Simpson women take third at Dubuque

DUBUQUE - Catie Ellingson produced two of the team's five first-place finishes as Simpson placed third of five teams at the Dubuque Invitational on Saturday.

UW-Platteville won the team race with 200 points, followed by Clarke with 123. Simpson scored 116 points, followed by Dubuque (61) and the D4 National Champions (14).

Ellingson won the 800-meter run and the mile, setting meet records in both events. She broke former teammate Sarah Hammel's record in the 800 in a time of 2:18.62 and broke her own meet record in the mile, finishing in 4:59.47. Her mile time was just over two seconds off her school record of 4:57.37 set last year, meets provisional qualifying standards and ranks as the second-best time in the NCAA thus far in 2011.

Simpson also got medalist performances from Jade Osborne, Lauren Anderson and Kinsey Bak.

Osborne led the pack in the 3,000 meters, finishing the event in 11:01.35. Anderson won the 55-meter hurdles in 8.83 seconds and returning All-American Bak won the high jump with an effort of 5-3 3/4.

Molly Sabers took second in the 600 meters (1:42.76) and third in the 55 hurdles (9.08). Maddy Besack added a second-place finish in the shot put with a heave of 34-6 3/4.

Simpson returns to action next weekend when it takes part in the Grinnell Invitational, Feb. 11-12.