Ellingson named MVP at IIAC Championships
PELLA – Catie Ellingson won the 800 meters and the Mile on her way to Most Valuable Track Performer honors at the 2011 Iowa Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday. The Simpson women placed 6th overall.
Wartburg won the meet with 251 points, followed by Central (118.50), Luther (91), Loras (85.50), Coe (64), Simpson (63), Cornell (34), Dubuque (17) and Buena Vista (17).
A senior, Ellingson swept the 800 and the Mile for the second-straight year. She set a school record in the Mile, crossing the finish line in 4:57.97 and besting her own record of 4:59.17 set in 2010. Her effort improved her provisional qualifying mark - set earlier this season at 4:59.47 – and ranks eighth in the nation. She won the 800 with a time of 2:18.32 and also helped the Storm to a fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay.
Simpson also got medalist honors from Lauren Anderson and Kinsey Bak.
After turning in the fastest qualifying time in the 55-meter hurdles on Friday, Anderson topped the field again on Saturday. She broke the tape in 8.50 seconds.
Bak, a two-time conference champion in the outdoor high jump, took the honor for the first time indoors after finishing third in 2010 and second in 2009. She cleared 5-4 ¼.
The 4x200 team of Anderson, Molly Sabers, Nicole Mulder and Jordan Maher placed third (1:47.39) while the 4x400 team of Anderson, Sabers, Ellingson and April Sigmund got fourth (4:06.46).
Sabers added an eighth-place effort in the 55-meter hurdles (9.08) and got ninth in the triple jump (33-4). Maddy Besack provided Simpson's other top-10 finish, taking 10th in the shot put (36-11).
Simpson athletes will have one more chance to qualify for nationals when the team travels to the Iowa State Last Chance Meet in Ames on Saturday, March 5.
