May 23, 2003

CANTON, N.Y. . . . Central College senior Peter Wagner (Pleasant Hill, Iowa/Southeast Polk HS) won his second National Championship in the decathlon in the last three years at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. Wagner, who won the decathlon in 2001 and finished second in 2002, is one of 11 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) student-athletes earning All-American honors during the first two days of the three-day National Championship.

Wagner won the decathlon by 170 points over Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Kevin Deering. Deering held an 11-point lead over Wagner after Day One of the but Wagner had a solid second day that included second place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles (15.22) and pole vault (14-7.25), an eighth place finish in the javelin (158-1), and ninth place finishes in the discus (111-10) and 1,500-meters (4:38.25). On the first day of competition, Wagner finished first in the long jump (21-10), second in the high jump (6-5), fourth in the 100-meters (11.96) and 12th in the shot put (34-7.75).

Among the 11 All-Americans from the Iowa Conference, three competed in the women’s javelin and three competed in the women’s discus. In the javelin, Wartburg’s Kelly Foley (Tipton, Iowa/Tipton HS) and Dia Dohlman (Eldora, Iowa/Eldora-New Providence HS), and Loras’ Angie Behrend (Guttenberg, Iowa/Guttenberg HS) all earned All-American honors. Foley placed fourth with a throw of 134-10. Behrend placed seventh with a throw of 131-4 and Dohlman, the 2001 National Champion, placed eighth with a throw of 130-8.

In the women’s discus, Central’s Jenn Hansen (Belmond, Iowa/Belmond-Klemme HS) placed fourth (147-1), Coe’s Ann Gramkow (Avoca, Iowa/A-H-S-T HS) placed sixth (146-10) and Upper Iowa’s Mary Streeter (Fayette, Iowa/North Fayette HS) placed seventh (146-8). Loras’ Megan Medinger (Camanche, Iowa/Camanche HS) placed 10th in her flight of the discus with a throw of 114-6.

The Conference also had multiple All-Americans in the heptathlon as Central twins Raegan and Lindsay Schultz (Barnum, Iowa/Manson NW Webster HS) finished second and sixth, respectively. Raegan finished with 4,803 points and Lindsay amassed 4,518 points. Dohlman also participated in the heptathlon, finishing 15th (4,290 points).

On the men’s side, in addition to Wagner’s National title, Central’s Cale VanGenderen (Lynnville, Iowa/Lynnville-Sully HS) and Wartburg’s Josh Moen (Fairbank, Iowa/Wapsie Valley HS) earned All-American honors. VanGenderen placed eighth in the high jump with a mark of 6-9. Moen finished seventh in the 10,000-meters in a time of 30:45.11.

On the team side, Central’s women are in sixth place with 16 points and trail first-place McMurry by four points. Wartburg is tied for 19th with six points, Coe is tied for 35th with three points and Upper Iowa and Loras are tied
for 4 with two points. Central’s men are tied for seventh with 11 points and trail Wisconsin-Oshkosh by 18 points. Wartburg is tied for 35th with two points.

Other Iowa Conference student-athletes that competed during the first two days of the National Championship include:

Women’s 100-meters – Loras’ Pam Orris (Dubuque, Iowa/Senior HS) finished fifth in her heat in a time of 12.47 seconds.

Men’s 100-meters – Coe’s Milton Lanier (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington HS) placed seventh in his heat finishing in 11.13.

Women’s 200-meters – Orris placed sixth in her heat finishing in a time of 25.85.

Women’s 400-meters – Wartburg’s Sarah Tompkins (Clear Lake, Iowa/Clear Lake HS) finished sixth in her heat in a time of 59.31.

Women’s 1,500-meters – Wartburg’s Missy Buttry (Shenandoah, Iowa/Shenandoah HS), the defending National Champion in the event, ran the top time in the preliminaries finishing in 4:30.67. She will run in the 1500-meter final at 2:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.

Men’s 1,500-meters – Loras’ Marcus Murphy (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny HS) qualified for Saturday’s final after finishing fifth in his heat in the preliminaries in a time of 3:55.49. The final will be run at 1:50 p.m. (ET).

Women’s 10,000-meters – Loras’ Amy Scheuerell (Platteville, Wis./Platteville HS) finished 19th in a time of 37:38.21.

Women’s 100-meter hurdles –Raegan Schultz finished sixth in her heat in 15.13 and Loras’ Rachel Hutchins (Bernard, Iowa/Cascade HS) finished fifth in her heat in 15.22. Neither qualified for Saturday’s final.

Men’s 110-meter hurdles – Dubuque’s Basil Steele (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS) ran a time of 14.79 in the preliminaries and qualified for Saturday’s final that will be run at 2:10 p.m. (ET)

Women’s 400-meter hurdles – Buena Vista’s Jessica Jensen (Elkhorn, Iowa/Elkhorn-Kimballton HS), the defending National Champion in the event, finished third in her heat in the preliminaries in a time of 62.21 and qualified for Saturday’s final at 3:40 p.m. (ET). Wartburg’s Holly Dorenkamp (Pella, Iowa/Pella HS) finished fifth in her heat in a time of 62.78, but failed to advance to the finals.

Women’s 3,000-meter Steeplechase – Luther’s Erin Dunham (Great Falls, Mont./HS) finished 19th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 11:41.29.

Women’s 4x100 Relay – The Loras team of Behrend, Hutchins, Orris and Lora Walke (Guttenberg, Iowa/Clayton Ridge HS) placed fifth in it heat in a time of 48.28 but did not qualify for the finals

Men’s 4x100 Relay –Coe’s team of Fredrick and Patrick Jackson (Fort Worth, Texas/Lamar HS), Lanier and George Tyner (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) finished second in their heat (41.47) and qualified for Saturday’s final (1:30 p.m. ET).

Wartburg’s team of Steve Bubb (Waverly, Iowa/Waverly-Shell Rock HS), Josh Hauser (Union, Iowa/BCLUW HS), Brent Showalter (Wellman, Iowa/Mid-Prairie HS) and Alex Six (Ainsworth, Iowa/Washington HS) finished seventh in their preliminary heat (42.60) and Dubuque’s team of Chris Peterson (Fort Pierce Fla.), Daunta Peterson (Tampa, Fla.), Greg Wiersema (Morrison, Ill.) and Steele finished eighth in their heat (43.90). Both teams failed to qualify for the finals.

Women’s 4x400 Relay – Wartburg, Buena Vista and Loras 4x400 relay teams finished fifth, sixth and eight in their respective preliminary heats but did not qualify for the finals. The Wartburg team of Dorenkamp, Tompkins, Kelli Marlow (Pella, Iowa/Pella HS) and Ashley Williams (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Marr HS) ran a time of 3:52.31.

Buena Vista’s team of Jensen, Racheal Carstens (Bayard, Iowa), Amy Nieland (Newell, Iowa) and Erin Steinkamp (Auburn, Iowa) ran a time of 3:52.63. Loras’ team of Behrend, Hutchins, Orris and Jenny Noonan (Bernard, Iowa/Cascade HS) ran a time of 3:57.91.

Men’s 4x400 Relay – Two of the Conference’s four representatives in the 4x400 relay qualified for Saturday’s final (5:00 p.m. ET). Loras’ team of Tedd Allen (Marshalltown, Iowa/East Marshall HS), James Croker (Iowa City, Iowa/City HS)), Matt Jones (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption HS) and Eric Melloy (Mount Pleasant, Iowa/Mount Pleasant HS) qualified with a preliminary time of 3:15.47. Wartburg’s team of Hauser, Showalter, Alex and Andy Six (Ainsworth, Iowa/Washington HS) also qualified with a preliminary time of 3:14.37.

Central’s team of Justin Koeppe (Storm Lake, Iowa/Storm Lake HS), Nick Miller (Tipton, Iowa/Tipton HS), Kevin Pitz (New Vienna, Iowa/Dyersville-Beckman HS) and Tanner Whipple (Roland, Iowa/Roland-Story HS) finished fifth in their flight (3:16.26). Simpson’s team of Zach Allison (Grimes, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Eric Karr (Knoxville, Iowa/Knoxville HS), Jeromy Keehn (Alexander, Iowa/CAL-Dows HS) and Reid Leichty (Wayland, Iowa) finished seventh in their flight (3:17.11)

Women’s Hammer Throw – Loras’ Melissa Gappa (Holmen, Wis./Holmen HS) placed 10th in her flight with a toss of 150-9.

Women’s Triple Jump – Luther’s Katie Pettigrew (Farmington, N.M./Farmington HS) placed seventh in her flight with a jump of 37-7.25.

Men’s Discus – Loras’ Joe Dion (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial HS) placed eighth in his flight in the discus with a throw of 147-5.

Complete results from the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships can be found here.

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