Thursday, March 9, 2006 - FPU sends seven to NAIA National Indoor Championship
Fresno Pacific University will be represented by seven student-athletes at the NAIA National Indoor Track and Field Championship that begins today in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The team, comprised of two men and five women, will compete in seven events. Freshman Benny Madrigal (Madera, Madera HS) will compete in the 5,000 meters, while senior Mario Ordaz (Fresno, Edison HS) is entered in the shot put and weight throw.
Sophomore Natalie Friesen (Reedley, Immanuel HS) will compete in the long and triple jumps. Molly McAmis (Santa Maria, Ernest Righetti HS), Dia Matthews (Fresno, Central HS/FCC) and Zenaida Cruz (Reedley, Reedley HS) will compete in the shot put. Mathews and Cruz will be joined by Karley Kalinich (Hesperia, Sultana HS/CSU Northridge) in the weight throw.
Friesen, who earned NAIA All-America honors for a fifth place finish in the triple jump last years, owns the fifth-best qualifying mark this year (39-01.25).
FPU is well represented in the weight throw where Kalinich, Mathews and Cruz qualified fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively.
Cruz and McAmis earned NAIA All-America honors outdoors last year in the hammer throw.
