Bates Finishes Third In Pentathlon, Joins Roach In Saturday Finals
A personal-best in the 800 catapulted junior Kristen Bates to third place in the women's pentathlon.

Terre Haute, IN — It was a highly successful outing for Messiah at day one of the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships, as junior Kristen Bates finished third in the pentathlon earning her third indoor All-American honor.

Bates also ran an :08.11 in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles Friday afternoon, qualifying for Saturday’s finals. Senior Patrick Roach found similar success in the open 800, finishing in a 1:53.99 clip — a time good enough to place him in Saturday’s final race as well.

“It was a good day,” said Dale Fogelsanger, Messiah head coach. “It was a solid day for Kristen in the pent, and we’ve got two finalists coming back for tomorrow. You couldn’t ask for much more than that.”

Bates scored a school-record and personal-best 3,394 points in the championships-opening pentathlon event, finishing the 55-meter hurdles in :08.21, clearing a height of 4 feet, 11 and ½ inches in the high jump, slinging the shot put 27 feet, 10 inches, leaping 17 feet, 4 and 1/4 inches in the long jump and running the 800-meters in 2:25.86. Her 800 time was a huge personal best, helping to move her from fifth to third in the overall standings.

The first time the pentathlon has been competed at the national championships, Bates finished behind only Ashley Huston (3,725 points) of Hardin-Simmons University and Jessica Belden (3,497 points) of Haverford College. She topped Stacy Doornbos of Washington & Lee College by four points, adding another All-American honor to complement her third-place finish in the triple jump and fourth-place result in the 55-meter hurdles last year. She entered Friday’s pentathlon as the seven seed.

Bates had a little over two hours to cool down and prep for the 55-meter hurdles prelims following her pentathlon finish, and the Landisburg, Pa. native was again brilliant: Bates’ :08.11 clip won the first heat, serving as her second-best time behind her school-record :08.06 ran at this year’s Dickinson College Valentine’s Invitational.

Bates will now run in lane five in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles Saturday at 2:25 p.m. Frostburg State University’s Summer Rohrs — the three-time national champion — was the only athlete to turn in a faster time in the prelims, winning Friday’s second heat in a time of :07.97.

Roach finished Messiah’s day with a strong run in the men’s 800-meter event, finishing third in the second heat — and fourth overall — to easily move on to Saturday’s eight-man finals. Roach used a patient pace to settle into second place in his heat until the last 200 meters, where Whitworth University’s Emmanuel Bofa utilized a strong kick to finish just ahead in a time of 1:53.83.

The finals of the men’s 800-meter race will take place Saturday at 3:45 p.m.

The NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships are taking place at the Rose-Hulman Sports and Recreation Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. Two entities continue to provide “official” national championship websites: Fans can get detailed meet information, schedule of events and heat sheets at the Rose-Hulman national championship site, while streaming video and live results will be posted at the USTFCCCA national championships site.