Sports Information Staff Report
April 24, 2004

NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. - The Bluffton College women's track and field team won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship meet at Manchester College on Saturday afternoon, marking the first-ever women's track and field championship for the Beavers.  The men's squad finished third for the second consecutive season, with their 107 points scored marking the highest total for the men since joining the HCAC. Nate Smith was also named HCAC Women's Coach of the Year for his team's efforts.

Bluffton captured nine conference championships in different events throughout the day, with seven of those titles belonging to the women and two for the men.  In addition, nine women's school records were broken in the meet, with two of those records being broken by multiple athletes.  The women's team score of 192 points is the third-highest total all-time in HCAC championships history.  The Beavers also witnessed two of their athletes gain recognition for outstanding performances in the meet, with RITA MUETHER (Celina/Celina) being named Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete of the Meet and CINDY ALLAN (Fayette/Archbold) being named Most Outstanding Female Freshman Athlete of the Meet. 

"It's a real special feeling to win the conference championship with these women today," stated Head Coach Nate Smith, who was honored as the Women's Track and Field Coach of the Year.  "I knew we had a good chance to win today, but to accomplish this feat in the manner we did makes it that much more special.  It just seemed that no matter what was going on today, there was a Bluffton athlete stepping up to come through with a huge performance.  Our women definitely wanted this championship, and they performed like they were on a mission."

Highlighting the championships gained by the women were both relay races.  Bluffton was able to defend their title in the 4x100 meter relay, with the foursome of Allan, JANA HAMMER, Muether, and AMANDA HABEGGER winning in a new school-record time of 49.77.  Muether, Hammer, and Habegger then joined with STEPHANIE WELCH to capture the 4x400 meter relay as well, also in a new record time of 4:06.99.  Hammer and Habegger also picked up individual titles, as Hammer won the 100 meters with her record time of 12.76, while Habegger became the Beavers' first-ever sub-16 second hurdler, winning the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 15.95.  Muether, meanwhile, broke school records in both of her victories, first winning the 400 meters in a time of 59.89, then coming back to win the 200 meters in a time of 25.95.  Both Muether and Hammer broke the previous school record for the 200 meters as part of their 1-2 finish.  Freshman KIMLEETA DAVIS picked up the seventh conference title for Bluffton, as she won the long jump with a new school-record jump of 16' 11.25".  That mark broke the 21-year old record by over six inches.  Cindy Allan also broke the old record, as she finished second to Davis with her jump of 16' 6".

For the Bluffton men, two conference champions were crowned during the meet.  COLBY BRIGHT won the long jump with his 21' 4", while also placing second in the triple jump with a jump of 40' 11".  Meanwhile, JOSH ESPINOZA won the pole vault for the Beavers, with a season-best vault of 13' 11.25".  The nine total conference championships for the team is the most since joining the HCAC.  The men also picked up second-place finishes in the 1500 meters from DAN ROSEBROCK and the 10,000 meters from DAVE ESPINOZA, to go along with second-place finishes in both relay races.  Bright, JASON LEHMAN, and STEVE MYERS also supported the Beavers by each placing in three individual events.  Bright added a 6th-place finish in the 400 meters to his performances in the jumps.  Lehman finished 4th in the 400 meter hurdles and 5th in the both the 110 meter hurdles and the triple jump, while Myers placed 3rd in the shot put, 5th in the discus, and 5th in the hammer throw.   

Other school records broken during the meet for the women both belong to Amanda Habegger, as she broke her own school record and the previous HCAC record in the 400 meter hurdles with her second-place time of 66.23, and established a new pole vault standard with her second-place vault of 9' 0".  Habegger led all Beavers in points scored at the meet with 31, also a new Bluffton record.  Other top performances for Bluffton include:  Laurel Miller (HJ - 2nd, 4-11.75; TJ - 2nd, 32-8.25; 100HH - 4th, 17.72), Jamie Shores (Jav - 3rd, 85-9; PV - 4th, 8-0), Katie Snyder (PV - 3rd, 8-0; Jav - 6th, 83-5), Michele Bailey (Disc - 3rd, 120-3; Hammer - 4th, 125-0), Jennifer Creamer (5000m - 3rd, 19:46.51), Fred Yoder (PV - 3rd, 12-11.5), Shandon North (400m - 3rd, 50.86), and Johnny Ichrist (800m - 3rd, 1:59.01).