Twelve women and six men returned home to Wartburg from the NCAA Div. III National Indoor Track and Field meet, held in Ada, Ohio, this weekend with All-American honors.

“This has never happened, but every athlete we took to nationals came home an All-American. I don’t know if any coach at the national meet can say that every athlete they took to the meet came home an All-American,” head coach Marcus Newsom said.

The women were neck-and-neck with Wesleyan, but the Titans ran to a first-place finish in the day’s last event, the 4x400-meter relay, an event in which the Knights placed second in, just 47-hundreths of a second behind the Titans.

The women finished in second place with 27 points, while Illinois Wesleyan finished with 30 to win the team title. This is the second time in the last three years the women have placed in the top three.

“It’s really just an honor to be in the hunt [for a national title],” Newsom said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the young men and women that traveled and represented this college well.”

The men also brought home some All-Americans en route to their 12th place finish. The men finished with 12 points, and the 12th place finish is the best the Knights have ever finished at an indoor national tournament.

“All five men were leaders,” Newsom said. “They were leaders from their experience, the sacrifices they’ve made and their wheels, so I think that was very special.  It was pretty special to finish the best we have finished at an indoor national meet with those five guys.”

The 18 All-American awards the Knights brought home was the program’s best. This is also the seventh straight year the Knights have returned home with 10 or more All-Americans.

IIAC Championships also a success
Before heading to nationals, the Knights participated in the IIAC Championships, at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

The women won the meet by a margin of 148.66 points. The Knights won the meet with 259 points, while the Simpson Storm took second with 110.33 points ahead of third place Luther, who finished with 83.

With the end of the indoor season, the Knights will focus on the outdoor season with their first meet of the year being March 28th at the University of Missouri Relays in Columbia Mo.