Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information

See Marlee Berg's national championship performance by clicking here:

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Westfield State College's Marlee Berg is a national champion.

And even the usually talkative senior from Chelmsford, Mass., was unable to comprehend the outstanding accomplishment after placing first in the high jump at the NCAA Division III women's indoor track and field championships on Friday, March 13, at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

"She was speechless, if you can believe that," said Westfield State head coach Sean O'Brien. "This is a great accomplishment for Marlee and our track and field program."

Berg is Westfield State's first indoor national champion and third champion overall. In the outdoor national championships, Claudine Rice of Rowe, Mass., won the hammer throw in 1994, and Westfield native Cindy Sturm won the 3,000 meter run in 1982.

Berg and Cortland (N.Y.) State junior Kristen Serikstad both cleared a meet-best 5-6 1/2 on their third and final attempt, but Berg won the national crown on fewer misses. The Westfield senior cleared 5-1 1/4, 5-3 1/4, and 5-5 1/4 on her first attempts, while Serekistad cleared 5-3 1/4 on her second attempt.

There were 15 high jumpers participating in the national finals. Wheaton (Mass.) College sophomore Ashley Huston finished third by clearing 5-5 1/4.

This was Berg's second time in the national spotlight; she placed 11th in the high jump at 2008 outdoor national championships. Berg qualified for the national championship with a school-record effort of 5-7 earlier this season at the Harvard Invitational.

"Absolutely," said O'Brien when asked if Berg's exposure to the outdoor nationals helped her this year. "The more you go to big meets the better off you are. And the bigger the meet the better Marlee does."

The multi-talented Berg also competed in pentathlon national championships on Friday, and O'Brien believes that also aided her greatly in winning the high jump national crown. Berg placed 12th in the highly competitive pentathlon by totaling 3,051 points, her second best total. Earlier this year she set a school record with 3,120 points. The high jump is one of the five pentathlon events and Berg's best effort was 5-3.

"Marlee had just finished running the 800 meter run (the final pentathlon event) about 90 minutes before the high jump started so she wasn't uptight; she had no nervous energy," said O'Brien, who noted that Berg's only subpar event in the pentathlon was the long jump. "Plus, she was able to work out a few kinks for the high jump after competing in the pentathlon high jump."