NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Kongela’s 8th in 100 Ends Bruin Efforts in NCAA Nationals

2009 National Championships

MARIETTA, Ohio – After running the fifth-best time in Friday’s time trials in the men’s 100 meter dash, an eight-place finish in the finals on Saturday was not quite what George Fox University’s Dakarai Kongela wanted, but it was enough to earn him All-America status as the 2009 NCAA Division III Track and Field National Championships came to a close here at Marietta College’s Don Drumm Stadium.

Kongela, a junior from Suquamish, Wash., was the only Bruin to compete on Saturday, running a 12.58 that was well off the 10.79 he ran the day before in the preliminaries and the 10.60 he had earlier in the season, the second-best 100 time in Bruin history.  He earned one point for the Bruins, giving the men’s team a total of four points that left them tied for 45th in the meet. 

The Bruins’ other three points were scored Thursday by Joel Krebs with a sixth-place finish in the javelin.  Ryan Forbes, the third Bruin to compete for the George Fox men, finished 11th in the decathlon.

With no George Fox women competing on Saturday, the women’s team finished with five points, based on Beth Stam’s fourth-place finish in the javelin on Thursday, to tie for 53rd in the nationals.  Two other Bruin women were also in the championships, Irene Johnson missing the finals in the 100 meter hurdles and Melissa Leighty placing 12th in the heptathlon.

The 2009 national championships went to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh over McMurry University 46-40 in the men’s division, and to Wartburg College over Wisconsin-Oshkosh 52-50 in the women’s division.