ERIC THIELE ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
The Wartburg women’s track and field team brought home their tenth straight conference championship Saturday.
“None of this would be possible without the seniors now or the athletes that have come before this group of athletes. It is pretty special when you talk about the success the team has. To be in the same conversation as baseball and wrestling in terms of conference champions is special,” head coach Marcus Newsom said.
Faith Burt took first place in the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash with times of 12.09 seconds and 24.95 seconds, respectively.
In 100-meter dash, the Knights took three of the top four spots, including a second place finish by Brittany Thomas and a fourth place finish by Skye Morrison.
The 200-meter dash saw similar results as the Knights took the top four spots with Hannah Baker in second, Nevada Morrison in third, and Jenny Kordick in fourth.
Hannah Baker also took first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.89 seconds, just .33 shy of the IIAC record.
Baker was followed by Nevada Morrison in second and Chelsey Jacobs in third.
“Hannah has the fastest time in the nation in the 400 and came in second in the 200 to her teammate. I feel she had a great weekend,” said Newsom.
Anna Kraayenbrink took first in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:05.25.
Kraayenbrink took home a win in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 39:09.34.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Brittany Thomas took second place with a time of 14.27, losing out to Lauren Bucklin of Simpson College who came in with a time of 14.21.
Brittany Melloy took second place for the Knights in the 400-meter hurdles at a time of 1:03.76.
The Knights took first in the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400-meter relay.
The 4x100 meter team of Kordick, Nevada Morrison, Skye Morrison, and Burt came in a time of 47.18 seconds.
The closest team to them was Loras College, who came in at 48.92 seconds.
“Day one was big in the preliminaries in order to get to day two and have the success we did. Anytime you come away with a win, it is always a good thing. I feel we performed very well across the board,” Newsom said.
In the 4x400-meter relay, the team of Kordick, Skye Morrison, Jen Ganshirt and Becca Fagerlind came in first with a time of 3:55.66 beating the second place team from Central College, who came in at 3:59.13.
Amber Axon and Alicia Ford came in second and third, respectively, for the Knights in the high jump.
Skye Morrison and Baker came in first and third place in the long jump, respectively, and first and fourth place in the triple jump, respectively.
Sarah Hoffman took third place in the shot put at a throw of 13.15 meters.
Hoffman also took second in the discus at 44.23 meters.
“Sarah performed well and got some key points for us in the field events. I was happy to see her perform so well,” Newsom said.
Overall, the women scored 243 points to take home the conference championship.