Guidry wins NCAA discus title

May 26, 2007

The St. Thomas women's track and field team had six first-time All-Americans and placed 14th with 17 team points at the NCAA Division III Championships. The three-day meet concluded Saturday in Oshkosh, Wis.

The Tommie men placed eighth in Saturday's 4x100 relay to gain four first-time All-Americans -- Chris Bradford, Kyle Jepson, Phil Bastron and Sam Moen clocked 41.43. The Toms scored one team point for 71st place.

The Tommies' 10 All-Americans are all underclassmen, including four freshmen.

On the women's side, Shara Guidry was the lone MIAC athlete to claim a national championship as she won Thursday's discus (145-11). Selina Dehn placed fifth in the triple jump (38-7 1-2), and UST placed sixth in the 4x100 relay with Nikki Arola, Sheena Porter, Kate Staat and Shionna Evans in 47.46. Katie Theisen missed qualifying in the 400 hurdles as she ran 63.26 for 11th out of 19 in the prelims. She also competed in the triple jump and was 15th out of 19 in 36-9 3-4. Theisen also ran on the 4x400 relay team which missed the finals after clocking 3:57.53 for 12th out of 16.

On the men's side, Matt Schroeder was 10th in the pole vault (15-3 1-2) and Derek Marks was ninth in the discus (148-9). Brian Sames was unable to reach the finals in the 800 meters as he was 15th in the prelims in 1:53.57.   

Thursday's story

Tommie track and field athlete Shara Guidry (JR-Thief River Falls) didn't win her conference title in the discus earlier this month, and until May 17 wasn't a certain NCAA qualifier.

But Guidry earned an even sweeter gold medal Thursday's at the NCAA Championships in Oshkosh, Wis. In her first national meet, the ninth-seeded Guidry won the discus in a field of 19 throwers with a best of 145-11 to earn St. Thomas' 48th NCAA individual championship in track and field.

In winning the Tommies' first women's national title in a  throwing event, Guidry gave UST its fourth consecutive NCAA champion in a field event. She follows long jump champions Kristal Grigsby (2004, 2006) and Andretta Colley (2005). The last Tommie discus All-American was in 1988.

Guidry was an MIAC discus champ as a freshman in 2005 and has placed second in the event each of the last two seasons. She threw 147-10 last week at the LaCrosse Last Chance meet to secure a spot in the NCAA meet as the No. 9 seed.

The Tommies advanced their 4x100 relay teams to Saturday's finals on both the women's and men's sides. That makes it 27 years in a row St. Thomas has had a men's or women's track relay team reach the finals.

The UST women placed fourth in their heat but qualified sixth out of nine teams for Saturday's finals in 47.40 with Nikki Arola, Sheena Porter, Kate Staat and Shionna Evans.

The UST men took the ninth and final spot in Saturday's finals as they placed fourth in their heat in 41.40 with Chris Bradford, Kyle Jepson, Phil Bastron and Sam Moen.

In the 400 hurdles, UST sophomore Katie Theisen took third in her heat and missed the finals in 63.26. She also ran on the 4x400 relay which placed 12th of 16 in 3:57.53 and failed to advance to the finals. Evans, Porter and Arola joined her on the relay.
              
Theisen and Selina Dehn will compete Saturday in the triple jump.

On the men's side, Derek Marks made the finals in the discus but placed ninth in 148-5, one spot away from All-America honors.

Two Toms compete Friday -- Matt Schroeder will compete in the pole vault (11:30 a.m.), and Brian Sames will run the 800 meters (6:20 p.m. prelims). The pole vault was moved back one day due to high winds.

Click here for complete results:

http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/NCAATFChampionships/2007/Women/ResultsDay1.html

NCAA Division III Track & Field
Oshkosh, Wis./Day 3 of 3
Final Results
Women's top 5 and MIAC teams
UW-Oshkosh 57; Calvin (Mich.) 44.5; City College of N.Y. 43; Amherst (Mass.) 41; Loras (Iowa) 32; Lincoln (Pa.) 32. Others: 14. St. Thomas 17; 28. Gustavus 9; 44. Concordia-Moorhead 5; 51. St. Mary's 4; 61. Bethel 2.5; 62. Macalester 2; 67. St. Olaf 1

MIAC Placewinners
--Discus: 1. Shara Guidry, St. Thomas, 145-11
--Triple Jump: 5. Selina Dehn, St. Thomas, 38-7 1-2; 8. Sari Lindeman, Gustavus, 37-8
--Shot Put: 8. Amanda Weinmann, St. Mary's, 42-9 3-4
--Javelin: 2. Lisa Brown, Gustavus, 152-3; 6. Ashley Luehmann 142-2
--High Jump: 6. Vanessa Moore, Bethel, 5-4 1-2
--4x100 Relay: 6. St. Thomas (Nikki Arola, Sheena Porter, Kate Staat, Shionna Evans) 47.46          
--800: 4. Heather Schuster, Concordia-Moorhead, 2:10.78          
--1500: 7. Callie PaStarr, Macalester, 4:33.20; 8. Andrea Gelle, St. Olaf, 4:34.57
---
 
Men's top 5 and MIAC teams
UW-La Crosse 99; SUNY-Cortland 34; Monmouth (Ill.) 28; St. John's 27; UW-Platteville 27.

Others: 49. Gustavus 4; 58. Carleton 3; 71. St. Thomas 1
 
MIAC Placewinners
--Triple Jump: 7. Eric Buss, St. John's, 48-1 3/4
--400 Hurdles: 2. Mike Leither, St. John's, 51.97; 6. Tom Ballinger, Carleton, 53.25          
--4x100 Relay: 8. St. Thomas (Chris Bradford, Kyle Jepson, Phil Bastron, Sam Moen) 41.43    
--5,000: 4. Chris Erichsen, St. John's, 14.31.23
--3,000 Steeplechase: 2. Erichsen, St. John's, 9:01.12
--Discus: 5. Andy Klaers, Gustavus, 154-5
--Long Jump: 5. Erik Diley, St. John's, 23-8 3-4