May 12, 2007

INDIANOLA, IOWA . . . Wartburg College repeated as both the men’s and women’s Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) outdoor track and field Champions at the Conference meet hosted by Simpson College on Friday and Saturday. The title is the eighth straight and 11th overall for the Knight women, and the fifth overall for the men.

The Wartburg women scored 267 points, eclipsing their own meet record of 242 points set last year. Loras College finished second, 118 points behind with a total of 149 points followed by Luther College (99 points) and Central College (98.5). On the men’s side, Wartburg totaled 213.83 points, 75.33 pointes better than runner-up Loras (138.50). Central finished third with 127.83 points and Luther was a distant fourth with 85 points.

Final Team Standings
Women				Men
1st	Wartburg	267		1st	Wartburg	213.83
2nd	Loras	149		2nd	Loras	138.5
3rd	Luther	99		3rd	Central	127.83
4th	Central	98.5		4th	Luther	85
5th	Simpson	70		5th	Buena Vista	56.83
6th	Buena Vista	55		6th	Coe	56
7th	Cornell	50.5		7th	Simpson	51
8th	Dubuque	18		t-8th	Cornell	45
9th	Coe	11		t-8th	Dubqueu	45

Most Valuable Performers: Loras senior Abby Erion and University of Dubuque sophomore Orlando Walton were named Conference Most Valuable Performers. Erion, who was also the outdoor track and field MVP last year, scored 37 points for the Duhawks with two individual titles and five top-four finishes. She won the long jump (5.47 meters) and triple jump (11.10 meters). Last weekend Erion finished third in the heptathlon with an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 4336 points, and added a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (65.19 meters). She also finished fourth in the javelin (38.48 meters).

Walton scored 20 of Dubuque’s 45 points with a pair of first-place finishes in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. He set a Conference Championship record and automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships with a finish of 21.26 seconds in the 200-meters. Walton also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with his time of 10.73 meters in the 100-meters.

11 Records Broken: The following 11 records were set at the 2007 Iowa Conference outdoor track and field Championships:

Women
400-meters – Wartburg’s Hannah Baker (54.56 seconds)
800-meters – Wartburg’s Heidi Porter (2:11.46)
100-hurdles – Wartburg’s Lucy Joseph (14.32 seconds in prelims)
3000-meter steeplechase – Luther’s Janet Dobyns (10:35.64)
pole vault – Loras’ Whitney Calvert (3.65 meters)
shot put – Loras’ Dana Klemm (14.31 meters)
discus – Loras’ Ellen Thys (45.50 meters)
javelin – Simpson’s Kelsey Hagerty (47.97 meters)

Men
100-meters – Dubuque’s Orlando Walton (10.59 seconds in prelims)
200-meters – Dubuque’s Orlando Walton (21.26 seconds)
hammer – Central’s Jason Fisher (57.43 meters)

National Qualifying Performances: Nine NCAA automatic qualifying marks and 53 provisional qualifying marks were met during the Conference Championships. The automatic qualifying marks were:

Buena Vista’s Eric Bertelson – long jump (7.32 meters)
Central’s Alicia Whisner – javelin (45.33 meters)
Dubuque’s Orlando Walton – 200-meter dash (21.26 seconds)
Loras’ Dana Klemm – shot put (14.31 meters)
Luther’s Janet Dobyns – 3000-meter steeplechase (10:32.64)
Simpson’s Kelsey Hagerty – javelin (47.97 meters)
Wartburg’s Hannah Baker – 400-meter dash (54.56 seconds)
Wartburg’s Heidi Porter – 800-meter run (2:11.46)
Wartburg’s Lucy Joseph – 100-hurdles (14.32 seconds)

Coaches of the Year: For the second straight year, and the third time since 2002, Wartburg head coach Marcus Newsom was named IIAC men’s and women’s Coach of the Year during the same year. It marks the eighth straight year Newsom has been selected women’s Coach of the Year and the fourth time he has been named men’s Coach of the Year.

Complete IIAC Championship results are here. The top-three finishers in each event, including all members of the top-three finishing relay teams, are recognized as All-Conference. The 2007 All-Conference track & field Teams are here - Men/Women

Iowa Conference schools will participate in a variety of Last Chance meets next weekend. The NCAA outdoor track and field National Championship is May 24-26, at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

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