Journal Times sports staff

UW-Parkside's Miranda Melville completed her first 20-kilometer race walk in impressive fashion Sunday.

Melville was the overall winner of May Race Walks Sunday at Petrifying Springs. The sophomore from Rush, N.Y., had a time of 1:47:01 and earned the qualifying time for this year's National Championship at the University of Oregon June 27.

Melville will be joined at the national meet by junior teammate Le'erin Voss, who also met the standard for the event with a time of 1:49:10.

A third Parkside walker, Erika Lamp, earned a qualifying mark in the 10-kilometer race at the Junior National Championship in Oregon. Lamp, a freshmen from Westosha Central High School, finished in 58:43.

Melville earned a career-best mark for 10 kilometers when she walked the second half of the race in 52:10. Her best mark last year was 53:05, which she recorded at the World Cup Junior Championships in Russia.

Meanwhile, Parkside alums swept the top three spots in the men's race and earned qualifying marks for the USA Championships as well.

They were Ben Shorey (1:28:47), Mike Tarantino (1:29:21) and Stephen Quirke (1:30:25).

Shorey and Quirke compete for the Parkside Athletic Club and Tarantino competes unattached.

In the Masters Division, Parkside coach Mike De Witt finished second in the over-50 division. De Witt covered the 10K course in 56:23. He placed third overall in the Master's Age Grading with a mark of 80.50 percent.

The overall winner of the Age Grade was 76-year-old Jack Bray of Pardeville, who scored at 85.47. Bray is a multiple World Record Holder in Masters Race Walking.

* Jessica Monson ran her first open 800-meter race of the year and was just .4 of a second off her school record when she won the event at the North Central College Gregory Last Chance Open.

Monson was timed in 2:09.29, which met the NCAA II automatic qualifying standard. It was the third event she has reached the time standard in this year.

Hope Christie placed eighth with a personal-best time of 17:48.33 in the 5,000-meter run, and Whitney Olson won her section of the 1,500-meter run at 4:59.54, dropping under 5:00 for the first time in her career.

* Carthage College has qualified three athletes for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship Thursday through Saturday at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.

On the men's side, junior Buzzy Brown qualified in the long jump and senior Jon Kochmit qualified in the hammer throw.

Sophomore Heather Gilmore qualified in the 100-meter high hurdles in the women's division.