Press Release

Jan. 24, 2009

Two Bearcats Qualify at Iowa State and Nebraska Wesleyan

Anna O'Brien	Tyler Shaw

Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational Men's Results | Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational Women's Results | Iowa State Men's Results | Iowa State Women's Results

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Two Bearcats reached NCAA provisional qualifying marks and broke a pair of program records in the process as Northwest Missouri State wrapped up competition at the Iowa State Open and Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational today.

Anna O'Brien provisionally qualified with a program-record 5:02.73 in the mile run at Iowa State today. She finished fourth overall as the top Division II runner in the 59-athlete field. O'Brien also finished second in the 1,000-meter run with a program-record 3:00.40 to break her own program record of 3:01.99 set at the 2008 Iowa State Open.

It's the second straight weekend that O'Brien has broken a program record. She set the 5,000-meter mark at the Holiday Inn Invitational last weekend with 17:51.71.

At Nebraska Wesleyan, freshman Tyler Shaw ran 8.16 in the 60-meter hurdles and came within one-hundredth of a second from tying the program record in his first collegiate meet. He provisionally qualified in the third-place performance and finished only behind two hurdlers from Nebraska.

The Northwest women won three events at Nebraska Wesleyan in the five-team field. Kayli Hrdlicka won the 1,000-meter run in her first career attempt in the event. Lindsay Biermann won the triple jump with a season-best 35-3 and Kate Walter won the shot put with a career-best 39-5 3/4.

Ben McKim also finished strong at Iowa State with a 52-11 mark in the shot put to place third behind two throwers from Iowa State.

Up Next: Next weekend will be just be for the multi-event athletes, as Northwest will travel to Doane College for the Kip Janvrin Multi-Events Meet Jan. 31-Feb. 1.