Hoosiers fall short in California

After a season of hard work and training, the 2005 women's outdoor track and field season came to an end Friday. Overall, four Hoosiers competed at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships this weekend in Sacramento, Calif., at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex. It was the first time each of the Hoosier participants competed at the National Championships.\nAlthough none of the Hoosiers made it past the first round of action, they showed they could compete with some of the toughest competition in the nation.\nIn the 3,000-meter steeplechase, junior Kelly Siefker ran a personal best time of 10 minutes 18.59 seconds, almost 10 seconds faster than her time at the Mideast Regional. Although she finished two spots shy of qualifying for the second round of action, Siefker earned the second best time in school history. Siefker was very pleased with her performance because of the circumstances of the meet and plans to use this experience as a stepping stone for her career, she said.\n"It was a big accomplishment for me because I know it's really intimidating to come into this meet and look around at the competition and get a little hesitant," Siefker said. "I really wanted to use this experience to become more familiar with racing at this level and be more confident to compete with some of the best competition in the nation."\nSiefker said the hardest part about the races was the unfamiliarity of the competition.\n"Competition is really unpredictable about how some of the racers are going to run because at a national level, you run against many schools who you have never raced against before," Siefker said.\nJunior Larra Overton wrapped up her season as she finished with a time of 4:26.16 in the 1,500-meter. Overton finished 22nd in her heat with only the top four qualifying for the next round. Although she led her race at the 600-meter mark, she trailed off and wasn't able to catch her competition. University of Nebraska senior Anne Shadle captured the overall title in the 1,500 with a time of 4:11.37.\nAlthough the goal coming into the meet was to win, Overton said she can take a lot out of what she experienced this weekend.\n"The primary goal was to get into the finals, but I think trying to learn what it takes at this level to win will definitely help me in the future," she said. "I was trying to run a gutsy and smart race and see what I was capable of at a new level."\nAlso competing at the meet were IU sophomores and Big Ten champions Lorian Price and Stacey Clausing. Clausing finished in 28th place overall in the 400-meter with a time of 54.96 seconds. Price, competing in the 100-meter hurdles, finished 25th with a time of 13.97. University of Southern California junior Virginia Powell triumphed and captured the title with a time of 12.80. \nEven without any Hoosiers capturing any titles this year, the experiences they had will remain with them.\n"It was great, it was unbelievable," Overton said. "We had a lot of fun"