Cornerstone University

Erler Earns Belated All-American Honors in the Marathon

May 23, 2009

(Edwardsville, IL) Even with a 6 a.m. starting time, the weather was already uncomfortable with the temperature in the mid sixties and the humidity at 98%.

Juniors Nicki Erler and Janelle Lindman entered the 26.2 mile race prepared to run together and covered the first eighteen miles shoulder to shoulder working their way up to twelfth and thirteenth place.

With several runners ahead of the slowing dramatically as the temperature continued to rise, Lindman reached the 19 mile mark twenty meters ahead of Erler. By 21 miles they were back together, then Erler moved ahead.

Just before the 22 mile mark Nicki tracked down Erin Behan of Mount Mercy to move into scoring position, eighth place. Lindman began to fade. Coach Rod Wortley asked Janelle how she was doing and responded by saying, “iffy.” “Last year on this course, Janelle made it 18 miles then wound up in the trainer’s tent,” said Wortley. “She’s run two half marathons since then and wound up needing medical attention after both of them. She’s learned how to manage her body under long race conditions and she did a good job making the necessary adjustments to finish the race still standing.”

By 23 miles, Erler was four minutes out of sixth place and pushing hard to close the gap. The two women ahead of her were slowing with every step while Nicki continued a steady pace. At 24 miles gap was 1:30 seconds and at mile 25, Erler took over seventh and could see sixth just over one minute ahead. With 1.2 miles remaining on the hilly course, Nicki used the last long downhill to gain ground. By the time she entered the stadium, Meredith Gardner of Oklahoma Baptist was only 40 seconds ahead as Erler churned out a 6:36 26^th mile. She would get no closer and finished in an apparent seventh place in 3:17:01, a personal best by over four minutes from 2008 when placed sixteenth.

Two hours later, the official results listed Erler in sixth. The initial runner-up, Kaitlin Fadden of Houghton was disqualified for receiving assistance, moving everyone up one position. “It’s heartbreaking for someone to finish well then get disqualified, but it’s usually not possible for the meet referee to at the exact spot of the violation when it happens to make the ruling,” said Wortley. “I’m extremely proud of Nicki’s effort. She endured a lot and showed an incredible amount of determination in the last five miles.” “It hurt a lot more than it did last year,” Erler said after the race, “but sixth feels a lot better than sixteenth, so it’s worth it.”

Lindman held on to finish tenth in 3:21.54.

In the 1500 meter final, Andi Owens used a strong last lap to take seventh in 4:39.85, just one second off her personal best set two days earlier.