Viterbo has first meet in school history, Birru shines at ISU and SAU wins at Cornell

The Midwest Collegiate Conference track & field talent pool got a little deeper this past weekend.

Viterbo University competed at the UW-Stout Open, and with that became the eighth team in the conference to sponsor track & field. The V-Hawks even had a pair of wins as Cindy Leuck (mile) and Sandy Gebhart (5K) each won their events.

At the Cornell Invite, Grand View, Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose went head-to-head and the performances created great anticipation for the conference meet.

The St. Ambrose women won the meet behind eight event wins, three national qualifying marks and a school record. Ebonie Butler (SAU) out-leaned Jenna Higgins (MMU) and won the 60m dash by less than a hundredth of a second, while Higgins got her revenge in the 200m dash. Both Butler and Higgins qualified for the NAIA National Championships with their 60m time of 7.79, which currently ranks 12th in the NAIA.

The Fighting Bees other event winners were Abby Parsons (800m), Paige Wheeler (1,000m), Chelsee Lisk (3,000m), Jaclyn Scavuzzo (Pole Vault), Mandy Streu (Shot Put), Naomi Patrnchak (Triple Jump) and the 4x200 relay of Ebonie Butler, Jenny Morris, Lauren Flahive and Meg Skaggs.

Mount Mercy had five event wins, as Jacqueline Kane took gold in the 400 and 600m dashes, and anchored the 4x400 relay to gold. Larissa Wilden won the high jump with a national qualifying jump while Mwale Kapanda took gold in the long jump.

Grand View had a pair of event victories as Lauren Camp had a national qualifying throw in the weight and Dionna Reed won the 60m hurdles.

The Vikings big day came from Obsie Birru at the Iowa State Open. Birru won the 5,000 with an NAIA qualifying time of 17:47.40 and anchored GVU's distance medley relay to an NAIA berth as well. She then returned to Iowa State on Saturday and had two more national qualifying times. She raced to fifth in the mile and eighth in the 800m run, both of those times were better than the national standard.

The William Penn women had a record setting day at the Iowa State Open as well, as Alexis Swinney (200m) and Tamara Weltch (Weight Throw) set new Statesmen marks.

At the Illinois College Snowbird, the Ashford women picked up a national qualifier, and had three event winners. Ellerie Lagerhausen qualified for the NAIA National Championships in the 3,000m racewalk, while Haley Fisher (PV) and Kemi Okwumabua (400m) won gold in their events. As a team, the Saints finished third.

MCC women NAIA National Qualifiers

Grand View: Obsie Birru (800m, 1,000m, Mile, 3K, 5K), Lauren Camp (WT), Colleen Frank (WT), Distance Medley Relay.
St. Ambrose: Ebonie Butler (60m), Mandy Streu (SP, WT), Calsey Schwamman (WT).

Mount Mercy: Jenna Higgins (60m), Jacqueline Kane (600m), Larissa Wilden (HJ).
Ashford: Ellerie Lagerhausen (3KRW).