Hoosier earns spot at NCAAs

Most of the IU women's track and field team traveled to Fayetteville, Ark. to compete in the Tyson Invitational, but one Hoosier athlete did not. \nJunior distance runner Jessica Gall left her teammates behind to pursue a shot at earning an automatic NCAA indoor qualifying time. Gall entered the 5,000-meter run at the Husky Classic held at the University of Washington. \nGall placed fourth in the event with a new personal-best time of 16:03.47, which is nearly a minute and a half faster than her previous personal-best time and currently the sixth-best time in the nation. \n"She ran a great race today," IU distance coach Judy Wilson said. "This is why we brought her here. We felt that this kind of competition would really give her the time she needed to qualify. She was in eighth heading into the last mile, but really turned it on from there and finished up the race real strong."\nMeanwhile, the rest of the Hoosiers competed in Arkansas. Not a single IU athlete participated in any of the twelve events on Friday night, leaving the Hoosiers fresh on Saturday for the second day of competition. \nJunior Lindsay Hattendorf was the only Hoosier to earn a first-place prize, and she did so with a career best 17:14.40 in the \n5,000-meter run.\nIU had three athletes entered in the 800-meter event. Senior Larra Overton was IU's top finisher with a third-place time of 2:11.18, while the freshmen duo of Nikki Peterson and Lauren Keefe finished ninth and 24th with times of 2:13.36 and 2:17.48, respectively.\nSophomore Lorian Price continued to exhibit her multi-talented skills. Price placed sixth in the long jump with a final leap of 5.72 meters (18-09.25) and finished 13th in the preliminary 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.53 seconds. \nIndiana returns home this Friday to host its final indoor event of the season, the Hoosier Hill Invitational. Events are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.