Yankton, South Dakota — The Dordt Defender women’s track and field team finished its indoor season with a fifth place finish at the NAIA National Championship hosted in Yankton, South Dakota. The Defenders scored 35 points and the day was highlighted by a pair of runner-up finishes in the 400 meters by Emma Bakker and in the 4×400 by Bakker, Anmarie Stuit, Mika Kooistra and Annika Rick.
Kooistra, Rick and Stuit also took third, fourth and fifth in the 600 meters to secure more points. The distance medley earned sixth place and Bethany Ten Haken ran eighth in the 800 meters.
The fifth place team finish is the best by a Dordt team, male or female, at the NAIA National Indoor Track and Field Championship.
Top-eight finishers are recognized as All-Americans.
“The women’s team had a tremendous day of finals competition. The fifth place finish was the highest finish at the nationals in the history of the program. We are thankful for the opportunity to compete at nationals in these uncertain times. It was a special day for our team!”
High jump finals: Sarah De Haan cleared 5-1.5 in the high jump and finished 14th. Indiana Tech’s Leondra Correla cleared 5-7 to win the event.
400 meter finals: Emma Bakker used a late surge and finished national runner-up with a time of 56.3 in the 400. Concordia’s Rachel Battershell won the event in 56.03.
600 meter finals: The Defenders piled up points in the 600 meters with Mika Kooistra running 1:34.62 to finish third, Anmarie Stuit ran fourth in 1:36.27 and Annika Rick was fifth with a time of 1:36.97. The winning time in the event was 1:33.21.
800 meter finals: Bethany Ten Haken ran eighth in the 800 in a time of 2:24.24. The winning time was 2:13.69.
3000 meter finals: Eden Winslow missed All-American status by one spot and finished ninth with a time of 10:40.09. The winning time was 9:58.89.
5000 meter finals: Taylor Anema started but was unable to finish the race.
Distance Medley finals: Anika Homan, Anna Herman, Bethany Ten Haken and Jessica Kampman ran sixth in the event with a time of 12:39.45. the winning time was 11:56.94.
4×400 finals: Anmarie Stuit, Emma Bakker, Annika Rick and Mika Kooistra capped the meet with a runner-up finish in 3:50.05 as they dueled with Indiana Tech and Southeastern in the top three spots before Southeastern was able to sneak ahead to win in 3:49.12.
