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Date: March 10, 2006
Contact: Bill Sodoma

 

Foster earns All-America honor in weight throw; Minty, King advance to finals

NORTHFIELD, Minn. --- Colby College senior thrower Jason Foster came into the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships as a 12th seed, but left the meet as an All-American.

Foster broke his own school record by nearly three feet with a toss of 61-feet to take seventh place in the weight throw at St. Olaf College on Friday. His old school record was 58-1.25 from a fourth-place finish at the Open New England Championships.

For the Colby women, Jess Minty advanced to Saturday's final in the 800 meters and Anna King made the final for the mile.

Foster came into the meet seeded 12th of 13 throwers. However, he made people take notice with a toss of 60-0.5 in the early rounds of throwing. The toss was good enough to put him in the nine-man championship final.

Foster had the best throw of any NESCAC athlete. Dan Austin of Williams College took eighth place in 60-6.5.

Wisconsin-La Crosse junior Kevin Becker broke a meet record with a throw of 68-3.75 to win the event by more than four feet.

Minty, who finished second in the 800 meters last year, finished fourth in her heat and had the sixth best time at 2:14.67 to advance to the eight-woman final on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. (EST). The eight qualifiers were all in the 2:13 to 2:15 range, with North Central College's Amber Druien running the best at 2:13.46.

King was seeded 14th of 15 runners heading into Friday's race. The sophomore had a time of 5:08.04 to earn the last spot in Saturday's 10-woman final. King finished fourth in her heat and held off Concordia's Amanda Kuca (5:09.37) for the final spot.

Weight throw: 1. Kevin Becker, Wisconsin-La Crosse, 68-3.75; 2. Uzoma Orji, MIT, 63-11; 3. Brandon Houle, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 63-11; 4. Dwayne Lockridge, Anderson, 63-11; 5. Jim Uppena, Wisconsin-Platteville, 63-5.5; 6. Jacob Gabrilska, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 62-6; 7. Jason Foster, Colby, 61-0; 8. Dan Austin, Williams, 60-6.5; 9. Pete Ringquist, Wisconsin-Whitewater, 58-8