Brooke Pleger Finishes Seventh At NCAA National Championships

Wednesday, June 5

Eugene, Ore.

All Day Events

Bowling Green State University

NCAA Championships

June 05, 2013 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Eugene, Ore. – Bowling Green State University redshirt sophomore Brooke Pleger finished seventh at the NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field National Championship, becoming the first Falcon to score points at the meet in 12 years. With the result, Pleger will also earn first team All-American status.

“Brooke has broken so much new ground this year with situations she has never been in before,” BGSU head coach Lou Snelling said. “The fact that she handled all of this so well and excelled speaks volumes about her as a competitor and as a person. We are all so proud of her first performance at the NCAA championships and her season as a whole.”

Entering the meet

Matt Conly, Brooke Pleger NCAA Nationals

as the No. 7 seed, Pleger launched the hammer 209-feet on her second throw. That toss would be her best of the day and moved her into the nine-person finals in seventh place. She never

moved out of that spot through three rounds in the finals, tossing the hammer 195-2 and 199-0 before fouling on her final attempt.

Pleger is the second BGSU student-athlete to earn first team All-American status this year. Chris Jones was named a first team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). She joins Stephanie Heldt, Huina Han, Emily Cokinos and Beth Manson as the only All-Americans in BGSU women's outdoor track and field history.

Only two Falcons have ever finished higher at the national championships than Pleger did. In 1998, Huina Han finished sixth in the triple jump and Beth Manson placed sixth in the discus in 1989. The last BGSU student-athlete to score at the meet was Stephanie Heldt, who tied for seventh in the high jump in 2001.

It was just the second time this year that a collegian defeated Pleger at a meet. Arizona State's Chelsea Cassulo, who entered the meet ranked No. 1 in the country, won the national championship with a throw of 226-9. Illinois State's Brittany Smith was second at 224-9 and Kansas' Alena Krechyk was third at 223-10. USC's Jenny Ozorai threw 217-6 and UCLA's Ida Storm, who also beat Pleger at the Mt. SAC Relays earlier this year, was at 214-5. Akron's Brittany Funk, who Pleger defeated for the MAC Championship, placed sixth in 211-8.

In fact, the MAC had three competitors in the 24-person field. Along with Funk and Pleger, Buffalo's Shant'e White competed. She had a toss of 196-6 and did not make the finals, placing 19th.

"I'm so incredibly proud of Brooke," Matt Conly, assistant coach for throws, said. "It's so difficult to go to this meet for the first time and come away as a first team All-American. A lot of kids go several times before achieving that. The experience she gained this year through high level competition will be so valuable to the rest of her career. Brooke had a wonderful season and it was great to be a part of it and watch her hard work pay off."

Pleger's final mark of 209-0 was her worst of the season. She had a personal best of 219-9 at the Northeast Ohio Invitational on April 5. With that throw, Pleger qualified for the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, which will take place June 19-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.