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GOSHEN , Ind. – The Goshen College women’s track and field team will be taking three student-athletes to the 2008 NAIA Indoor National Championships this week in Johnson City, Tennessee. The event, hosted by East Tennessee State University, features to nations best amongst the 127 NAIA institutions that compete in indoor track and field.
It will be the second straight national championship appearance for the Maple Leafs’ Deanna Kronk and Tina Peters, while Abri Houser will be competing in her third straight indoor championship. Led by Goshen College Head Coach Rick Clark, the trio left campus early this morning, while events will take place Friday and Saturday.
In the 3000-meter racewalk, sophomore Tina Peters is the one to beat. The Yellow Spring, Ohio native is the defending NAIA Indoor and Outdoor National Champion in the event. As a freshman, Peters took the indoor title in style, finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of the competition with a time of 14:50.35 (click here for related article). The Goshen College indoor record holder in the event (14:31.68) then backed it up with a winning time of 15:20.21 for the outdoor title in Fresno, California (click here for related article).
“Tina is ranked first in the field of seven with a (qualifying) time of 15:12.09,” explains Clark. “Her time is over one minute in front of the second-seeded qualifier.”
A breakout season in the 20-pound weight throw has junior Deanna Kronk seeded ninth in the event. Having broken her own school-record in the event twice this season – increasing the record by over three feet total – Kronk’s qualifying throw is an incredible 51-feet, one-half inch (click here for related article). The NorthWood High School product finished 18th in the event in 2007 with a top throw of 46’10” (click here for related article). Competing in her third overall national championship – Kronk competed in the hammer throw at the 2007 Outdoor Championships – the junior will also compete in the shot put where she is ranked 17th in the field with a mark of 41-feet, 4-inches.
No stranger to the national stage, Abri Houser will compete in the 60-meter hurdles for the third consecutive indoor national championship. A Newton, Kansas native, Houser looks to improve on her 2007 finish, which ended in the semi-final round (click here for related article). She comes in ranked 18th in the field of 31 with a qualifying time of 9.22 seconds. Houser holds the Goshen College indoor records for both the 60-meter hurdles (9.18) and 55-meter hurdles (8.59).
Peters will get things going for the Maple Leafs with the 3000-meter racewalk taking place just after noon on Friday. Houser will follow with the prelims and semi-finals of the 60-meter hurdles early Friday afternoon, before Kronk looks to set her mark in the weight throw at 4 p.m. Friday. Kronk will compete in the shot put Saturday morning with Houser hoping to make Saturday afternoon’s hurdles finals.
For complete 2008 Season News click here. |
 
Tina Peters, Deanna Kronk,
and Abri Houser
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