May 24, 2003

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Sophomore Ashlee Vincent (Bellingham/Squalicum) closed out her two-year stay at Western Washington University in brilliant fashion as she placed third in the women's 5,000 meters to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Ralph Korte Stadium on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville campus.

Vincent, who is transferring to NCAA I University of Portland next fall to pursue an engineering degree not available at Western, broke her own school record by nearly three seconds with a time of 16:59.08. She came into the event ranked No.13 nationally.

Adams State's Amber Klein won the event in 16:48.62, with Southern Indiana's Heather Cooksey second in 16:52.31. Vincent held off UC Davis' Sopagna Eap for third by .20 seconds, Eap finishing in 16:59.28.

"To break that 17-minute barrier is a major thing," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell. "That's quite an accomplishment."

"It feels really, really good," said Vincent. "My original plan was to go with 800 meters to go, but during the second mile I started to feel really good and everyone seemed to be slowing down, so with four laps to go I pressed it a little bit and tried to break the pack up a little bit."

The race was not a tactical one, which was to Vincent's advantage.

"It was just an outright race right from the start," Halsell said. "It was just the way we wanted it."

It was the second trip to nationals for Vincent, who failed to reach the finals in the 3,000 last year. This spring she was a national provisional qualifier in three events for the second straight year, posting outstanding times in the 1,500 (4:36.94) and 3,000 (9:53.04) as well as the 5,000.

"Going in, we knew without a doubt that the 5,000 was her best race, and that it was the only one she was going to run," said Halsell.

Vincent ran the 5,000 twice during the regular season. Her best outing came at the Stanford Invitational where she broke a school record that had stood for 12 years with a 17:02.00 clocking. That was 15 seconds better than the best time by a NCAA II Northwest runner in the past five years.

Vincent, the 2001 state Class 3A state champion in the 1,600 meters as a senior at Bellingham's Squalicum High School, knew from the beginning she wouldn't be completing her education at Western, but with the agreement of Halsell, decided at least to start out there.

She made an impact from the start. In two years of cross country, Vincent was Western's top finisher in every race she ran, and won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference individual title both seasons.

Vincent will continue to compete in cross country and track at Portland.

NCAA Div II Outdoor Track & Field - 5/22/2003 to 5/24/2003
                                 Korte Stadium
                         Southern Illinois Edwardsville

Event 8  Women 5000 Meter Run
=======================================================================
 Meet Record: * 15:59.34  5/25/1985   Julie Bowers, West Chester
  Korte Stad: # 16:10.86  1994        Misti Demko
    Name                    Year School                  Finals  Points
=======================================================================
Finals
  1 Amber Klein               SR Adams State           16:48.62   10
  2 Heather Cooksey           FR Southern Indiana      16:52.31    8
  3 Ashlee Vincent            SO Western Washington    16:59.08    6
  4 Sopagna Eap               SR UC Davis              16:59.28    5
  5 Jenny Farmer              SR Southern Indiana      16:59.78    4
  6 Janet Kogo                JR Harding University    17:03.66    3
  7 Erin Woolley              SR South Dakota State    17:03.89    2
  8 Natalie Ewing             SO Grand Valley St       17:05.67    1
  9 Audrey Sung               SR UC San Diego          17:08.02
 10 Molly Wedel               SR South Dakota          17:09.02
 11 Stephanie Bylander        SO Adams State           17:12.00
 12 Lisa Bloome               SR Western State (Co)    17:19.98
 13 Jennifer Ford             SR North Florida         17:21.68
 14 Kati Gosnell              SR Humboldt State        17:26.72
 15 Miranda Ernst             SR Northern Colorado     17:29.38
 16 Shannon Antvelink         SR Grand Valley St       17:36.71
 17 Krista O'Dell             SO Grand Valley St       17:40.29
 18 Emily Mortensen           FR Adams State           17:40.36
 19 Missy Lendl               SO Chico State           17:44.57
 20 Jeannette Seckinger       JR Grand Valley St       18:24.89
 -- Kristin Toney             JR Western State (Co)         DNS