NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship Website

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - When the 2009 NCAA Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship Meet convenes this Friday, Bethel University will be represented by five student athletes. The national championship meet will be hosted by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.

Three of the five will be making their second appearance in the national spotlight for indoor track & field, including Marie Borner (Sr., Cottage Grove, Minn.), who is the defending national champion in the mile run. Last year, she won the race with a time of 4:58.36, which was just .25 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. This year, she posted a school record time of 4:52.14, which gave her an automatic qualifying time for the championship meet.

Jay Quick (So., Johnston, Iowa) is also on his way back to the national meet in the high jump after having cleared 2.04 meters at the Pre-Conference Meet two weeks ago at Macalester. Fellow high-jumper Vanessa Moore (Sr., Grantsburg, Wis.) competed at the indoor championship meet in 2007 and earned NCAA All-American status by finishing in seventh place with a leap of 1.63 meters. This year, she hopes to improve upon her finish of two years ago as she heads to Indiana based on the strength of her 1.66 meter jump at the Parent's Day Open at the University of Minnesota on February 21.

Eric Rhode (Jr., Oakdale, Minn.) and Heather Jelen (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) will be joining the group to participate in their first indoor national championship meet, although both have experience participating on the national level. Rhode will represent Bethel in the 400 meter race as he earned a time of 49.35 seconds at the Lake Superior Challenge on February 14th. Rhode was a member of the 4 x 400 meter relay team that participated in the 2008 outdoor championship as well as the prestigious Drake Relays. Jelen will compete in the mile run as she earned a provisional time of 4:58.37 last weekend at the MIAC championship in Moorhead. Jelen was a member of the 2008 women's cross country team that earned a trip to the national meet in Hanover, Ind.