Gustavus Adolphus first-year Lisa Brown (Lake Crystal, Minn.) captured the national title in the javelin throw Saturday at the 2006 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill. Brown’s Division III season best toss of 154 feet, 6 inches bettered her own Gustavus record by nearly 18 feet. Ashley Cronen (fifth) and Tanner Miest (eighth) added top-eight finishes in the 800-meter run and the 110-meter hurdles, respectively.
Brown, who entered the meet seeded 16th in a field of 18 throwers, bettered her own school record of 136-11 by nearly 18 feet. Brown is the second national champion in the past three seasons for the Gustavus Adolphus women’s track and field team. Kristin Peterson captured the national title in the discus throw at the 2004 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.
Senior Ashley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn.) provided the second top-eight finish on the day for the Gustavus women, finishing fifth in a tighly contested 800-meter run final. Cronen finished with a time of 2:13.84, just 1.3 seconds behind national champion Amber Druien of North Central College. The top eight in the field of nine were separated by only 1.61 seconds.
Junior Tanner Miest (New London, Minn.) added an eighth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Running in lane nine, Miest hit a pair of hurdles, but completed the distance in a time of 14.59 seconds. Wisconsin-LaCrosse junior Marcus Walgrave captured the 2006 title with a wind-aided time of 13.98 seconds.
The Gustavus women finished in a tie for 19th place with 14 points. Wisconsin-Oshkosh captured the women’s title with 52 points. Wisconsin-LaCrosse took the men’s title with 74.5 points, while Gustavus finished in a tie for 66th place with one point.
This is one of the highest finishes in program history for the Gustavus women. They finished 15th in 1998 with 12 points and finished in 16th place at both the 1999 and 2004 national meets. The Gustavus men last scored in the NCAA meet in 2003 when they finished 12th of 71 teams with 16.5 points.
With their top-eight finishes Saturday, Brown, Cronen and Miest each earn All-America honors.
Complete Women’s Results
Complete Men’s Results
NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships Website