COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Niul Manske (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed first in the men’s division at the NORCECA Championships for modern pentathlon December 3-4 in Guatemala City, Guatemala, leading the United States to a team gold medal.

Manske finished with a total score of 5,344, edging teammate Sam Sacksen (Somerset, Pa.), who ended the competition in second with 5,340 points. Eli Bremer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the swim portion in a time of 2:02 and placed fourth overall with a score of 5,308, missing the medal stand by just eight points. Rounding out the men’s side for the U.S. was Laurance Goodwin (Pittstown, N.J.) in 24th with 2,632 points.

On the women’s side, four U.S. pentathletes—Michelle “Mickie” Kelly (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Emily Shertzer (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Suzanne Stettinius and Katie Schaaf (Cambridge, Mass.)—earned perfect scores of 1,200 in the riding event. The 2005 U.S. National Champion, Kelly finished first in the run and placed second overall with 5,052 points, while Shertzer, who competed with a leg injury, came in fifth with 4,888 points. Stettinius and Schaaf placed seventh and 16th, respectively, while Geriann Henderson (Vernalis, Calif.) finished 12th and Alexandra Gatzke (Bedminster, N.J.) placed 19th.

RESULTS:

Senior Men

NAME COUNTRY TOTAL SHOOT FENCE SWIM RIDE RUN

1 Manske, Niul USA 5344 1096 1056 1228 1116 848

2 Sacksen, Sam USA 5340 1156 860 1152 1196 976

3 Guitian, Jose Panama 5316 1072 988 1004 1160 1092

4 Bremer, Eli USA 5308 928 888 1336 1088 1068

24 Goodwin, Laurance USA 2632 820 692 952 0 168

Senior Women

NAME COUNTRY TOTAL SHOOT FENCE SWIM RIDE RUN

1 Rodriguez, Katia Cuba 5160 1096 920 1140 1180 824

2 Kelly, Michelle USA 5052 964 840 1076 1200 972

3 Jimenez, Mahelet Mexico 5012 964 920 1088 1096 944

5 Shertzer, Emily USA 4888 1012 760 988 1200 928

7 Stettinius, Suzanne USA 4692 904 960 1016 1200 612

12 Henderson, Geriann USA 4136 880 760 1096 1072 328

16 Schaaf, Katie USA 3156 616 720 620 1200 0

19 Gatzke, Alexandra USA 2868 212 680 824 1152 0

For more information, please contact the USOC’s Media & Public Relations Division at (719) 866-4529.