Mizzer Finishes in Ninth Place in Heptathlon

Mizzer Finishes in Ninth Place in Heptathlon

Ference Represents Goucher in Decathlon, Places Ninth

April 11, 2008

GRANTHAM, Pa. - Goucher's Dayna Mizzer (Prince Frederick, MD/Calvert) placed ninth in a field of 15 competitors in the heptathlon that took placed yesterday and today at Messiah College.

The senior is the first female athlete in school history to compete in an heptathlon.

Mizzer concluded the seven-event competition with a total of 3,151 points, finishing only 44 points behind Amy Hoffmann from Gettysburg in eighth place. The overall champion was Messiah's Amy Reed with 4,666 points and Kristen Bates, also from Messiah, was runner-up with 4,290.

Mizzer stood in third place, trailing only Reed and Bates, after the first event, the 100-meter hurdles. She crossed the finish line in :16.87.

In the other three events conducted on the first day, Mizzer went 4-feet, 6.75-inches in the high jump, threw the shot put 18-feet, 3-inches and was clocked in a personal-best time of :28.25 in the 200-meter dash.

She rose to fifth place in the standings with her performance of 14-feet, 2.25-inches in the long jump, today's first event. She concluded the competition with a throw of 51-feet, 9-inches in the javelin and 2:38.61 in the 800-meter run.

The Gophers also entered freshman Brendan Ference (Smallwood, NY/Monticello) in the men's decathlon, making him the first person in school history to take part in the 10-event competition.

In his five first-day events, he completed the 100-meter dash in :12.89 and the 400-meter run in :56.80, went 17-feet, 2.5-inches in the long jump, and threw the shot 27-feet, 1.25-inches, but he wasn't able to clear the bar in the high jump.

He posted times of :18.31 in the 110-meter hurdles and 4:43.49 in the 1,500-meter run, hurled the discus 75-feet, 4-inches and the javelin 87-feet, 7-inches, and cleared 7-feet, 8.5-inches in his first competitive attempt in the pole vault.

Kevin Clark from Elizabethtown won the decathlon, finishing with 6,648 points. There were 10 more entrants and Ference wound up in ninth place with 3,770 points.