed third out of thirteen MAC schools this weekend at the seventh-annual indoor championships. Central Michigan won the meet with 122 points. Eastern Michigan claimed second place with 101, and Ball State was third with 97.
"We are never satisfied with third place considering the winning tradition we have," head coach Sue Parks said. "We would have had to have an incredible performance to win."
Coming into this season, Ball State had won three of the six indoor championships, including the 2001 title. This year, however, Parks said her team was just not deep enough to win the meet.
"Our top people preformed at the level we wanted, but we didn't have enough depth or enough backup," she said.
The meet was highlighted by a number of strong individual performances. Junior Katie Nowak was named Most Valuable Performer after scoring in four events. She won the 5,000-meter with a MAC-record time and qualified for nationals while doing so. She also placed third in the 3,000 meter, second in the mile and anchored Ball State's victorious distance medley relay.
"She was phenomenal," Parks said. "She ran four great races. No other runner even attempted such a thing."
Another great effort was put forth by Patricia Soman. The junior won the long jump and the triple jump. Even though she injured a hamstring while jumping, Soman came back to place eighth in the 400-meter.
"She was unable to run the mile relay, which hurt us some, but she still did well for us," Parks said.
Other winners for Ball State were senior Janee Langhorne, who won the weight throw with an all-time MAC-record throw of 60 feet, 7 3?4 inches, and Natasha Lothery, who hit the NCAA provisional mark on the way to a first place in the 800-meter run.
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