<rleton College women’s track and field team sent a trio of student-athletes to compete at the 2015 NCAA DIII Outdoor Championships, and all three Knights were in action on Thursday, the first of three days on competition at the Merrick-Pinkard Track and Field Complex.
Junior Amelia Campbell (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Sturgeon Bay) finished the first day of the heptathlon in second place with 3,104 points, only five points behind the event leader Erin McCauley from UW-La Crosse. Campbell, the defending national champion in the event, has been making her way back from an injury that caused her to miss much of the indoor and outdoor seasons. She started the heptathlon with a time of 14.62 in the 100-meter hurdles, which was third best in the 22-person field, and this performance earned her 892 points. She cleared 1.59 meters (5 feet, 2.5 inches) in the high jump, adding another 724 points to her total as she was fourth midway through the first day.
Campbell’s final attempt in the shot put measured 11.18 meters, second-best in the field as she earned 607 points and climbed into the top spot of the standings. In the last event of the day, the 200-meter dash, she clocked a time of 26.07 for 791 points. The three remaining events will begin at 12 p.m. (EDT) on Friday and include the long jump, javelin throw, and the 800-meter run.
The next Knight to compete was senior Colette Celichowski (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka), who posted a time of 4:37.88 in the 1500-meter run prelims. She finished 16th out of 22 runners, putting her just out of reach of the finals.
Junior Ruth Steinke (Lima, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) closed the action for the Carleton women on day one by qualifying for Saturday’s finals of the 3000-meter steeplechase after finishing third in her preliminary-round heat with a time of 10:54.02.
The Knights finished in a tie for 46th out of 78 programs to score at this year’s national championships. That was third best among MIAC programs.