Bison Women Set to Compete at U.S. Championships

FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State women's track and field team will send three athletes to the 2011 U.S. Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. June 23-26. Senior Christine Schmaltz will run the 800 meters, while fellow senior Whitney Carlson will compete in the long jump and heptathlon. Junior Leslie Brost is set to compete in the pole vault. Assistant coach Rachel Longfors will compete in the discus. The top three finishers in each event will represent the United States at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Korea. The Bison will also have two athletes competing at the U.S. Junior Championships. Freshman Emily Lesser will compete in the shot put and fellow freshman Heidi Peterson will run the 5,000 meters.

Road to qualification
Christine Schmaltz automatically qualified for the U.S. Championships after running a time of 2:02.77 at the American Milers Club High Performance Series on Wednesday, June 15. Whitney Carlson qualified in the long jump with her school record mark from last year's championships of 21-2 1/2. Carlson was ninth in the event last year.  She qualified in the heptathlon after scoring 5,556 points at the NCAA Championships. Assistant coach Rachel Longfors made the field in the discus after a throw of 186-5 at the Drake Relays. Leslie Brost qualified in the pole vault with her mark of 14-1 1/4 from the 2010 Mt. SAC Relays. At the junior championships, Heidi Peterson made the field in the 5,000 meters after running a time of 17:26.16 at the 2011 Summit League Indoor Championships. Emily Lesser will compete in the shot put after qualifying with a mark of 46-0.

Former Bison to compete at U.S. Championships
Former NDSU All-American Amanda (Thieschafer) Smock will compete in the triple jump this weekend. Smock comes into the competition with an excellent chance of making the national team as she has the third best qualifying mark at 45 feet 10 inches. She placed fourth at the 2010 U.S. Championships. Former NCAA runner-up Laura (Hermanson) Januszewski will run the 800 meters. She qualified with a time of 2:01.19 and took seventh at last year's championships.

Competition schedule (all times Central)
Thursday, June 23
5:25 p.m. - Discus trials and finals (Longfors)
5:30 p.m. - 800 meters first round (Schmaltz, Januszewski)
Friday, June 24
12:10 p.m. - Junior 5,000 meters (Peterson)
12:20 p.m. - Junior shot put (Lesser)
5:55 p.m. - Triple jump trials and finals (Smock)
7 p.m. - 800 meters semifinal (Schmaltz, Januszewski if qualify)
Saturday, June 25
11:45 a.m. - Heptathlon 100 hurdles (Carlson)
12:45 p.m. - Heptathlon high jump (Carlson)
2:35 p.m. - Heptathlon shot put (Carlson)
3:40 p.m. - Heptathlon 200 meters (Carlson)
Sunday, June 26
1:15 p.m. - Heptathlon long jump (Carlson)
2:00 p.m. - Pole Vault (Brost)
2:30 p.m. - Heptathlon javelin (Carlson)
2:40 p.m. - Long jump (Carlson)
4:10 p.m. - Heptathlon 800 meters (Carlson)
4:18 p.m. - 800 meter final (Schmaltz, Januszewski if qualify)

Live coverage
Live statistics will be available free of charge at GoBison.com. The meet will be televised on ESPN2, Universal and NBC. All times are Eastern.
Friday, June 24
11:00 p.m. - ESPN2
Saturday, June 25
3:00 p.m. - Universal
5:00 p.m. - NBC
Saturday, June 26
3:00 p.m. - Universal
5:00 p.m. - NBC

Carlson, Schmaltz earn All-American honors at NCAA Championships
Whitney Carlson was named first team All-America after finishing fifth in the heptathlon with a school record score of 5,556 points at the NCAA Championships. Carlson earned second team honors in the long jump after placing ninth with a mark of 20-10 3/4. Carlson has earned five career All-America honors. Christine Schmaltz was a second team honoree after placing ninth in the 800 meter semifinals in 2:05.09. She was one spot shy of advancing to the final. She is the fourth Bison to earn Division I All-America honors.