Johnson City, TN — Already the most decorated athlete in Goshen College track and field history prior to this weekend, junior Petrana Petkova added to her lore at the 2006 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, taking second place in the 5,000-meter run en route to her ninth NAIA All-American honor overall and seventh in a Goshen College uniform. Her finish helped the Leafs’ women’s program to a 15th-place team finish at the national championships, the program’s top result in the last five years.

“We had a really good weekend,” said Rick Clark, Goshen head coach. “All of our athletes competed with efforts in the range they had been in and we were pleased with the efforts that our athletes gave us.”

Petkova turned in a repeat performance of her runner-up finish from last season’s championships, taking second place Saturday evening in a new school-record time of 17:19.40, bettering her previous mark of 17:19.53 set earlier this season. The All-American finish was Petkova’s third in NAIA indoor competition, adding to her three honors in cross country and three in outdoor track and field.

“Petrana broke away from the pack with eventual winner, Betty Rotich of Missouri Baptist, and ran the first third of the race beside her,” Clark said. “When Rotich made a surge just past the 1,600 mark, Petrana settled into her pace but was caught by Binsfield of Minot State with about 1,200 meters to go. The last 400 meters became a head-to-head sprint between Petrana and Binsfield with Petrana just able to outlean her at the finish line for the second-place honor. We are very proud of the determined effort that Petrana displayed.”

Petkova, who advanced to the finals after a 17:55.93 preliminary time on Friday afternoon — the fourth-quickest clip — was able to reel in her seventh All-American award as a Goshen College athlete, the tops in school history for a male or female performer. After Petkova picked up a cross country All-American honor and indoor track All-American honor at Central Methodist University as a freshman, she has since added two in cross country, two in indoor track and three in outdoor track as a Maple Leaf athlete. Those numbers are unmatched by any Goshen athlete, with 2004 graduate Heidi Saunders coming closest: Saunders collected five total All-American honors in both cross country and track and field during her four years at Goshen.

“Petrana is a special runner, and she has worked extremely hard to get to this level,” Clark said.

Petkova was bolstered by the efforts of two freshmen — Abri Houser in the 60-meter hurdles and Laura Harnish in the 800-meter run — in helping Goshen to eight team points en route to the 15th-place team finish. Both finished 19th overall in their respective events, with Houser finishing the 60-meter hurdles in a clip of :9.43 and Harnish the 800-meter race in a time of 2:24.83. Those clips were just off the program records set by the duo, as Houser posted a :9.41 clip earlier in the season and Harnish a 2:20.68 time.

“Both Laura and Abri did well considering it was their first time competing at a collegiate national championship setting,” Clark said. “Every athlete has a competitive range, and both Laura and Abri posted times that were within those ranges. With experience, hopefully they will be able to better those ranges.”

Harnish and Houser helped anchor a distance medley relay team that finished 12th at the championships, as a scheduling issue forced Petkova — normally a staple in the event — out of the running. Freshman Lydie Assefa ran in place of Petkova, while senior Rachel Yantiz occupied her normal third leg in the relay. Missing Petkova (her 5,000-meter race time ran directly up to the time of the medley), the team settled for a 13:04.88 time, well off the school record clip of 12:42.45 set earlier in the season.

Still, Goshen’s efforts did not go unnoticed on the team front, as the Leafs’ eight total points were good for 15th place out of a total 35 scored teams. Missouri Baptist Universtiy won the team championship with 172 total points. For a complete look at team and individual results from the championship meet, click here. For day by day recaps and other NAIA National Championships information, click here.

Goshen next turns its attention to the outdoor season, as the team will compete in the Polar Bear Invitational on Saturday, Mar. 25. That meet will take place on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University.