Iowa Conference Field Athlete of the Year Ethan Miller highlighted an outstanding weekend for the Central College women’s and men’s indoor track and field teams, as the men captured their second straight indoor crown, and the women finished in second place in front of the home crowd at H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse.
The Dutch men scored 212.16 points, just shy of their 2010 record of 213.83, outdistancing runner-up Wartburg by almost 30 points. Luther finished in a very distant third place with 75 points, followed by Loras (68.5), Cornell (67.33), Coe (44), Dubuque (35), Simpson (33), and Buena Vista (23) rounding out the field.
On the women’s side, heavy favorite Wartburg ran away with the team title with 251 points while the Dutch racked up 118.5 points for second. Luther was third with 91, followed by Loras (85.5), Coe (64), Simpson (63), Cornell (34), Dubuque (17), and Buena Vista (17). The runner-up finish was the best in school history for a Central women’s indoor squad.
Central’s Ethan Miller claimed the pentathlon, pole vault and long jump title’s on the meet’s first day, and followed that up by placing second in the triple-jump, high jump and 55-meter hurdles on Saturday to leave his mark as the stand-out performer of the meet. The Dutch women had a stand-out performance of their own, as the 4×400 meter relay squad capped off an outstanding indoor season with a season-best performance. The squad of Jill Ziskovsky, Rachel Purdy, and Felicia Coleman won the event in a league-record time of 3:56.35.
With his athletes in prime form, Central College Head Coach Joe Dunham earned an accolade of his own, as he was named Iowa Conference Coach of the Year for the second straight season.
With the conference meet in the rear-view mirror, the Dutch will now turn their sights to the NCAA Division III Championships March 11-12 at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Central will take a limited squad to the Iowa State Last Chance Open next Saturday for one more attempt at national qualifying marks.
Click here to see complete results from Friday and Saturday’s Iowa Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.