FORT WAYNE – Put the celebration on hold for Saint Francis junior Jean Marqueling. There is still work to do.
But after she throws the discus Saturday afternoon in the NAIA outdoor track and field national championships at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, well, let the party begin.
Marqueling, a 2007 Bishop Dwenger graduate, became the first Saint Francis track athlete to capture a national championship when she won the hammer throw Thursday morning with a toss of 55.94 meters.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Marqueling said in a telephone interview. “It’s just my third year doing (the hammer throw). I just started in college. I can’t believe I’m the national champion.
“It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable,” she said. “It means a lot, obviously; a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, hours of practicing and lifting. A lot of times it was four hours a day – two hours of practicing, two hours of lifting. It was a lot of work. It wasn’t always easy.”
So she has today and much of Saturday to delay any kind of national championship celebration.
“After Saturday I’ll be able to celebrate with my friends and party,” Marqueling said. “Finally the season’s over.”
Although listed as a junior, Marqueling said this will be her final year of competition, since she will graduate.
She is one of four Cougars at the national meet.
Like Marqueling, Northrop graduate and Cougars junior Nick Adams will also compete in the hammer throw and discus. Senior Matt Truttling will compete in the discus and sophomore Sean Baines will participate in the hammer throw.
Marqueling’s national title is the second within months for Saint Francis.
The Cougars’ basketball team won the NAIA Division 2 tournament in March.
Indiana Tech sent 15 – seven men, eight women – to the national finals.
Sophomore Preosha Graham-Coates (Harding) owns the season-best time in the 800 meters in 2:14.65. She will also join Adella King, Zalika Dixon and Tiffany Aikin in the 1,600-meter relay.
King, Dixon, Emaryne Watt and Abigail Torian will compete in the 400 relay, while Takeisha Hunt will run in the 100-meter hurdles, and Dina Petridis (Northrop) will compete in the pole vault.
Tech men competing will be Aaron Baker, shot put and discus; Chadd Keller (Bellmont), discus; Russell Dill (North Side), 110- and 400-meter hurdles; Chris Brautzsch, 110 hurdles and Brandon Reynard, 400 hurdles. Dill and Reynard will join Lucien Harris and David Army in the 1,600 relay.
IPFW runners Crystina (Martinez) Ridenour and Crystal (Martinez) Reichart will compete in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA East preliminary round in Greensboro, N.C.
Also in Greensboro will be former Homestead pole vaulter Hunter Hall, who competes for Virginia Tech.
In the NCAA Division III meet at Baldwin-Wallace in Berea, Ohio, Manchester will send John Kimmel (Elmhurst), pole vault; Kailey Honn, high jump; and Korey Bucher, 400 meters.
In Division II, Grand Valley State sophomore Melanie Huhn, a Bishop Luers graduate, will compete in the discus.
