March 5, 2012

Lanoy breaks school-record, Lady Tigers place 18th at nationals

Led by sophomore Jessalyn Lanoy’s school-record performance in the 1,000-meter run, the Cowley College women’s track and field team placed 18th at the NJCAA National Indoor Championships held Friday and Saturday in Charleston, IL.

Lanoy’s sixth place time of 3:04.99 eclipsed the previous school-record time of 3:05.16 set by Leigh Ann Omarkhail at the 2010 National Championships. Lanoy garnered Coaches Association All-American honors for her efforts.

“Jessalyn ran out of her mind and had a terrific weekend,” Cowley head coach Mark Phillips said.

Sophomore Kadie Peoples also performed well and placed seventh in the pole vault, while the Lady Tigers had two relay teams place in the top-seven at the meet.

“Kadie and those relay teams all competed really well,” Phillips said.

Cowley scored 10 points at the meet and finished in a three-way tie for 18th place out of 33 schools.

“We hoped to get a few more girls to score points,” Phillips said.

Iowa Central made it a clean sweep as its women’s team joined its men’s team as national champions. Central Arizona finished a distant second, 96 points behind Iowa Western.

The Lady Tigers will open the outdoor season at Southwestern College on Thursday, March 15. The meet will begin at noon.

“We hope to get a few more individuals qualified in outdoor that just missed qualifying during the indoor season,” Phillips said.

Cowley results:

• 1,000-meter run — Jessalyn Lanoy, 3:04.99, sixth, Coaches Association All-American.
• 5,000-meter run — Maria Schmidt, 19:54.98, 11th.
• 4x800-meter relay — Cowley (Valerie Nielson, Kelly Roberts, Maricarmen Visoso, Konnie Zuniga), seventh, 9:54.57.
• Distance Medley Relay — Cowley (Katie Krepel, Nielson, Zuniga, Lanoy), 12:57.49, sixth.
• High jump — Niki Andrews, 5-1, 11th.
• Pole vault — Kadie Peoples, 10-6, seventh; Caroline Strickland, 8-10 ¼, 13th.