May 15, 2004

DUBUQUE, IOWA . . . Wartburg College won its fifth straight Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) women’s outdoor track and field Championship and Central College won its 10th IIAC men’s outdoor track and field Championship in the last 14 years at the Conference Championship at the University of Dubuque on May 14-15.

The Knights scored 239 points, defeating second-place Loras (171 points) by 68 points and third-place Central (145 points) by 94 points. Central ended Wartburg’s two-year Championship run on the men’s side with 207 points, 30 points ahead of second-place Wartburg (177 points) and 55 points ahead of third-place Loras (152 points).

Most Valuable Performers - Loras College junior Abby Vanderah (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown HS) and Central College sophomore Tanner Whipple (Roland, Iowa/Roland-Story HS) were named Most Valuable Performers. Vanderah had five top-five finishes including three NCAA provisional qualifiers. She won the triple jump with a Conference record and PQ jump 11.84 meters. She also won and PQ’ed in the long jump (5.63 meters) and the 4x100 relay (48.20 seconds). Vanderah placed second in last weekend’s heptathlon with 4,446 points. She finished 100-meter dash (12.71 seconds) and fifth in the 200-meter dash (26.07 seconds).

Whipple won, and provisionally qualified for NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles (53.16 seconds), the 4x400 relay (3:17.29) and last weekend’s decathlon (6,185 points). He also finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.83 seconds).

Coaches of the Year – After leading their teams to Conference titles, Wartburg’s Marcus Newsom and Central’s Kevin Sanger were named women’s and men’s Coaches of the Year, respectively. It is Newsom’s fifth straight women’s Coach of the Year honor and Sanger’s second straight honor, sixth overall.

The complete Iowa Conference outdoor track and field Championship results are here.

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