SATURDAY
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, paced by two All-America performances each from Shelby Mahr (Boyd/Stanley-Boyd) and Lexie Sondgeroth (Rochelle, IL/Township), equaled the best showing in school history by tying for fifth place in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Mahr, who finished second in the weight throw Friday, added a sixth place in the shot put Saturday. She threw 46-4.75 Saturday, with Jecel Klotz of UW-Oshkosh winning the shot put with a distance of 49-4.25.

With a third place in Friday's long jump already in the team score, Sondgeroth added fifth place points in the 200 meters with a time of 24.81. Shailah Williams of Rowan University won the 200 in 24.41.

Mahr and Sondgeroth are the second and third female UW-W athletes to earn All-America (top eight) in two events in the same indoor championship. Becky Karls, the long jump champion and a second place finisher in the 55 meters, was the first, in 1993.

Amanda Brom (Jefferson/Jefferson) contributed to the team total, and earned All-America recognition, by placing sixth in the 800 meters Saturday. Brom's time was 2:13.71, with Kylee Verhasselt of UW-Oshkosh capturing the 800 title in 2:08.67.

Whitewater's Tyler Henderson (Madison/Verona) also competed Saturday, finishing seventeenth in the long jump. Her best mark was 34-9.75. UW-La Crosse's Bria Halama went the farthest, jumping out to 40-1.5.

UW-Whitewater also finished fifth in the 1993 NCAA III indoor championship.

The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ruled the meet, with UW-Oshkosh winning the team title with 67 points, followed by UW-La Crosse in second with 65. Wartburg College, 46, and Wheaton College (MA), 26, took third and fourth, with Whitewater sharing the fifth with Williams spot with 24 points.

FRIDAY
Shelby Mahr (Boyd/Stanley-Boyd) and Lexie Sondgeroth (Rochelle, IL/Township) earned All-America honors, leading UW-Whitewater to fifth place Friday, the first of two days of competition, at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

UW-Oshkosh leads the team standings with 20 points, followed by Williams College with 19, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 18, Westminster College 15, and UW-W 14. UW-Whitewater placed twenty-first in the 2013 NCAA III indoor meet, with the best finish in program history a tie for fifth in 1993.

Mahr broke the school record in the weight throw with her best of 60-10, breaking the record of 60-4.5 that she recorded earlier this year. Mahr's finish among the top eight marks the sixth time a UW-W woman has earned All-America honors in the weight throw. The second place is the best finish for a Warhawk woman since Jessica Kohlman won the event in 2001.

Sondgeroth, who qualified in three events, earned third place in the long jump. She went 18-7.25, with Naomi Bates of Amherst College taking the event at 19-0. Sondgeroth is just the second woman in UW-W history to earn three All-America honors three times at the NCAA III indoor meet. She also placed second in the long jump in 2013 and eighth in 2012. Shelby Demos was the first Warhawk to accomplish the feat, placing in the high jump in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Sondgeroth competed in the preliminary heats of two events Friday. She placed seventh in the 200 meter prelims in 24.97, qualifying for Saturday's final. Tiffany Davis of Denison College was the top 200 qualifier in 24.61. Sondgeroth also ran the 60 meters, tying her school record of 7.73 in her heat, but that time was tenth in the field and she will not advance to the finals of the 60.

Melanie Pilon (Waukesha/South) competed in the pole vault Friday, with a top vault of 11-7.75. She placed fifteenth in the field, which was won by Cimran Virdi of MIT with a height of 12-11.5.

Amanda Brom (Jefferson/Jefferson) broke the school record in the 800 meter preliminaries with her 2:11.44 clocking, toppling the previous mark of 2:12.60 by Megan Kielar in 2006. Brom's time was the fifth fastest in the prelims, where Kylee Verhasselt of UW-Oshkosh led the field into Saturday's final with her 2:10.73.

In addition to Brom in the 800 and Sondgeroth in the 200, Mahr will try to add to UW-W''s team points in the shot put and Tyler Henderson (Madison/Verona) will compete in the triple jump Saturday.

Saturday's Schedule for UW-W Competitors
Shot Put ... 10:00
Triple Jump ... 10:00
800 Meters ... 3:55
200 Meters ... 4:15

PREVIEW
Lexie Sondgeroth (Rochelle, IL/Township) qualified for three events to lead the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's track and field team into the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University at the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska Friday and Saturday, March 14-15. The Warhawks will be represented in a total of eight events at the meet.

Sondgeroth will compete in the 60 meters, the 200 meters, and the long jump. She is the top seed in both the long jump and the 200. In the long jump her qualifying distance is 19-10.25, with the next best performance in the field 19-3.75 by Naomi Bates of Amherst College. The UW-W record holder, Sondgeroth has earned All-America honors for a top eight finish in the long jump indoors the last two years, placing second in 2013 after an eighth place her freshman year. Melissa Norville of Illinois College won the long jump last March with a best of 19-8.75, and Skye Morrison of Wartburg College set the Division III record of 20-3 in 2012. The Warhawk junior leads the qualifiers in the 200 with her 24.33, with Ashante Little of Wheaton College (MA) second among the seeds at 24.67. The 200 is a new event for the NCAA III indoor championship, so Sondgeroth will be looking to add the D3 record to her UW-W record in the event. Also the school record holder in the 60, her time of 7.73 is eighth among qualifiers, with Mallory Burnham of St. Thomas tops at 7.62. Sasha Henry of Buffalo State won the 60 indoors last year in 7.60, and Ashlynn Chavis of Methodist College set the NCAA III record of 7.54 in 2012.

Amanda Brom (Jefferson/Jefferson) will also represent UW-W in a running event, the 800. She is sixth among qualifiers with her 2:11.82, with Gabriella Gaudrealt of Springfield College atop the group at 2:09.57. Tara Clemens of Illinois Wesleyan University set the Division III record with her 2013 winning time of 2:09.88. Brom also qualified for the 800 indoors last year, but did not advance out of the preliminaries.

Shelby Mahr (Boyd/Stanley-Boyd) qualified for both throws in the championship. Mahr, the school record holder, has the third best performance in the weight throw at 60-4.5, with Melanie Brickner of UW-Oshkosh first coming in at 61-4.25. Samantha Loew of Oshkosh won the weight throw in 2013 at 62-0.25, and the Titans' Robyn Jarocki went 68-10 in 2006 to set the Division III record. Mahr has also earned a berth in the shot put, where he 46-1.5 is sixth among the field. Jecel Klotz of Oshkosh qualified first at 49-9.25, and another Titan, Breanna Strupp took the title in 2013 with her throw of 51-6.25. Jarocki also holds the meet record, 55-11.25 in 2006, in the shot put.

Also in the field events, Tyler Henderson (Madison/Verona) used a 37-5 to qualify seventeenth in the triple jump. Emilia Scheemaker of Ithaca College is the top seed at 40-2.25. The NCAA III record of 41-5 was set by Shimera Daniels of Wheaton College in 2002, and Norville of Illinois doubled up her long jump win by taking the triple jump with a mark of 41-0.25.

All-American Melanie Pilon (Waukesha/South), eighth last year, has qualified again for the pole vault. Marissa Kalsey of Westminster College heads the vault list at 13-1.5, with Pilon eleventh in the group with her 12-2. Michelle Favre of Ramapo College won the indoor title in 2013 with her 13-3.5, and Abigail Schaffer of Moravian College set the Division III record of 13-8.25 in 2011.

The Warhawks finished twenty-first in the 2013 NCAA III indoor championship. UW-W's best finish indoors came in 2000 with a fourth place. UW-Oshkosh won the 2013 team title.

Note: The Devaney Center track is banked. All of Whitewater's times, as with most of the field, are clocked on a flat track. That means that qualifying times for any event other than the 60 meters and 60 meter hurdles, had to be converted. There will be discrepancies between times registered as UW-W records or season bests from the adjusted times for the Devaney Center.

Schedule for UW-W Qualifiers
Friday
11:00 ... weight throw
2:00 ... long jump
3:30 ... pole vault
3:45 ... 60 meters prelims
4:20 ... 800 meters prelims
5:05 ... 200 meters prelims
Saturday
10:00 ... triple jump
10:00 ... shot put
3:25 ... 60 meters final
3:55 ... 800 meters final
4:15 ... 200 meters final

complete list of qualifiers

UW-W recap of the 2013 NCAA III indoor meet, including complete results



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