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NCAA Division III Indoor Championship Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Mar. 12, 2011)-- The North Central College women's track & field team added two more All-Americans to its tally to close out the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships on Saturday inside the Capital Center.

Amanda Laesch tallied her second All-American certificate of the Championships on Saturday, placing sixth in the 5,000-meter run, finishing in 17:05.32 to shatter her own school record by almost 11 seconds. The senior methodically worked her way up from the penultimate position among the 15-athlete field, climbing as high as third with five laps to go before settling on her final position.

"Laesch was a huge addition to get back this year. She's really set the tone with all the distance runners," said head coach Kari Kluckhohn. "She ran a gutsy and smart race in the 5,000-meters."

The Cardinals closed out the meet with their best performance of the Championships as the 4x400-meter relay squad of Lauren Brightmore, Krista Cota, Kala Bingham and Sheila Walsh raced to a third place finish, earning All-American accolades after clocking a 3:52.90. North Central was second after the first leg, sinking to fourth in their heat before Walsh closed out the race by clocking a 56.54-split, passing Central College's squad in the final 50-meters to secure third place. It was the second All-American honor for Brightmore, Cota and Bingham as the trio joined Laesch to finish seventh in the distance medley relay on Friday.

"It feels amazing (to be an All-American). I've been wanting this for the last three years. I couldn't of had a more supportive team," said Walsh.

"We came out in a pretty good position. Its always an incentive when you have somebody close to catch. The first lap I just tried and get out in a good pace and the second lap I just wanted to have nothing left."

In the pole vault, Carolyn Kalafut cleared opening height, 11 feet, 0 3/4 inches on her first attempt and went on to clear 11' 6 1/2" on her second try to finish 15th overall.

"We came in with a strong group of women based on how they competed all year but we also had a very green group," said Kluckhohn."Of the eight women we brought, only one had been an All-American in track & field and only three had ever competed at the national meet before."

The Cardinals accumulated 11 points in the team standings to earn a tie for 17th with College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rival Carthage College. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh claimed the national crown with 46.5 points.

"We put together a great meet, especially with the finish in the 5,000 and the 4x4. Going into the outdoor season we have a great opportunity to get even more qualifiers with some of the athletes that hit provisional standards indoors."

North Central opens up the outdoor season on March 25, heading down to Saint Louis, Mo. for the Washington University Select Meet.