Covenant News

NPU Senior Wins Top Track-Field Honors

BLOOMINGTON, IL (February 28, 2005) - BLOOMINGTON, IL (February 28) - Senior Lucia Abel won the triple jump and placed in the top five in two other events as North Park University (NPU) competed Saturday at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) track and field indoor finals.

Abel's leap of 11.39 meters (37 feet, 4 and ½ inches) helped the Viking women's team to a sixth-place finish as coach Ed Riegert's team totaled 36 points. Carthage won team honors with 163 points at the meet, which was held in the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan University. Abel edged Melissa Harden of Illinois Wesleyan, who jumped 11.29 meters (37-0 ½).

In the long jump, Abel's leap of 5.37 meters (17-7 ½) was just behind the 5.39-meter (17-8 ¼) effort by Carthage's Muffy Israel. Abel's teammate, Liz Podczaski, was seventh with a leap of 4.88 meters (16-0 ¼). Abel was fifth in the 55-meter dash, which was also won by Israel.

North Park also earned quality points in the distance relay, which placed fifth in 13 minutes, 25.70 seconds, 30 seconds under its seeding time. The 1,600 meter relay team was sixth and two other relays finished seventh.

In the men's competition, the Vikings finished eighth overall (North Central scored 186 points as the team champion) as Benj Ecker tied for eighth in the high jump and the 800 relay team earned seventh.

In other NPU sports action Saturday, Brett Mathisen scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the NPU men's basketball team during a 90-61 loss that ended the 2004-05 season.

Mathisen was 6 for 9 from the field for the Vikings, who finished 4-21 overall, 0-14 in CCIW play. North Central (15-10, 5-9) was led by Ray Vicario's 17 points.

Mike Peterson added 14 points off the bench for NPU while seniors Lamar Townsend and Matt Lindahl scored 13 and seven points respectively for coach Paul Brenegan's squad.

Townsend ended his collegiate career with 1,082 points, good for 19th on the school's all-time list. He also made 128 field goals from 3-point range over 100 career games, good for sixth overall. Along with averaging a team-high 12.6 points per contest, the Chicago native led the Vikings with 56 assists and grabbed nearly three rebounds per game.

Lindahl, who also plays golf for NPU, ended his senior year with some of his finest performances as a collegiate basketball player. He averaged five points per game and dished out 31 assists (fourth on the team) while starting 16 times in 2004-05. He scored 172 points during his North Park varsity career.

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