[Track & Field] Wilden reaches qualifying mark, picks up league honor

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Mount Mercy junior Larissa Wilden reached an NAIA qualifying mark in the high jump at the Cornell Invitational on Saturday in Mount Vernon and was named the Midwest Collegiate Conference Women's Field Athlete of the Week for Jan. 23.

Wilden jumped 5'-3 3/4" inches at the Small Multi-Sport Center on Saturday, tying a personal best and reaching the NAIA "B" qualifying standard for indoor nationals. She joins teammates Jenna Higgins and Jacqueline Kane as indoor national qualifiers. Wilden's performance is also tops in the MCC this season.

Higgins, meanwhile, won the 200 meter dash in school-record time, :26.17, and was runner-up in the 60 meter dash in :07.79. She qualified for the indoor national meet in the 60 meters at last week's Sol Butler Open in Dubuque. Mwale Kapande was third in the 200 meters at Cornell with a time of :26.87, which ranks fifth in the conference this year.

Kane won titles in the 400 meter dash and 600 meter run at Cornell. She ran the 400 in 1:01.73, which is fourth on Mount Mercy's career list and third in the MCC this year. Kane finished the 600 in 1:40.96, which ranks third in school history. The women's 4x400 meter relay squad claimed the event on Saturday, too, with the third-best time in school history. Their 4:14.04 ranks number one in the conference as well.

The Mount Mercy men claimed three titles on Saturday. Junior Andre Moodie won a pair of events and freshman Tyler Hartley earned one. Moodie took 600 meter run and 1,000 meter run. The 1:24.78 he ran in the 600 and the 2:42.14 in the 1,000 were the second-fastest times in the MCC this season. Hartley was victorious in the 800 meter run in 2:08.16, which ranks ninth in the league so far in 2012.

Junior Blake Campbell was runner-up in the 600 meters with a time of 1:26.28 (third in the MCC) and sophomore TJ Mosbach placed second in the 3,000 meter run in 9:38.93. Sophomore Patrick Kipkorir finished third in the 3,000 meters (9:42.39). Mosbach's time of 4:42.85 in the mile run was third in the conference this season and good for fifth at Cornell.

The Mustangs will go back to Mount Vernon for the Hilltop Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 3-4, at the Small Multi-Sport Center.