Helland Leads Women’s Indoor Track & Field To 14th Place Finish At NCAA Championships

Gustavus Adolphus senior track and field athlete Janey Helland earned a total of 3,526 points to finish runner-up in the pentathlon on the opening day of competition at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships that took place at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.  Helland, who was the only member of the Gustavus indoor track and field team to compete at the NCAA Championships, also finished fifth in the long jump on Friday, yet did not record a score in the high jump on Saturday.  With Helland’s marks in the pentathlon and long jump, the Gusties finished in a three-way tie for 14th place (12 points) out of 55 teams at the NCAA Championships.

Helland’s score of 3,526 bested her own school record of 3,512 set last weekend at the MIAC Championships.  The Mapleton, Minn. native excelled at the long jump and high jump portions of the pentathlon.  She placed first in the long jump after recording an NCAA Championships Pentathlon record leap of 18’ 5”.  The mark also broke her own school record set at the MIAC Championships last weekend.  In the high jump, she cleared 5’ 3.25” to place second.  To round out the pentathlon, Helland placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time 2:24.45, sixth in the shot put with a toss of 18’ 5”, and 11th in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.06.  The pre-meet rankings held true in the event, as top seed Emma Dwart of Ithaca College became NCAA Champion with a total of 3535 points.

Helland earned the Gusties another four points on day one with her fifth place finish in the long jump after a leap of 18’ 2.50”.  Ashlynn Chavis of Methodist University won the long jump with a mark of 19’ 5.50”.

UW-Oshkosh went on to win the 2011 NCAA Title after compiling 46.5 points.  Wartburg placed second with 44 points, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology rounded out the top-three in third with 30.5 points.  Gustavus was the top-finishing team among competing MIAC schools.

Complete Results