Elizabethtown College Women's Track and Field
Saturday, March 13, 2004

Etown Finishes 2004 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships 13th in The Nation; Carrie Kerna Finishes Second in Nation in 55m Hurdles; Melissa St. Clair Finishes Third in Nation in 5000m; Both Earn All-America Honors

WHITEWATER, Wis. --- A pair of Elizabethtown College women's track & field athletes competed at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for the first time Friday and Saturday, with senior Carrie Kerna (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) competing in the 55m hurdles and junior Melissa St. Clair (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) competing in the 5000m. Both clinched All-America honors by finishing in the top eight, and together they scored 14.0 points to place Elizabethtown 13th in the nation in Division III in the program's fifth year of varsity competition.

St. Clair finished third out of 14 competitors in the 5000m in 17:18.19. That time was well below her previous personal best and Etown indoor program record of 17:41.09, and St. Clair as a result finished much higher than her seeded position of 12th. By placing in the top eight in the nation, she also earned All-America honors for the first time in her track & field career. St. Clair also earned All-America honors in cross country in November 2003.

Kerna ran the finals of the 55m hurdles Saturday in 8.24 seconds, 0.03 shy of her personal best of 8.21 seconds set at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships February 28, but good enough to finish second in the nation. On Friday, she posted a time of 8.30 seconds in the preliminary round of the 55m hurdles, winning her heat and posting the second-fastest time overall in the preliminaries. This is the first time Kerna has ever earned All-America honors.

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the 2004 NCAA Division III Women's Indoor Track & Field championship with a total score of 56.5 points.

At University of Wisconsin-Whitewater:
2004 NCAA Division III Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships
Top 20 Team Scores: 1. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 56.5; 2. Wheaton (MA) 28.0; 3(t). Wisconsin-Stevens Point 23.0; 3(t). Bates 23.0; 5. Wisconsin-Stout 21.0; 6. Illinois Wesleyan 20.0; 7(t). Wilmington 18.0; 7(t). Carthage 18.0; 7(t). Amherst 18.0; 10(t). College of New Jersey 16.0; 10(t). McMurry 16.0; 12. Williams 15.0; 13. Elizabethtown 14.0; 14(t). New Jersey City 13.0; 15. Ithaca 11.5; 16. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 11.0 17(t). Otterbein 10.0; 17(t). DeSales 10.0; 17(t). Adrian 10.0; 20(t). University of St. Thomas 9.0; 20(t). Nebraska Wesleyan 9.0; 20(t). Mount Holyoke 9.0