Contact: Heather Benning, Executive Director, benningh@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa — After day one of the Midwest Conference Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships, five-time defending champion St. Norbert College leads the field with 69 points. Monmouth College closed day one with 48 points, and host institution Grinnell College sits in third with 43. Rounding out the scoring are Ripon (39), Illinois College (26), Beloit (21), Cornell (11), Lake Forest (11), Lawrence (2) and Knox (0).
 
Scoring opened when Monmouth sophomore Kareema Lawal took first in the shot put with a toss of 12.91m, while sophomore Renee Hartman of Illinois College finished second with a mark of 12.82m. The final podium position went to Grinnell junior Agne Lukoseviciute (12.79m).
 
Next was the pole vault where the top three finishers all cleared 3.38m, but it was sophomore Sara DeGroot of St. Norbert who is this year’s champion as DeGroot was successful on the first attempt. Tying for second are senior Kirsten Carrigan, also of St. Norbert, and sophomore Sarina Kopf of Grinnell.  
 
Beloit College’s Eva Laun-Smith, the 2019 Outstanding Field Performer, took home gold in the long jump with a 5.84m leap. Finishing second (5.48m) was Cindy Ladner of Monmouth, with Katherine Wanie of St. Norbert taking bronze (5.45m).
 
It is was the 2019 MWC Cross Country defending champion Madison King of Ripon leading the pack in the 5000. King ran a time of 18:12.58, while the Grinnell duo of Mikayla Fujiwara and Emma Schaefer went 2-3, finishing in 18:21.83 and 18:33.69, respectively.
 
The Green Knight quartet of Maddie LeBrun, Daijah Brown, Brianne Barta and Claire VanBeek ran a 4:20.55 to place St. Norbert first in the sprint medley. In second (4:23.70) it was Emma Karpinski, Brianna Bartz, Payton Rahn and Makaila Weddle of Ripon, while Francesca Dalla Betta, Paige Olowu, Rebecca Villa and Rachel Bottum of Grinnell were third (4:25.14).
 
In yet another event, the podium stand was bookended by St. Norbert athletes when Joyana Tarsa and Kelley Gardipee went 1-3 in the mile. Tarsa (5:10.22) clipped Yaneli Guarjardo (5:10.61) of Lake Forest, with Gardipee clocking a 5:22.16.
 
Advancing to tomorrow’s final in the 60m Hurdles are defending champion Laun-Smith, along with the trio of Katherine Wanie, Kacey Topp and Anna Giblin of St. Norbert College. Also qualifying are Callista DeCramer and Jackie Zeman of Ripon, Vanessa Caldwell of Monmouth and Maddix Stovie of Cornell.
 
Setting a new meet record in the 60m Dash (7.76) was Andrea Hyde of Illinois College. Hyde will lead the octet of qualifiers for Saturday’s final, along with St. Norbert’s Audrey Makope, the 2019 defending champion. Cindy Ladner and Kenzie Baker of Monmouth, Aminah Crawford of Beloit, Emma Karpinski and Bartz of Ripon and Zaria Lambert of Cornell all will contend for the title.
 
In the culminating event of the day, Ripon’s Camrie Schmitz, Karpinski, Bartz and DeCramer clocked a 1:44.35 for first, followed by LeBrun, Brown, Emelia Lichty and Katherine Wanie (1:45.76) of St. Norbert. Illinois College’s Hyde, Olivia Moletta, Jessie Hempen, Kayla Hearon (1:45.84) were third.
 
Saturday’s competition begins at 10:30 with the weight throw, triple jump and high jump. Running events start at noon with the Distance Medley Relay.