Bak high jumps to All-American honors

GREENCASTLE, Ind. – Simpson sophomore Kinsey Bak (Hinton, Iowa/Hinton) earned the best finish by a Simpson athlete at the national indoor track meet in 17 years with a third-place showing in the high jump, leading Simpson to a tie for 13th place after day one of the 2010 Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at DePauw Indoor Tennis and Track Center.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh leads the way with 14 points, followed by Wartburg with 13. Chicago sits in third (11), followed by St. Thomas and New Jersey City tied for fourth (10). Simpson is one of four schools tied for 13th with five points. Richard Stockton, New Jersey and Ithaca are the others.

Bak's jump of 5-5 ¼ put her in a tie for third, the best finish by a Simpson athlete since Kelli Sheda placed second in the 400-meter run in 1993. After earning All-American honors for the first time, Bak will compete in the pentathlon tomorrow, which begins at 9 a.m. EST.

A two-time All-American in the 55-meter hurdles, senior Lauren Bucklin (Bondurant, Iowa/Bondurant-Farrar) will have a chance to add another medal to her collection after qualifying for the finals. Her preliminary time of 8.31 tied for the sixth-best qualifying effort. The 55-meter finals are scheduled to begin at 2:35 p.m. EST.

Simpson's other participants – junior Catie Ellingson (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) and senior Sarah Hammel (Dorchester, Iowa/Waukon) – competed in the 800 meters. With eight runners making the finals, Ellingson and Hammel just missed the cut with the ninth and tenth-best times, respectively. Ellingson placed fifth in the first heat (2:15.20) followed closely by Hammel in sixth (2:15.43).