THE EVENT
SMU at MIAC Outdoor
May 7-8, 2004


at MIAC
Outdoor


THE RESULTS
Men's Results / Click here
Women's Results / Click here
Meet Program / Click Here

Koranda, Folgers earn conference titles in SMU's record-setting effort

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Move over Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.), you've got company.

For a week, Yankowski was Saint Mary's University's lone conference champion this season, as the SMU senior set a new school record by winning the MIAC decathlon crown with 6,033 points.

That all changed Saturday afternoon, as Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) and Ellen Koranda (Blue Earth, Minn.) joined Yankowski atop the podium at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships.

Folgers earned her conference title in the 100 hurdles, winning with a school-record time of 14.86, improving her NCAA Division III provisional-qualifying mark by three-tenths of a second,.

Koranda, meanwhile, bettered her school record in the 5,000, winning in 18:09.53 to become SMU's third MIAC champion in 2004.

It's been a record-setting season for the Cardinals, so why should the conference championships be any different?

They shouldn't.

Folgers' and Koranda's record-setting efforts were just two of five new school marks for the Cardinals — on Saturday alone. All told, SMU broke 11 school records, including the women's team record for most points. Fueled by those two first-place finishes, the Cardinal women totaled 59 1/2 points, placing them ninth overall. The SMU men finished with 16 points to place 10th overall.

"This was a great weekend for our program," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman. "We had two conference champions, national-qualifying marks, school records … it was just a great way to highlight the end of the season.

"This is a very young group, and their performances this weekend make the future look very bright."

Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) broke a pair of her own school records — and became SMU's fourth NCAA provisional qualifier. Luehmann tossed the javelin a school-record 131-1, bettering the MIAC record by nearly three feet. The SMU sophomore had to settle for second, however, as Concordia's Nicole Plante won the event with a throw of 133-5. Luehmann broke her second school record of the day in the shot put, finishing third in the shot put with a throw of 41-10 3/4.

Alicia Hartung (Menomonie, Wis.) completed SMU's record-setting charge on Saturday, placing 12th in the steeplechase with a time of 12:16.83).

But there's more.

The Cardinals, who have broken at least one school record in every meet they've competed in, kicked off the championships on Friday with four school-record performances.

Yankowski broke his own record in the 110 hurdles, clocking a time of 16.16. Yankowski also placed fourth in the javelin, putting up a toss of 168-5.

Beth Cleveland (Wausau, Wis.) placed fifth in the hammer throw, breaking her own record with a toss of 130-5, while Megan Mason (Rochester, Minn.) added a school-record leap of 10-4 3/4 to finish sixth in the pole vault.

The Cardinals 3,200 relay team of Tera Bollig (Cambridge, Minn.), Maria Roche (New Prague, Minn.), Hartung and Koranda also got into the act, placing eighth with a school-record time of 9:48.11.