Crumpling the conference's sixth-place prediction for the Ball State University track and field team at the Mid-American Conference Championships, the Cardinals splintered the expectation in half, finishing third place overall.
Ball State and Miami University left Kent, Ohio, with identical scores of 73 points. The University of Akron secured its fifth straight championship title with a mark of 110.
Fifth-year senior Amber Williams accumulated 30 points for Ball State with her first-place victories in the 200-meter race with a time of 24.27 and clocked in a 7.44 time for the 60-meter dash. Teammate freshman Janae Taylor trailed Williams in the 60-meter dash and 200-meter race with a consistent mark of eighth place in each competition.
Williams also led the track in the 60-meter hurdles with an 8.24 time. Shadowing closely behind Williams in the hurdles matchup was junior Katie Johnson in third place with a mark of 8.53 and Ra'Jae Marable who finished sixth for the Cardinals with an 8.79 mark.
Williams met NCAA provisional requirement times in both the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles.
Junior Ali Bishel's stride in the 5,000-meter race earned first place with a time of 16:39.8 and set her to join Williams in capturing an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Bishel also prevailed in the 3,000-meter race with a time of 9:43.23 to give Ball State two first-place, blue-ribbon finishes.
Also catching on to the NCAA provisional time trend was sophomore Thekla Lorenz in the pentathlon match finishing second. In the pentathlon, Lorenz stole first place in the long jump with a leap of 19-02 -+. She also finished the 60-meter hurdle race with a second-place time of 9.02 and completed the 800-meter run in 2:20.40 for fifth. In field events, Lorenz placed ninth in shot put with a toss of 32-02 -+ and 10th in high jump with a l5-02 -+ height.
Contributing three points toward the Cards' cause was junior Brittany Ade in the 800-meter race when she completed the run in sixth place with a time of 2:13.99.
Fifth-year senior Christina Whitt, junior Jenna Schmitmeyer, sophomore Thekla Lorenz and freshman Kelsey Stephens performance in the 4x400 relay event clicked in a 3:53.61 for eighth place.
Senior Jessica Genovese competed in the high jump and tied for ninth with a height of 5-03.75. Also tying for ninth was another Ball State senior Lauren McNichols in the pole vault event reaching 11-7.75.
Freshman Megan Cherry competed in her first MAC competition and left with 19th place in the triple jump with a length of 34-11.75.
The last chance for Ball State to qualify for the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Notre Dame Invitational on March 12 through March 15 at College Station, Texas.
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