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Track & Field=Cross CountryVolume I = Issue XI = March 25, 2009

Ashley Graybill (Delafield, WI/Kettle-Moraine) joined elite company on Saturday March 14, 2009 when she raced to victory in the 800m run at the NCAA Championships. Graybill (whose final lap sequence is pictured above) won the Green Knights’ first female individual national championship in 16 years with a brilliant performance in the 800m run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships held at Rose-Hulman Institute’s Hulbert Arena.

Graybill, a senior, ran a Division III season-best time of 2:09.95 to cop the first women’s national title for St. Norbert since Laura Salm claimed indoor high jump titles in 1991 and 1993. Graybill’s time was exactly a second faster than runner-up Jessica Scott of UW-Platteville, who ran a 2:10.95. Other than Scott, Graybill’s run was over two seconds faster than the rest of the field.

A self-proclaimed ‘sprinter’, Graybill started running the 800 for the first time this season. In fact the pre-liminary heat at the NCAA meet was only the 3rd time she had run the race in her career. Last season Gray-bill earned All-American honors in the 400m dash by placing 5th at the National meet. Graybill entertained the idea of running the 800 after a very successful cross country season this fall, where she finished 3rd at the MWC Championships and just missed qualifying for Nationals. On January 24th, Graybill competed in her first open 800 at Indiana State where she placed 3rd overall behind two Division I runners. Three weeks later Graybill raced at Iowa State and out kicked the field to cross the line first in her heat and automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. The stage was set for this past weekend.

In the preliminary heat Graybill finished in 2nd place, just .02 seconds from the leader and finished with the 2nd fastest qualifying time overall. However, Jessica Scott, the reigning National Indoor Champion in the 800m run, was the winner of the second heat and would pose a threat for Graybill’s bid to become an NCAA Champion.

The finals went according to plan and Graybill was able to capitalize on her speed to separate herself late in the race. For the first 500 meters Graybill sat patiently in 2nd place, just behind last year’s champion, and was running easy as the bell sounded for the final lap. With just over 150 meters to go Graybill unleashed a great surge that separated her from the rest of the pack. Moments later Graybill crossed the line, easily in first place, and pumped her fist in jubilation!

It was a fitting end to her senior season. Graybill will graduate with a stellar indoor career that includes school records in every event from the 200m dash to the 800m run and as a member of all four Green Knight record setting-relays. Graybill also holds three Midwest Conference records and is a two-time Indoor All-American in addition to her National Championship!

NATIONAL CHAMPION

TTOSNC ALL-AMERICANS

Dann Schneider (Wausau, WI/Newman Catholic) and Jenny Scherer (Delavan, WI/Delavan-Darien) both turned in All-American performances at the NCAA Division III Men’s & Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championship at Rose-Hulman Institute’s Hulbert Arena. They were the first Indoor All-Ameri-can awards for both Schneider and Scherer.

Jenny Scherer, a junior, finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:05.03, topping her season-best run by six seconds and re-setting her St. Norbert school record. Scherer made a bold move in the middle of the race to take the lead and press the pace. She would end up leading for 11 laps during the 25 lap race. Scherer is well on her way to becoming one of the most decorated St. Norbert track and field athletes in school history. Her resume now includes All-American honors in all 3 seasons; Scherer was an All-American in the 10k in outdoor track as a sophomore, and repeated that honor in cross country this past fall. Scherer is the only St. Norbert athlete to earn All-American honors in all 3 sports!

Dann Schneider, only a sophomore, came into the Championships ranked 10th and needed to move up two spots to make the podium. In the preliminary heat Schneider ran his second best time of the season to finish 2nd in his heat and 6th overall to earn a spot in the finals. Schneider, making his first national indoor appearance, ran a time of 49.97 seconds in the finals to place 8th and earn All-America honors for the first time in his young career. As a freshman, Schneider was ranked 15th in the country but just missed advancing to the NCAA meet. After this season’s performance Dann should not have a problem making the NCAA meet a staple in his yearly schedule!

The SNC athletes will look to carry over their success from indoor track to the outdoor season. The NCAA Division III Men’s & Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship will be held on May 21-23 at Don Drumm Stadium in Marietta, Ohio.

KNIGHTS AT NATIONALS

For the first time in school history the Green Knight women qualified a relay team to the NCAA Divi-sion III National Championships. The quartet of Marisa Trakanovich (Countryside, IL./Lyons Town-ship), Katie Meyer (Sister Bay, WI./Gibraltar), Emily Schudrowitz (Wauwatosa, WI/Wauwatosa East), and Ashley Graybill entered the NCAA meet with the 8th fastest qualifying time out of 10 teams. The SNC women actually beat the 2nd ranked team head to head earlier in the season but were not at full strength for the NCAA Championships.

At Nationals the St. Norbert’s 4x400m relay team finished ninth with a time of 3:55.75. The foursome of Marisa Trakanovich, Nikki Swanson (Mason, WI./Ashland)(replacing Katie Meyer who had been diag-nosed with mononucleosis only a few days prior to the meet), Graybill and Emily Schudrowitz missed All-America honors by one-quarter of a second.

Although the place may not have been as high as they were hoping for, they did shave over a full sec-ond off of the existing school record. The motivation is high as this group enters the outdoor season with one goal, to get on the podium come May 23rd!

The Green Knights finished with 15 team points to tie for eighth at the championship with Hardin-Sim-mons University. Wartburg College won the national title with 51 points, while UW-La Crosse was second with 41.5 points. St. Norbert was just three points out of sixth and 1 point out of seventh, as North Central College was sixth with 18 points and UW-Eau Claire was seventh with 16 points.

Not only is it St. Norbert’s highest national finish ever in women’s track and field, but also the best national placement for any women’s team at the school since the women’s basketball team advanced to the Division III Final Four in 1985.

WOMEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES1 Wartburg College 51.0 4 Illinois Wesleyan 28.0 7 Wisconsin Eau Claire 16.02 Wisconsin La Crosse 41.5 5 Tufts University 23.0 8 St. Norbert College 15.03 Wisconsin Oshkosh 33.0 6 North Central College 18.0 8 Hardin-Simmons 15.0

NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS %%

Katie Meyer, Emily Schudrowitz, Marisa Trakanovich, Nikki Swanson

Men’s School Records

Event Name Time/Distance Year

55m Dash Ryan Schneider 6.56 200255m Hurdles John VanDyck 7.72 1989200m Dash Ben Dryer 22.50 2002300m Dash 400m Dash Ben Dryer 47.92 2003500m Dash 600m Dash Ben Dryer 1:20.19 2003800m Run Colin McKean 1:52.33 20041000m Run Chris Mertens 2:33.88 19981500m Run Colin McKean 3:57.88 20041600m Run Colin McKean 4:21.62 20053000m Run Jeff Pentek 8:43.71 20075000m Run Jeff Pentek 14:59.14 2007

Long Jump Curtis Gerrits 23’ 03.50” 2001Triple Jump Paul Leeman 45’ 11.75” 2007High Jump Paul Leeman 6’ 06.00” 2009High Jump Jerimiah Janssen 6’ 06.00” 1999High Jump Kyle Leuthner 6’ 06.00” 1987High Jump Tim Hartzheim 6’ 06.00” 1981Pole Vault Cliff Carlson 14’ 06.00” 2000Shot Put Chris Diedrich 51’ 11.75” 1998Weight Throw Chris Diedrich 51’ 03.00” 2001Weight Throw Ray Brouillette 51’ 03.00” 2000

800m Relay 1:31.23 2002(Dryer, Augustine, Heinzen, Schneider)1600m Relay 3:19.07 2003(McKean, Fairchild, Augustine, Dryer)Sprint Medley Relay 3:33.33 2003(Schneider, Fairchild, Dryer, Augustine)Distance Medley Relay 10:38.34 2009(Aaron Roden, Jordan Gobert, John Barrett, Mackenzie Laska)

LA Closer Look... St. Norbert Indoor Track & Field School Records

Women’s School RecordsEvent Name Time/Distance Year

55m Dash Nicci Bowman 7.52 199155m Hurdles Lynne Pliner 8.70 198955m Hurdles Vicci Verbrick 8.70 1987200m Dash Ashley Graybill 25.80 2008300m Dash Ashley Graybill 43.05 2008400m Dash Ashley Graybill 56.86 2008500m Dash Ashley Graybill 1:19.44 2008600m Dash Ashley Graybill 1:37.40 2008800m Run Ashley Graybill 2:09.95 20091000m Run Mara Braun 3:08.50 19921500m Run Julie Deyo 4:44.38 20031600m Run Jenny Scherer 5:09.06 20093000m Run Jenny Scherer 10:06.90 20095000m Run Jenny Scherer 17:05.03 2009

Long Jump Melissa Fabry 17’ 11.75” 2008Triple Jump Carrie Evenson 35’ 07.50” 1999High Jump Laura Salm 5’ 08.75” 1991Pole Vault Jenna Dittmar 9’ 07.00” 2005Shot Put Wendy Woelfel 39’ 07.00” 2003Weight Throw Jenna Scuglik 43’ 09.00” 2007

800m Relay 1:45.14 2009(Marisa Trakanovich, Nikki Swanson, Ashley Graybill, Katie Meyer)1600m Relay 3:55.75 2009(Trakanovich, Swanson, Graybill, Emily Schudrowitz)Sprint Medley Relay 4:09.12 2009(Swanson, Meyer, Graybill, Schudrowitz)Distance Medley Relay 12:03.55 2009(Graybill, Swanson, Schudrowitz, Jenny Scherer)

SNC RECORD BOARD