UW-L Tied for Second at NCAA III Championships; Schetter and Kopetsky Earn All-America Honors in Long Jump

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 22, 2008

Oshkosh, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women’s track & field team is tied for second-place after the first day of competition at the NCAA Division III Championships at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium. The Eagles have 11.0 team points along with UW-River Falls and Roanoke College (Va.). McMurry University (Texas) leads the women’s standings with 14.0 points. UW-Whitewater, the University of Redlands (Calif.) and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) are tied for fifth with 10.0 points.

The University of Chicago (Ill.) is eighth with 9.0 points while UW-Stout and Keene State College (N.H.) are tied for ninth with 8.0 points.

Caitlin Schetter and Krista Kopetsky both earned All-America honors in the long jump Thursday afternoon. Schetter placed second with a mark of 19-0 ¾ while Kopetsky was sixth at 17-11 ¾.

It is Schetter’s second career outdoor All-America award in the long jump after finishing fifth a year ago. She will compete in the triple jump at this year’s meet Saturday afternoon.

Schetter also has three career indoor honors, including capturing the long jump at the 2008 NCAA III Indoor Championships. She was named the 2008 NCAA Division III Midwest Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association earlier this week. Schetter broke the school record in the long jump May 15 with a mark of 19-6 ¼.

Schetter placed fifth in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump at the indoor national meet in 2007.

Kopetsky picked up her second career All-America award Thursday with her sixth-place finish in the long jump. It is her first honor in the long jump. She was a member of the Eagles’ fifth-place 4x100-meter relay at the 2007 outdoor championships.

In other events Thursday, Alecia Ellingstad tied for 16th in the pole vault with a mark of 10-10 ¾.

Preliminary action on the track included UW-L’s 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays both advanced to Saturday’s finals. The Eagles’ 4x100-meter relay of Sarah Duchow, Ashton May, Katie Steingraeber and Schetter had a season-best time of 47.37. The time was the fourth fastest in the preliminaries.

Caitlin Perra, Duchow, Ashley Pershing and Danica Schaefer advanced to the 4x400 final after running a season-best 3:49.21 in the prelims. The time was the sixth-fastest overall.

Abby Lien failed to advance to the 400-meter hurdles final after running 1:02.56 Thursday afternoon. The 1:02.56 is a season-best for Lien. Duchow failed to advance to 200-meter dash final with a time of 25.30 in the preliminaries.

For complete results, click here.

Action continues Friday at UW-Oshkosh.