DECORAH —
Olivia Bohlen (freshman, Belle Plaine) led the heptathlon from wire-to-wire to give the Central College women's track and field team its first individual title Friday at the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
In the team standings with eight of 22 events scored, Central is tied for third with 47 points. Wartburg College leads the way with 74 points.
Bohlen won the first of seven events Thursday and never relinquished that lead. She started Friday by winning the long jump (16 feet, 4.50 inches) and closed with solid marks in the javelin throw (98-6) and 800 meters (2 minutes, 42.42 seconds) to clear the field by 304 points with a total of 4,241.
"Olivia had a really good performance," coach
Brandon Sturman said. "She's doing a lot of things really well. To win a conference title as a true freshman is impressive."
Caroline McMartin (junior, Pella) reset her own school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing second in 10:32.58.
Megan Johnson (junior, Parkersburg, Aplington-Parkersburg HS) gave Central a pair of all-conference performers in the event by taking third in 10:38.03.
Addison Parrott (sophomore, Danville) finished seventh in 11:12.09 while moving up to No. 5 in program history.
"It looked so smooth," Sturman said. "They all got into a rhythm and made it happen. Caroline and Megan have been impressive all season and it'll be exciting to see them to do it again in two weeks."
The 4x800-meter relay squad of
Lauren Coon (senior, Oskaloosa), Leah Bontrager (freshman, Wellman, Hillcrest Academy), Abby Alberti (junior, Harlan) and Hadyn Miller (junior, Iowa Falls, Iowa Falls-Alden HS) were fourth in 9:35.23.
Kira Hooper (sophomore, Henderson, N.C., Citrus Valley HS) was seventh in the 10,000-meter run in 39:04.25.
A strong outdoor season continued for long jumper
Jasmyn Williams (freshman, Denver, Colo., Arvada West HS), who took fourth with a leap of 18-1.5, good for No. 9 on Central's top-10 list.
"She's still really new to track and field," Sturman said. "We knew she had a lot of potential and she's just such a great athlete. She's only been practicing long jump for three weeks and its impressive how quickly she's learned and adapted to the training."
High jumper
Abigail White (sophomore, Centerville) was fifth by clearing 5-0.5. Discus throwers
Alyssa Streigel (sophomore, Mount Pleasant) and
Allison Van Gorp (sophomore, Pella, Pella Christian HS) added sixth and seventh-place finishes with marks of 133-2 and 130-3, respectively.
"Abigail did a heck of a job getting us some big points," Sturman said. "Alyssa and Allison were able to sneak away with some points when nobody could hold on to an implement because of the rain."
Abbi Roerdink (junior, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS) and
Lauren Brown (junior, Underwood) are both going to the 400-meter dash finals Saturday after qualifying fourth (57.03 seconds) and eighth (59.89 seconds). Roerdink enters Central's top-10 list at No. 7.
Abby Gruver (junior, Sully, Lynnville-Sully HS) also advanced to the 400-meter hurdles final in 1:05.96, good for fifth.
Bohlen also squeezed in the 100-meter hurdles prelims before the last event of the heptathlon and qualified sixth for Saturday's final in 15.54 seconds.
Emily McMartin (freshman, Pella) secured a spot in both the 100 and 200-meter dash finals Saturday by qualifying eighth in 12.42 seconds and 25.61 seconds, respectively.
The third and final day of the competition starts at 10 a.m. Saturday.
