MARION, Ind. --- Senior Natasha Miller won the long jump and had solid showings in the final two events to cruise to her third-straight NAIA Heptathlon title, highlighting the second day of action at the 2011 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Miller becomes the 21st female athlete to win the same event three times in their career, having taken the crown in each of the last three years. She also has won the indoor pentathlon over that same stretch. It also secures 10 points for the Eagles in the team standings, giving BIola 13 points overall after two days, tying for 10th overall.

Coming into the day, Miller held a 400 point lead. She quickly added to that lead by winning the long jump with a leap of 5.75m in her final attempt. That would stretch her lead to over 500 points with just two events left. She all but wrapped up the competition by placing fifth in the javelin throw with a personal best toss of 33.02m (108-1 feet). She then closed things out with a conservative third-place finish in the 800m. 

Miller finished with 5,392 points, nearly 400 points ahead of the second-place finisher. Her point total was the fourth-best in NAIA history behind  Kim Vanderhoek of Simon Fraser (B.C.) who holds the top three scores from 1991-93.

She also had time to squeeze in a pair of 100m hurdle races, finishing seventh overall with a time of 14.18 overall. 

Biola wraps up the National Championships on Saturday with a busy day. At 6:00 a.m. local time, Biola will send four members of the men's team on a 26.2 mile run in the marathon through Marion. Later in the day, Miller will look to become a three-time NAIA champ in the high jump with Kelsey Gasner competiting in the steeplechase finals.

The NAIA also announced the scholar-athletes for track and field with Biola placing 13 athletes overall. In order to be nominated by an institution's head coach, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status to qualify for this honor. They are: Sarah Brooks (Liberal Studies), Eva Dunbar (Nursing), Kelsey Gasner (Physics), Clarissa Kenney (Physics), Natasha Miller (Business Management), Erika Perez (Health Promotion/Exercise Science), Brian Aukshunas, (Business, Accounting), Jameson Henry (Physics), Jared Hoerner (Intercultural Studies), Jonathan Kirchner (Biblical Studies), Ryan Richert (International Business), Evan Thibodeau (Biology), Jared Zimmerman (Psychology & English).