Championship Central
INDIANAPOLIS – Lewis earned its fifth-straight and record 11th overall crown at the 2021 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium on the campus of Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri.
The Flyers surpassed 200 points with 215.50 to best runner-up Southwest Baptist University (139) by 76.5 points.
University of Indianapolis (114) finished third, while University of Southern Indiana (85) and Lindenwood University (56.5) placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Sixth place went to Maryville University (41), and the Drury University (37) and Truman State University (37) tied for seventh. McKendree University (34) finished ninth, and host Missouri S&T (23) rounded out the top-10 finishers. University of Illinois Springfield (19) was 11th and William Jewell College (18) was one point shy in 12th, concluding the team scorers.
Saturday’s featured results included an individual win for Southwest Baptist junior Meleah Ridenour in the women’s high jump, as she lept 1.68 meters for gold and a NCAA provisional mark, while the triple jump crown went to GLVC Women’s Co-Field Athlete of the Year Alecea Cardillo of Lewis, who went for 12.57 meters that landed her first-team All-GLVC distinction and a D-II provisional mark.
In the discus throw, UIndy junior Katrinia Hopkins won with a distance of 47.58 meters to earn the provision mark, while Truman freshman Natalie Telep won the javelin throw with a new GLVC record toss of 43.40 meters, breaking a former Bulldogs’ standard from 2018. That was also good for a NCAA provisional distance.
The 4x100-meter relay opened the events on the track, and the SBU women earned gold in 46-seconds flat for a qualifying provisional mark. The 1,500-meter run followed with a NCAA provisional time for sophomore Elysia Burgos, who clocked in for SBU at 4:32.68. She later finished with a winning time of 2:13.22 in the 800 meters.
Lewis sophomore Natasha Bernett set a new league record in the 100-meter hurdles and earned a provisional time of 13.85 before later winning the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.49.
Lewis sophomore Jada Hoffman repeated as the 100-meter champion with her GLVC-record-breaking 11.63, which also got her a provisional mark. Her time was the fastest at the league meet in 20 years and broke a former Flyers time from 2001.
The 200-meter and 400-meter dash gold medals both went to GLVC Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, Allie Heinzer of Lewis. In the 200, she had a time of 23.89 times, while her 400-meter time was 54.77, meeting D-II provisional times.
In the final distance race of the week, Southern Indiana got the one-two finish in the 5,000 meters for junior Jennifer Comastri and Hope (Jones) Winders, as they scored respective times of 17:20.07 and 17:26.83 for first- and second-team All-Conference distinction.
The 4x400-meter relay closed out the events and put the icing on the cake for the Flyers, as they took a near-10 second win in a time of 3:45.32 to earn the gold and NCAA provisional.
At the conclusion of the Championship, in addition to Heinzer and Caudillo, the league coaches voted Maryville’s Casey Berberich as the other GLVC Field Athlete of the Year, while SBU newcomer Zara Brown was tabbed the GLVC Freshman of the Year. In addition, Lewis mentor Dana Schwarting was recognized by his peers as GLVC Coach of the Year.
Additionally, Southwest Baptist was honored as the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winner, while 14 student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior were also named as their sport’s honoree for the award. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced later this month.
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year: Allie Heinzer, Lewis
Women’s Co-Field Athletes of the Year: Casey Berberich, MU and Alecea Cardillo, Lewis
Women’s Freshman of the Year: Zara Brown, Southwest Baptist
Women’s Coach of the Year: Dana Schwarting, Lewis
Women’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award
Southwest Baptist
Women’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Individuals Honorees:
Lauren Shipley, Drury
Libby Price, Illinois Springfield
Lauren Joseph, UIndy
Kylie Wymer, Lewis
Lexi Hafford, Lindenwood
Edina Catic, Maryville
Kayla Tirey, McKendree
Mia Magby, Missouri S&T
Alex Becker, Missouri-St. Louis
Dami Adeyinka, Quincy
Adele Schnautz, Southern Indiana
Aubrie Sorrell, Southwest Baptist
Carly Garnett, Truman State
Taylor Golden, William Jewell