Cassie Merkley ties for eighth place in the high jump.

June 13, 2008

Complete Day 1 Heptathlon Results

Des Moines, IA--In her first NCAA National appearance junior Cassie Merkley fought through a nagging injury acquired at the Big Sky Conference Championships to end day one of the heptathlon with 2,909 points to hold 26th place.

With no chance to be intimidated Merkley ran her first event in the first section of seven for the 100-meter hurdles. Merkley marked a time of 14.76 to earn 874 points with her 25th place run, which was more of a jog for Merkley due to her injury which took nearly a full second off of her performance best time of 13.77 one of her best events.

Later in the day she proceeded on to the high jump where she tied for eighth place with three other athletes,her best performance of the day. Merkley reached a height of 5-06.50 to earn 842 points. In the shot put junior Merkley threw a distance of 39-05.00 to capture tenth place for 662 points. She finished the day with a 26th place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.32 for 531 points.

"She was determined to finish it off," said head men's and women's track and field coach Dave Nielsen about Merkley's struggle in the heptathlon due to her injury. "She's been pretty tough and she is doing what she can with what she's got."

Merkley looks to perform well in her signature event the javelin throw, where she has achieved a distance as far as 155-09, on Saturday when she completes the heptathlon at Drake Stadium.