April 10, 2005

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Bemidji State women's team was led by sophomore Nicole Friend (International Falls, Minn.) and junior Christa Pribula (East Grand Forks, Minn.) as they competed in just their second outdoor competition of the season traveling to St. Paul, Minn. and participating in the Hamline Invitation.

Friend, who returns to the track and field team after playing basketball for BSU, placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.37. Friend also placed well in the javelin throw finishing in third place with her season best toss of 107 feet and 6 inches. The throw bests her pervious season best toss by nearly 17 feet (90-7).

Participating in her first 3000-meter steeple chase of the season, Pribula walked away on top with her time of 12:21.69.

Newcomers also made their presence known for Bemidji State. Coming of an outstanding indoor season, freshman Ashley Spolarich (Maple Lake, Minn.) took fourth in the high jump with her leap of 5-3 3/4.

Freshman Leah Grabill (Bemidji, Minn.) finished eighth overall in the 100-meter dash (13.35) and grabbed sixth in her heat with a time of 28.37 in the 200-meter dash.

Grabill managed to finish just one place ahead her teammate sophomore Breanne Winorawiscz (Stephen, Minn.) in the 100-meter dash. Winorawiscz finished just .04 behind Grabill with her time of 13.39.

In the throwing events sophomore Lindsey Bergeson (Trail, Minn.) finished sixth in the shot put and seventh in the discus with her throws of 36-9 and 107-11 respectively. Bergeson grabbed another eighth place finish in the javelin, throwing for a distance of 93-6.

Also completing well for BSU in the throwing events was senior Erin Suhonen (Wright, Minn.). Suhonen captured a seventh place finish in the javelin (96-7), an eighth place finish in the discus (107-10) and a tenth place finish in the hammer throw (110-5).

The men's track team also completed in the Hamline Invitation but results were not available at the time of this release.