WAVERLY, Iowa — Competing in their home arena, the Wartburg College women extended their streak of league titles to 13, while the squads from Wartburg and Central engaged in the second tie in the history of the men's championship as the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Indoor Track and Field Championships concluded February 28 at Hoover Field House on the campus of Wartburg College.
The Wartburg women won nine events and totaled 220 points to outdistance runner-up Central, which won six events en route to 153 points. Dubuque (98) edged Loras (93) and Luther (86.5) for third place while Coe (34), Simpson (30.5) and Buena Vista (25) rounded out the field.
On the men's side, Central and Wartburg each finished with 176 points. Trailing by one point heading into the 4x400 relay – the final event on the championships program – the Dutch won the first heat of the timed final with a time of 3:27.95. Competing in the faster of the two heats, Wartburg needed only to finish better than the 3:30.29 posted by opening-heat runner-up Coe to clinch at least a share of the title. The Knights placed fifth overall (3:29.09) to create the second tie in the 13-year history of the championship. Dubuque took third with 131 points, followed by Loras (91), Coe (63), Luther (44), Buena Vista (32) and Simpson (27).
The previous tie occurred in 2005 when Loras and Wartburg each scored 157 points to tie for the crown.
The four Most Valuable Performer awards were split between four schools as Central's Abi Davis and Dubuque's Ernest Winters captured the track awards and Luther's Leah Broderick and Wartburg's Colt Feltes received the field honors.
Davis won the women's 60 and 200 and led off Central's winning 4x200 relay and runner-up 4x400 relay. In the 60 final, she matched her qualifying time with a 7.77 clocking. In the 200, Davis was a clear winner, taking the title by nearly half a second (25.73) over teammate Meredith Zimmerman (26.20).
Broderick won Friday's pentathlon with an IIAC all-time best point total of 3,505. She added the high jump crown Saturday, clearing 1.65 meters (5-5) for a two-inch victory and also finished third in the long jump (5.17m; 16-11 1/2) and 15th in the shot put (10.96m; 35-11 1/2).
Winters swept the 60 and 200 dashes and led off the Spartans' winning 4x200 relay. Winters' mark of 6.89 seconds in the 60 set an all-time IIAC mark and broke the championhship mark of 6.92 set by Dubuque's Davivorn Dowe in 2012. He posted a 22.00 to win the 200, besting the rest of the field by 0.54 seconds. The 4x200 relay team of Winters and fellow freshmen Joseph Miggins, Hurshel Ross and Deshond Robinson set a new venue record with a 1:29.19 clocking.
Feltes received honors for the third consecutive year after winning the shot put and weight throw. Friday's win in the shot put came in championship-record fashion with a toss of 18.10 meters (59-4 3/4) on his final throw of the competition. He added the weight throw title Saturday with a mark of 17.96 meters (58-11 1/4), more than four feet better than runner-up Andy Bellamy, also of Wartburg (16.65m; 54-7 1/2).
Wartburg head coach Marcus Newsom swept IIAC Coach of the Year honors. It is the seventh time Newsom has been honored on the men's side and the 11th time he has been recognized on the women's side.
WOMEN
Maddie Kleve led a 1-3-4 Wartburg finish in the mile with a time of 5:05.86. Dubuque's Fabiola Ortiz (5:07.33) broke up the block of Knights, edging Serena Goetzl (5:08.89) to finish second, while Meghan Silbernagel took fourth (5:17.38).
Zimmerman was able to claim an individual IIAC title of her own, edging Loras' Elizabeth Brandenburg in the 60 hurdles by one-hundredth of a second. The times posted by both Zimmerman (8.88) and Brandenburg (8.89) eclipsed the IIAC Championship record of 8.96 set by Wartburg's Camesha Goods in 2012. Simpson's Bayley Fleshner took third (9.18).
Allie McBroom concluded the Dutch sweep of the sprints with a win in the 400, stopping the clock in 58.91. Wartburg's Kayla Kregel (59.05) edged Central's Camie Kibbee (59.07) and Dubuque's Rachael Busjahn (59.13) for second.
Wartburg scored four in the 800 led by a 1-2 finish from Taylor Moore (2:13.51) and Taylor Officer (2:17.09). Luther's Kaia Bierman took third (2:17.78).
Wartburg posted a podium sweep in the 3,000 as Goetzl (10:26.51) edged teammate Jaclyn Rittgers (10:26.52) by one-hundredth of a second and Erin Sawyers (10:29.66) took third. Sawyers had taken the 5000 title Friday night ahead of Rittgers and defending champion Maggie Saenz Ruiz of Loras.
The Knights closed out the championships by winning both the 4x800 and 4x400 relays. Three freshmen (Elizabeth Duehr, Meghan Silbernagel and Maddie Carlsen) and a sophomore (Samantha Feller) combined to win the 4x800 title (9:42.87), while the 4x400 squad of Moore, Officer, Cheeseman and Kregel set a new championship record with a 3:54.75 clocking. The old record of 3:55.57 was set by Moore, Kayla Kregel, Kendra Kregel and Karly Cochrane in 2013.
Moore, Kregel, Officer and Maddie Kleve had won the distance medley relay in commanding fashion (12:02.60) on Friday night over Dubuque (12:26.56) and Luther (12:34.82). The Central team of Davis, McBroom, Kate Patton and Zimmerman won the 4x200 on Friday to prevent a Wartburg sweep of the relays.
Central's Ashlee Downs cleared 5.31 meters (17-5 1/4) in the long jump to top teammate Taylor Beckman by three inches (5.24m; 17-2 1/4). Defending champion Nikki McKenzie of Dubuque finished fifth with a leap of 5.15 meters (16-10 3/4) after successfully defending her triple jump crown on Friday.
Wartburg's Kayla Hemann swept the throws, adding the weight throw title to her shot put title from Friday. She posted her top mark of 17.15 meters (56-3 1/4) on her first throw, beating Central's Lorell Stuht by nearly four feet (15.99m; 52-5 1/2). Dubuque's Nicole Forson took third (15.43m; 50-7 1/2).
MEN
In addition to running on Dubuque's winning 4x200 relay, Deshond Robinson won the 400 in 49.65. He edged Wartburg's Daniel Bonthius (49.76) for the title and also took fifth in both the 60 and 200.
Buena Vista's Seth Woodson took the 800 title in meet-record fashion, clocking a 1:53.24 in a fast field to erase the old mark of 1:54.65 set by Bonthius in 2013. In addition to Woodson, runner-up Zach Frey of Loras (1:53.60) and third-place finisher Nicholas Green of Wartburg (1:54.25) went under the old mark.
Central's Eli Horton won both the mile and 3,000 for the second straight year, breaking his own championship record in the mile with a 4:12.98 clocking. Horton set the old mark of 4:13.13 at the 2014 championships. He posted an arena-record 8:30.03 in the 3,000 to edge out Wartburg's Chase Moser (8:30.35). Moser was able to collect a title of his own at this year's championships, running a 14:43.82 in the 5,000 to best the field by over 10 seconds.
Central multi-eventer Eric Larson displayed his versitilty at the championships, winning the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump, finishing second in the high jump and taking fifth in the pole vault. He won the 60 hurdles in 8.37, edging teammmate Dan Roemerman by three-hundredths of a second. In the long jump, he leaped 7.20 meters (23-7 1/2) to top Coe's Chris Hawkins (7.18m; 23-6 3/4) and Erik Franklin (6.86m; 22-6 1/4). In the high jump, Larson and DuVaun Goodlow of Dubuque both cleared 2.07 meters (6-9 1/2), with Goodlow taking the title based on fewer misses.
Hawkins (13.41m; 44-0) and Franklin (13.33m; 43-9) also finished 2-3 in the triple jump behind champion Kebba Bojang of Dubuque (14.31m; 46-11 1/2).
Dubuque's Nicholas Kazmierczak cleared 4.39 meters (14-4 3/4) to win the pole vault title by 5 3/4 inches over teammate Tyler Dobratz.
Dobratz won the heptathlon with 4,750 points, eclipsing the championship record of 4,691 set by Larson in 2012. Central's Conner Freeman (4,688) edged out two-time defending champion Jacoby Firkins of Wartburg (4,681) for second place.
The distance medley relay title went to Central as Jamie Vander Veer, Spencer Hammack, Drew Jackson and Eli Horton stopped the clock in a new Field House record time of 10:03.52. Wartburg won the 4x800 relay with the team of Justin Hochstetler, Cody Snider, Jason Ludwig and Ryan Hermsen setting a new Field House record with a time of 7:58.25. The Loras team of Stedman Foster, Brandon Gradoville, Zac Gassman and Zach Frey won the 4x400 in 3:22.84, just 0.19 off the championship record (3:22.65).