Gritter national runner-up and All-America in the 3,000 meters

BEREA, OH -- Calvin College junior Sarah Gritter completed a remarkable turnaround Friday night at the NCAA III Track and Field Championships at Baldwin-Wallace College. A year ago, the Wauwatosa, Wisocnsin, native finished dead-last in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA III Championships as she struggled with injuries over the final month of the track and field season. On Friday, ritter earned national runner-up and All-America honors in the 3,000 meters with a second place time of 9:54.74. Gritter's time is the third-fastest in Calvin women's track and field history in the 3,000 meters and makes her the third All-American from Calvin in the women's 3,000 meters in the last three years, as she j9oins Betsy Haverkamp and Lisa Timmer as All-Americans in the event. "I've had memories of last year in the back of my mind for a long time so tonight's race felt really good," said Gritter. "I knew I could do well, it was just a matter of going out and doing it." Gritter ran in a pack of six runners, trailing eventual winner MarniLynn of Carroll College for the majority of the race. With a lap and a half to go, Gritter was in seventh place and 20 meters behind Lynn. Gritter then made a surge in the final lap as she moved from seventh to second place with 200 meters left and then put on a final sprint down the stretch to finsih six seconds behind Lynn (9:48.84) and nearly seven seconds ahead of Jenny Fiedler of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (10:01.53). The times by Lynn and Gritter both surpassed the 1998 national championship time of 10:00.85 recorded by Michelle Franklin of Cortland State. "Sarah ran an awesome race and fulfilled a lot of dreams tonight," siad Calvin distance coach Brian Diemer. "In most years, her time would have won the national championship which shows you how strong the the 3,000 field was this year. The thing about Sarah is that she is not afraid of anybody or going out to compete." Gritter will get another chance to compete against Lynn in the 1,500 meter finals Saturday afternoon as Lynn posted the fastest time in the 1,500 prelims (4:36.62) while Gritter had the second fastest (4:36.69). "I think you could see a battle between Gritter and Lynn tomorrow," said Calvin distance coach Al Hoekstra who shares responsibilities with Diemer. "Sarah has what I call �crazy speed' for a distance runner and if she can stay close to Lynn tomorrow, it could be an exciting finish." In the preliminaries of the women's 400 meters, Calvin sophomore Megan Pierce of Fort Wayne, Indiana, created excitement as she posted the fastest time with a school-record mark of 54.59, breaking her own school record by more than a full-second. Pierce is the top seed by a half-second for Saturday's 400 meter finals and she will also run the anchor leg on Calvin's 1,600 meter relay that is the top seed for Saturday's finals. On the men's side, Calvin sophomore Phil Sikkenga (Wheaton, IL) also had a big evening in Friday's prelims as he posted the fastest time in the 110 high hurdles wtih a time of 14.34, two-tenths of a second ahead of his nearest competitor. As a freshman, Sikkenga missed qualifying for the championship finals in the 110 high hurdles by one spot as he hit several hurdles during his preliminary race. On Friday, Sikkenga ran a clearn race to move into the top seed for Saturday. In the men's shot put competition Friday afternoon, Calvin senior Steve Michmerhuizen finished 10th wiht a throw of 53-3. Senior Jay Lumkes (Elkhorn, WI) also posted the 10th fastest time in the 400 prelims at 48.09 but did not advance to Saturday's championship finals. -end-