January 18
Track
Melissa Norville - Illinois College
Sophomore - Batavia, Ill.
Norville met the NCAA’s provisional qualifying standard in Illinois College’s first indoor meet of the season thanks to her time of 9.14 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Norville, an all-Midwest Conference and All-American selection during the 2010 outdoor season last spring, won the event by more than a full second.
Field
Allison Devor - Monmouth College
Sophomore - St. Charles, Ill.
Devor turned her training into results last week, recording two personal-best throws and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Competing at the Knox Invitational, Devor threw a provisional qualifying and personal-best 43’1-1/2” in the shot put to win the event by nearly two feet. Earlier, she had recorded a PR of 49’9-1/2” in the weight throw to place third, a little more than a foot out of first.
January 25
Track
Alexa Allen - Monmouth College
Freshman - Port Byron, Ill.
Allen picked up two individual firsts and a relay win at Saturday’s five team Midwest Invitational at Monmouth College. Allen ran a league-best 8.70 in the 55-meter hurdle prelims and then broke the tape in the finals with an 8.82 to win by more than two-tenths. She then led a 1-2-3 Monmouth finish in the 200 with a winning time of 27.72. Allen ran to another first in the 4x200 relay where the Scots winning time and MWC-best 1:48.44 was more than two seconds faster than the runner up.
Field
Melissa Norville - Illinois College
Sophomore - Batavia, Ill.
Norville had another impressive week after meeting the NCAA’s provisional qualifying standard in the 60-meter hurdles last week. Norville won both the triple jump (11.49 meters) and the long jump (5.72 meters) at the Illinois College Snow Bird Open on Saturday. Norville’s result in the triple jump met the provisional qualifying standard and her mark in the long jump met the NCAA’s automatic qualifying standard.
February 1
Track
Mary Kate Beyer - Monmouth College
Senior - East Peoria, Ill.
Beyer nearly etched her name in the Fighting Scots’ record book twice at last weekend’s Rose-Hulman Engineer Invitational as the Scots finished first in the 12-team field. The senior distance runner broke her own school record to win the 3,000-meters in 10:20.20. Earlier, Beyer ran to a third place finish in the mile with a 5:14.24, just nine-hundredths off her own school mark. Both performances are conference-best times.
Field
Lexie Schaffer - Ripon College
Freshman - Hilbert, Wis.
Schaffer helped the Red Hawks to a ninth place finish out of 17 teams at Saturday’s Tadd Metzger Invitational. She earned the only first-place finish for the Ripon women, winning the high jump with in a field of 30 individuals with a career-best jump of 5-01.75.
February 8
Track
Lindsay Gruenke - Carroll University
Sophomore - Aurora, Ill.
Gruenke won the 400 meter dash at the UW-Stevens Point Invitational to help the Carroll University women’s indoor track and field team finish seventh in the 13-team field. Gruenke won the race with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 58.36. Gruenke earned all-American honors last year in the 400 meter dash when she finished seventh at the National Championship meet.
Field
Rose Tepper - Lawrence University
Sophomore - Mount Vernon, Iowa
Tepper broke the Lawrence record and became a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championships when she won the high jump this past Saturday at the UW-Stevens Point Invitational. Tepper won the event with a jump of 5 feet, 5.75 inches. That broke the Lawrence record of 5-5.25, which was set in 2010 by All-American Madeline Steininger.
February 15
Track
Sarah Burnell - Grinnell College
Freshman - Grinnell, Iowa
Burnell raced to victory in the mile run at Grinnell College’s own Darren Young Classic over the weekend. She toured the oval in 5:15.52 to beat her nearest competitor by a second-and-a-half. Her time is the second-fastest currently in the MWC and the second-fastest indoor time in Grinnell history.
Field
Whitney Didier - Monmouth College
Senior - Dixon, Ill.
Didier got last week’s nine-team Fighting Scot Open off to a good start. The senior cleared a provisional qualifying height of 11’9-3/4” in the pole vault. The mark was more than six inches better than the runner up and ranks as the best performance in the Midwest Conference. Didier also placed fourth in the 800-meters and eighth in the 55 hurdles.
February 22
Track
Sarah Burnell - Grinnell College
Freshman - Grinnell, Iowa
Burnell shattered Grinnell’s indoor 800-meter school record en route to winning the event at the UNI-Dome Invitational at Cedar Falls. Burnell emerged from a 19-runner field with a time of 2:18.64, clipping Nicole Cueno’s previous school mark of 2:19.10 established in 2001. Burnell’s time is second-fastest in the MWC this season. She also was on a 4x400 relay team that ran 4:15.91, fifth-fastest in school history.
Field
Melissa Norville - Illinois College
Sophomore - Batavia, Ill.
Norville swept the long jump and triple jump at the Illinois College Alumni Classic on Saturday. Norville improved her mark in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 11.5 inches. She also won the triple jump with a mark of 39 feet and 1 inch, and the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.90 seconds. Norville has the marks in the Midwest Conference in all three events.