NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Bruins’ Stam and Krebs Earn All-America Honors in Javelin

2009 National Championships

MARIETTA, Ohio – Javelin throwers Beth Stam and Joel Krebs of George Fox University earned All-America honors with fourth and sixth-place finishes respectively in the women’s and men’s divisions as the 2009 NCAA Division III Track and Field National Championships got under way Thursday here at Marietta College’s Don Drumm Stadium.

Stam, a freshman from Siletz, Ore., threw a 135-10 / 41.40m to finish fifth in her heat and was the ninth and last qualifier for the finals.  She followed that up in the final round with a 139-4 / 42.48m to climb five places into fourth, earning the Bruins five points in the team standings.  Her personal best this year is a 142-0 / 43.28m.  The champion was Lisa Brown of Gustavus Adolphus College, who set a stadium record with a throw of 157-3 / 47.95m.

Krebs, a senior from Salem, Ore., threw a 194-4 / 59.25m in the first round, placing third in his heat and sixth overall entering the finals.  Although he was able to improve his mark to 196-8 / 59.9m with his next-to-last attempt, he remained in sixth and earned three points for the Bruins’ team score.  The 2007 national champion, whose best this year was a 203-7 / 62.6m, was hoping to regain his crown after enduring an injury-plagued 2008 season, but this year’s title went to Brock Solveson of Concordia University (Wisc.), who set a stadium record of 208-5 / 63.52 with his second throw in the preliminaries.

Also competing for the Bruins on Thursday were Melissa Leighty in the women’s heptathlon and Ryan Forbes in the men’s decathlon.  Leighty, a sophomore from Canby, Ore., stands sixth with 2,684 points after the first day of the multi-events competition, while Forbes is 14th with 3,305 points.  Leaders after the first day are Ashley Huston of Hardin-Simmons University with 3,104 points in the heptathlon and Josh Lovell of Linfield College with 3,822 points in the decathlon.

Leighty earned her points by finishing third in the 100 meter hurdles (11.51), 14th in the high jump (4-10.5 / 1.49m), 17th in the shot put (28-8.25 / 8.74m), and third in the 200 meter dash (26.10).  The second day of the heptathlon gets under way Friday at 12:00 noon Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Pacific).

Forbes, who earned All-America honors in the 2006 decathlon by finishing eighth, placed 14th in the 100 meter dash (11.51), 11th in the long jump (20-6.5 / 6.26m), sixth in the shot put (39-4 / 11.99m), 15th in the high jump (5-8 / 1.73m), and 11th in the 400 meter dash (51.74).  The final day of the decathlon commences Friday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (8:00 a.m. Pacific).

Also competing Friday for the Bruins will be Irene Johnson, a sophomore from Portland, Ore., in the women’s 100 meter hurdles, and Dakarai Kongela, a junior from Suquamish, Wash., in the men’s 100 meter dash.  Johnson enters the weekend with a school-record hurdles time of 14.47, which is 11th nationally.  Kongela has the second-best 100 time in Bruin history of 10.60, which ranks 8th nationally.

Preliminaries for the women’s 100 hurdles are set for 3:20 p.m. Eastern (12:20 p.m. Pacific), with the finals Saturday at 1:55 p.m. EDT (10:55 a.m. PDT).  The men’s 100 preliminaries are scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Eastern (1:10 p.m. Pacific), with the finals on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EDT (11:30 a.m. PDT).