Jordahl, Cooper Earn All-America Honors at
NCAA Track & Field Championships

May 22, 2008

Becca Jordahl and Vicki Cooper earned All-America honors at the first day of the NCAA National Track & Field Championships being held at UW-Oshkosh on Thursday.

Jordahl placed third in the 10,000-meter run. She finished in 35:48.01 and was just three seconds out of first place. She entered the race with the fourth best time in the country. It was the second All-America honor for Jordahl. She earned the recognition in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. Jordahl will come back on Saturday to run the 5,000 at 3:55 p.m. She enters the race with the fifth fastest time in the nation - 17:01.58 - set at the WIAC Meet.

Cooper placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 153-9. She entered the meet with the 17th best throw in the nation - 146-6. On Saturday she will compete in two more events. At noon Cooper will compete in the shot put event and will throw the javelin at 2:30 p.m. Her best throw this year in the shot put is 44-11 3/4 and that is the 11th best in the country. Her best javelin throw this year is 133-8, which is the school record, and it is the 14th best effort in the nation. Cooper is a now a three-time All-American; she previously earned the honor at the 2008 indoor championships in the shot and at the 2007 outdoor championships in the shot.

Krista Hasselquist also competed in the discus on Thursday and had a best throw of 143-11, but did not place. She will also compete in the shot on Saturday and Hasselquist has the nation's 12th best throw in the event - 44-8.

The Falcon women scored 11 team points with Jordahl's third place and Cooper's fourth place finishes. They are tied for second place in the team standings, just three points behind first place McMurray University. UWRF is tied with UW-La Crosse and Roanoke University for second place.

Shannon Zweifel ran the 400-meter hurdle trials and qualified for Saturday's finals which will be held at 3:15 p.m. She had a season-best time of 1:02.09 on Thursday. It was the ninth best time in the preliminaries.

Brittany Smith competed in the first day of the heptathlon and finished with 2,572 points. She is in 16th place. She finished 10th in the 100 hurdles in 15.46, she had a leap of 4-8 ¾ in the high jump and placed 17th, she had a throw of 28-1 ½ and placed 18th in the shot and she finished fifth in the 200 with a time of 25.98. She will compete in the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run on Friday. Action starts at 2 p.m.

Bruce Baillargeon competed in the first day of the decathlon and finished with 2,987 points and is in 15th place. He finished 11th in the 100 in 11.88, he leaped 19-3 ¼ in the long jump and placed 14th, he threw the shot 35-10 and placed 13th, he jumped 5-4 ½ in the high jump and placed 17th and had a time of 52.02 in the 400 and placed 12th. On Friday he will compete in the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run. Action continues at 1 p.m.

On Friday Jason Phillippi will run in the finals of the 3000-meter steeplechase. That race is scheduled to start at 7:20 p.m.

Falcon Schedule