University of Sioux Falls Director of Track and Field Gene Brooks is pleased to announce the signing of four recruits, upping the Cougar's 2011 class to eight athletes.

Kristina Lenge
Kristina Lenge will add immediate talent to the Cougar's sprint group after a standout career at Colonie Central High School in Albany, N.Y.

Lenge holds a personal best of 7.50 seconds in the 55 meter sprint and finished second at the state meet as a freshman, while also setting the school record and qualifying for the national meet in the 60 meter dash. As a sophomore Lenge won the 200 meter dash in a time of 25.5 at the outdoor state track meet.

Her junior highlights include helping her school qualify for the Nike Indoor National Meet. After her senior indoor season, Lenge won the indoor 55 meter sectional championship, finished first in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays at the state qualifier meet and ran a leg on the 4x400 team that qualified for the New Balance Indoor National Meet.

She is a honor roll student at Colonie Central and will major in psychology at USF.




Sophia Harano
Sophia Harano joins USF from Southeast High School in Lincoln, Neb.

Harano is a three year letter winner and holds a personal best of 11 feet, 5 inches in the pole vault entering her senior season. She holds the freshman, sophomore and junior class records for Lincoln Public Schools and placed sixth in Nebraska's largest classification as a sophomore. Harano returned her junior year to finish runner-up at the state meet.

Harano is a three year scholar athlete, a member of the National Honor Society and will start her academic career at USF with a undeclared major.



Holly Suss
Holly Suss will continue a pipeline to Sioux Falls from Brandon Valley High School in Brandon, S.D., becoming the sixth Lynx on the USF track and field team.

Suss holds personal bests of 12.2 seconds in the 100 meters, 25.7 in the 200 meter, 60.0 in the 400 meter and 17 feet, 5 inches in the long jump. Suss has finished as high as sixth in the South Dakota State Class AA State Meet, the largest classification in the state.

Suss is a B Honor Roll student and intends on majoring in Elementary Education at USF.




Marissa Whipple
Marissa Whipple hails from Baltic H.S. in Baltic, S.D. and will join the Cougar throws crew.

Whipple holds personal bests of 38'2" in the outdoor Shot Put, 39'7" in the indoor Shot Put and 127'00" in the Discus. Whipple is a four time all-state performer during her first three years of field, placing as high as second in the Shot Put. She qualified for the Junior Olympics in both the Shot Put and Discus during her prep career and has won the regional Discus competition the last two seasons.

In addition to being a field standout, Whipple is a three year starter and all-conference player on the Baltic H.S. basketball and volleyball teams.
Whipple is a member of the National Honor Society, Honor Roll, Merit Roll and is a Academic Letter winner. She intends on majoring in Elementary Education, Special Education and work towards an endorsement in Coaching.


The USF women's track and field team placed 10th at the 2011 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships and will start the outdoor season at the Vance Butler Invite at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls this Saturday, April 2.