2009 MIAC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Recap
David Pape, Carleton Sports Information
St. Thomas win fifth straight conference crown
NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The University of St. Thomas women claimed their fifth consecutive MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship with 207.0 points. It is the Tommies 24th overall outdoor track title as St. Thomas captured nine event titles, including a sweep of the three relay events at Laird Stadium.
Gustavus finished second with 173.0 points followed by Saint Benedict at 84.0 points and Concorida with 77.0. Host school Carleton College rounded out the top five of the 12-team field by grabbing fifth place at 72.5 points.
A total of 30 NCAA qualifying standards were hit during the two-day event, including four automatic qualifying marks. Gustavus’ Lisa Brown secured a berth in the upcoming national championships with her winning distance of 157 feet, 10 inches in the javelin throw. This was her fourth title in the event in as many years.
The 1500-meter run saw the top three finishers all eclipse the previous conference championship record en route to NCAA automatic qualifiers. Bethel University junior Marie Borner successfully defended her title with a time of 4:29.20, while teammate Heather Jelen crossed the line at 4:32.04 to edge St. Thomas junior Kelly Russ (4:32.23).
St. Thomas senior Katie Thiesen repeated as champion the 3000-meter steeplechase. In the process, she broke both meet and stadium records with her NCAA provisional time of 10:50.48.
She joined teammates Molly Demmer, Shiona Evans, and Nikki Arola in holding off Gustavus to win the 4x400-meter relay. Their time of 3:51.56 broke the meet record and snapped a 25-year old Laird Stadium mark.
Arola defended her crowns in both the 200 and 400-meter dash, crossing the line at 25.60 and 57.32 respectively. She recorded a NCAA provisional time in the longer race as did second-place finisher Claire Franco of Carleton (57.41).
Carleton’s Simone Childs-Walker dominated on her home track and recorded NCAA provisional qualifying times in winning the longest two races of the competition, the 5000 and 10000-meter races (17:22.23 and 35:22.17 respectively). A total of four racers had provisional marks in the 10K.
Gustavus took top honors in both hurdle events. Senior Aryn Bell won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.94, while sophomore Laura Secor held off Theisen in the 400 hurdles (64.04 to 64.24).
The Gusties secured four other conference titles in the field events, with each being good for NCAA provisional qualifying. Janey Helland pulled away from the competition in the long jump with a distance of 18-2 1/2. Teammate Sam Broderius won the discus with a throw of 148-3. She also prevailed in the shot put by nearly a full foot with a distance of 44-8 3/4. Last week, Kaelene Lundstrum defended her crown in the heptathlon with a total of 4,550 points. Concordia’s Leah Kay also had a provisional mark of 4,489 in finishing second in the multi-event compeition.
St. Olaf College’s lone event victory came in the pole vault where junior Amie Fillmore soared over the bar at 11-9 1/4, good enough for a NCAA provisional mark.
Saint Benedict senior Mary Schletty recorded the Blazers’ first event title of the weekend with her winning performance in the triple jump measuring 36-2. Abby Neigebauer later reached the line first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.26.
St. Thomas’ Erin Sprangers repeated as conference champion in the 800-meter run, this time finishing at 2:14.19, which is a provisional qualifier.
In the other relays, the Tommies’ Jenna Ewing joined with Evans, Arola and Demmer for a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 48.57. Larissa Peyton, Raynee DeGio, Sprangers and Theisen won the 4x800 meter relay by more than 11 seconds at 9:19.32.
Jenna Lewis recorded one of St. Thomas’ two field-event titles with her distance of 155-2 in the hammer throw. Senior Alyssa Salomone cleared 5-4 1/4 to win the high jump.