March 14, 2009

TERRE HAUTE, IND. . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) recorded 19 All-America performance and placed three teams in the top-15 at the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships which concluded March 14 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The Wartburg College women's team captured the program's first indoor national title by 9.5 points over Wisconsin-La Crosse. In the men's competition, Buena Vista University placed fifth with 21 points. Five Iowa Conference individuals came home with multiple All-American plaques (top-8 finish).

Coe College's Ashley Schnell, the 2009 Iowa Conference Most Valuable Performer, earned a pair of All-America honors, placing third in both the 800-meter run and the mile run.

Wartburg College's Hannah Baker, the 2008 Iowa Conference Indoor MVP, also earned two All-America honors. Baker placed second in the 400-meter dash and anchored Wartburg's national champion 4x400-meter relay. She earned All-America honors for the third consecutive year in each event.

Wartburg's Nevada Morrison joined Baker as members of the Knights' 4x400 relay team and also placed fourth in the 400. Jenny Kordick, also from Wartburg, placed seventh in the 400 and ran the second leg on Wartburg's third-place distance medley relay team. It is the second consecutive year Kordick has earned All-America honors in two events.

Buena Vista's Eric Bertelsen was the only Iowa Conference men's competitor to earn multiple All-America honors this year. Bertelsen won the national title in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 9 inches, and also placed sixth in the 55-meter dash.

In the team race, the Coe College women joined the Wartburg women and Buena Vista men in the top-15. The Kohawks, behind Schnell's two third-place finishes, scored 12 points to finish in a tie for 12th. Simpson College and Loras College each recorded a fifth-place finish for four points and a tie for 39th place in the team standings, while Cornell tied for 60th with one point.

In the men's race, Central tied for 48th place with four points, while Loras tied for 73rd place with one-third of a point. Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wisconsin-La Crosse tied for the men's team title with 32.0 points.

The Buena Vista women and Wartburg men also sent representatives to the National Championship Meet but failed to score in the team standings.

IOWA CONFERENCE ALL-AMERICANS (top-8 finishers)

WOMEN
• Wartburg’s 4x400 relay (Nevada Morrison, Kelsey Steffens, Chelsey Jacobs, Hannah Baker) – National Champion (3:50.10), eighth straight Wartburg 4x400 All-American honor (Baker and Steffens members of 2007 & 2008 relay teams)
• Wartburg's Akeye Aimable – National Champion in triple jump (39-6; 12.04 meters)
• Wartburg's Hannah Baker – 2nd in 400-meter dash (56.58), third consecutive All-America honor in 400-meters
• Coe's Ashley Schnell – 3rd in 800-meter run (2:12.12) and mile run (4:55.95)
• Wartburg’s distance medley relay (Amanda Kuiken, Jenny Kordick, Audrey Weidman, Jennifer Kuiken) – 3rd (11:48.95), second consecutive Wartburg DMR All-America honor (Kordick, A. Kuiken, J. Kuiken members of 2008 relay team)
• Wartburg’s Faith Burt– 4th in 55-meter dash (7.11)
• Wartburg’s Nevada Morrison – 4th in 400-meter dash (57.18)
• Wartburg’s Sarah Hoffman – 4th in shot put (45-5 3/4; 13.86 meters)
• Simpson's Lauren Bucklin – 5th in 55-meter hurdles (8.23), second consecutive All-America honor in 55-meter hurdles
• Loras' distance medley relay (Tara Kilburg, Laura Rieger, Hannah Weiss, Mary Bridget Corken) – 5th (11:51.44)
• Wartburg's Jenny Kordick – 7th in 400-meter dash (57.89)
• Cornell's Rachelle Hawkins – 8th in mile (5:02.81)

MEN
• Buena Vista's Eric Bertelsen – National Champion in long jump (24-9; 7.54 meters) & 6th in 55-meter dash (6.41)
• Buena Vista's Shawn Olorundami – 2nd in 55-meter hurdles (7.42)
• Central's Kurtis Brondyke – 6th in pentathlon (3,544 points)
• Central's Ethan Miller – 8th in pentathlon (3,494 points)
• Loras’ Chris Buresh – t-8th in high jump (6-6 3/4; 2.00 meters)

OTHER IOWA CONFERENCE QUALIFIERS’ PERFORMANCES

WOMEN
• Wartburg's Chelsey Jacobs – 3rd in heat of 400-meters (57.86)
• Wartburg's Kelsey Steffens – 4th in heat of 400-meters (58.80)
• Simpson's Sarah Hammel – 6th in heat of 800-meter run (2:16.99)
• Simpson's Catie Ellingson – 5th in heat of mile run (5:02.13)
• Loras' Barb Kremer – 7th in heat of 55-meter hurdles (8.50)
• Wartburg's Kelsey Steffens – 5th in heat of 55-meter hurdles (8.30)
• Buena Vista's Natalie Olorundami – 6th in heat of 55-meter hurdles (8.31)
• Wartburg's Skye Morrison – did not record a qualifying distance in the long jump
• Buena Vista's Morgan Darrow – 9th in shot put (44-0; 13.41 meters)
• Cornell's Madison Craw – 8th in flight of shot put (41-10; 12.75 meters)
• Simpson's Carissa Coopman – 6th in flight of shot put (43-4 1/2; 13.22 meters)

MEN
• Loras' Ray Orris – 5th in heat of 800-meter run (1:55.69)
• Wartburg's Brian Chenoweth – 11th in 5,000-meter run (14:43.68)
• Loras' Brian Westemeier – 7th in flight of weight throw (51-2 3/4)
• Loras' Chris Buresh – failed to post qualifying height in pole vault

Complete NCAA Championship results can be found here.

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