SAN ANGELO, Texas — Humboldt State’s Megan Rolland and Kelsey Lemke came up short of their goal of gaining All-America status, finishing back in the pack in their respective events at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships on Saturday.
Rolland had the best chance of placing among HSU’s three national qualifiers, and came into the meet ranked third in the nation in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. She easily advanced to Saturday’s final with a solid race in Thursday’s preliminaries, but was unable to respond in the final.
"(Rolland) said she felt prepared ahead of time, but had heavy legs in the race," HSU head coach Sandy Moran said. "We'll just chalk it up to experience. It can’t do anything but help her in the future."
HSU’s school record-holder in the event with a time of 10 minutes, 46.91 seconds, Rolland placed ninth in the field Saturday with a time of 11:12.61. That placement left the junior from Emmett, Idaho short of a top-eight finish that recognizes athletes as All-Americans.
Winning the event easily was Mary Ballinger of Southern Indiana, who posted a time of 10:22.98 which was 15 seconds faster than the runner-up, Lisa Thomas of Western State.
Lemke struggled in the javelin, fouling twice and managing only one legal throw in the first round. Her mark of 113 feet, 4 inches ultimately placed the HSU senior 15th in the field of 16 qualified athletes.
"(Lemke) couldn't put it together technically today," Moran said. "The javelin was just hitting flat, and she couldn’t fix it."