UW-L Leads After First Day of NCAA III Championships; Schetter Wins Long Jump

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 21, 2009

Marietta, Ohio – The UW-La Crosse women's track & field team leads after the first day of competition at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Don Drumm Stadium at Marietta College. The Eagles have 23.0 team points while UW-Oshkosh is second with 18.0. Williams College (Mass.) and Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) are tied for third with 10.0 points while Wheaton College (Ill.) and Tufts University (Mass.) are tied for fifth with 8.0 points.

UW-L is seeking its first outdoor national title since capturing back-to-back crowns in 1983 and 1984.

The Eagles' took three of the top-four places in the long jump Thursday as Caitlin Schetter captured the national crown with Katie Fondow placing second and Ashton May fourth. Schetter set an NCAA Division III season-best and stadium record with a winning mark of 19-10 1/4. She is the first student-athlete in UW-L history to win the outdoor national long jump title.

She now has five career outdoor All-America honors as she won her first outdoor national title. Schetter, who captured the indoor long jump national title in 2008 and 2009, placed fifth in the outdoor long jump in 2007 and second in 2008. She was also eighth in the triple jump and was a member of the Eagles' sixth-place 4x100-meter relay in 2008.

Fondow finished second Thursday (19-2 1/2) for her third career NCAA III outdoor All-America award. She was fourth in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump in 2007.

May placed fourth Thursday (18-7 3/4) to pick up her first individual outdoor All-America accolade. She was a part of UW-L's fifth-place 4x100-meter relay at the 2007 NCAA III Outdoor Championships and sixth-place 4x100-meter relay in 2008.

In other action Thursday, UW-L's 4x100-meter relay advanced to Saturday's final after recording the third-fastest qualifying time of 47.15. The relay consisted of Kailey Charlton, May, Fondow and Schetter.

The Eagles' 4x400-meter relay of Kelsey Katarow, Laurel Beck, Lauren Seidl and Danica Schaefer failed to advance to Saturday's final after running 3:50.92 in Thursday's prelims.

Action continues Friday at Marietta College.