TF Cornell D

Cornell, NY- Dan Ballard broke the school record in the Mile at the Deneault Invite at Cornell University with a run of 4:20.67. Ballard has now provisionally qualified for nationals with that run erasing the old record set by Houghton College standout runner, Joe Campagna, whose mark was 4:21.63 and was set in 2000.

The Highlanders had another outstanding afternoon of accomplishments equaling 21 PR's from the week before. The team has done a great job of improving from week to week on an individual basis. Both the Men's 4x800 Relay and Women's 4x400 Relay won their races against some of the best competition in New York State including a few NCAA Div. 1 programs.

For the Women's team Naomi Christensen reset her school record in the 200m Dash. Beating her mark set earlier this season of 27.00 to 26.59. She is only 0.07 seconds from qualifying for the Indoor Nationals
Jamie Mason broke the school record in the Triple Jump with a jump of 35' 2.5". Mason now holds 3 out of 4 horizontal jump school records (Indoor Long Jump and Indoor/Outdoor Triple Jump).

The Women's 4x400 team (Kaitlin Smith, Bethany Christensen, Jamie Mason, and Naomi Christensen) took first place in the meet and a near miss on the school record.

For the Men's team the Men's 4x800 Relay (Dan Ballard, Josiah Snelgrove, Chad Stauring, Ryan Fadden) improved their record with a run of 7:55.43. This was good enough to bump their qualifying time for nationals from provisional to automatic. Their previous record was set this year on January 27th at Colgate University in a time of 8:00.55.

Other Notables:
Bethany Christensen had PR's in both the 60m and 200m and made the finals of the women's 60m Dash.
Naomi Christensen finished second in the meet in the 200m and set the school record with that run. She also finished 5th in the 400m.
Jamie Mason made the finals of the women's 60m Hurdles and set the school record in the Triple Jump (she also finished 3rd in the TJ).
Steve Scott had PR's in all 3 of his running events (200m, 400m, and 60mHH). He also made the finals of the 60m Hurdles.
Josiah Snelgrove PR'd in his 800m run after the race was restarted when Josiah was tripped and spiked going into the first curve of the race. He also was the second runner in the Men's 4x800 relay.

Houghton College has deep and solid roots in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, where our teams use their commitment to excellence, both on the field-of-play and in the classroom, as a platform for their strong and unique emphasis on Sports Ministry. Their goal is to make a difference for the Kingdom on campus, in Allegany County, in the Northeast and around the world. Houghton is one of only 13 institutions who have been hand-selected by the NAIA to serve as "Champions of Character" Program Centers, opening the door for Houghton to be a leader, both in the Northeast and nationally, in character education. Through hands-on, innovative community outreach initiatives, Houghton coaches and student-athletes are working together to change the culture of sport and to change our culture through sport.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- February 17 2007 CONTACT: Glyn Turner 585,567,9648

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- February 17 2007
CONTACT: Glyn Turner 585,567,9648