Burket leads Belles at Dick Small Invite
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
Junior Erica Burket led the charge as the Belles of Saint Mary's ran, threw and jumped their way into a seventh place finish at the Dick Small Invitational.
Burket alone scored 13 points for her team as she claimed a second-place finish, a fourth-place finish and an eighth-place finish.
Burket took second in the triple jump, tying with Goshen College's Katie App at 9.740 meters. The junior also took home a fourth place in high jump, clearing 1.474 meters and eighth place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.39 seconds.
During the team's first outdoor meet of the year, the Saint Mary's track team took seventh place out of 12 teams with 35 points in a meet that may set the stage for this year's MIAA track runoff. Saint Mary's placed second out of four MIAA teams, ranking higher than Adrian College (34) and Olivet College (16). Only Albion College finished higher with 47 points in the meet.
"I was very excited," team co-captain Kara Bergeman said. "Especially that we finished above the two MIAA teams. Albion, Adrian and Alma will be our big rivals this season."
Bergeman credits the team's competitiveness to increased numbers from years past.
"We've always been competitive and been able to place," she said. "We just haven't had the numbers we needed. Now we do."
Despite the harsh Saturday weather, teammates Jaclyn Thompson, Becky Shepkowski and Laura Graf, joined Burket in adding points for the Belles. Thompson took home a fourth place finish in the pole vault clearing 2.450 meters. Shepkowski made her way to the winner's circle twice, with a fourth place finish in the triple jump with a jump of 9.540 meters and an eighth place finish in the long jump, landing 4.120 meters away from the starting line.
Graf claimed the Belles' only first place victory with an 800-meter run time of 2:25.16, beating out Albion's Amy Corrigan by less than a second.
The Saint Mary's 400-meter relay team also earned some points for the Belles, finishing in eighth place with a time of 57.96.
The meet, which took place at Defiance College, saw the home team take the vicotry. Defiance claimed 156 points, defeating second place team, Bethel, by 30.
Angie Wittenmeyer led the Yellow Jackets with three first place finishes and a second place finish. Wittenmeyer took home the win in the triple jump, beating Burket by a narrow margin with a jump of 9.810. She also claimed victory in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. She finished off with a second place finish in the long jump.
The Belles will take to the track and field again on Saturday at the Goshen College Invitational. The athletic department will be sponsoring a bus to the meet and anyone interested in attending may sign up in Angela Athletic facility before Tuesday. The bus will depart at 10 a.m. and return at 1 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 26, 2001
