Busy weekend ahead for Knights track and field

Wartburg College sends athletes to the University of St. Thomas of St. Paul, Minn., Showcase Friday, Feb. 11, and the Iowa State University Classic and the UW-Platteville Nike/Impact Sports Invitational Saturday, Feb. 12.

Friday's meet, set inside the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex on UST's campus, begins at 3:30 p.m. for the field events and 4 p.m. for the running events. Saturday's ISU Classic starts at 9 a.m. inside Lied Recreation Center on ISU's campus in Ames, and the UW-Platteville meet has a start time of 10:30 a.m. for field events and 10:45 p.m. for running events inside Williams Fieldhouse on UW-P's campus.

KNIGHTS NOTES – Last weekend's Wartburg Select's performances helped the women's program earn two honors from the Iowa Conference Feb. 7. Junior Nevada Morrison (Maywood, Ill.) was the track Athlete of the Week, while her twin sister, Skye Morrison (Maywood, Ill.), was the field Athlete of the Week. … The women also moved past UW-Oshkosh to No. 1 on the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Division III ranking Feb. 9. Wartburg's men are at No. 14. … With only four weekends remaining until the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, Coach Marcus Newsom's teams continue to hold many residences on the Track and Field Reporting and Results System's national performance list. For the men, freshman standout Jonas Elusme (Boynton Beach, Fla.) has the second-highest effort in the high jump at six feet, 10 and three-quarters inches, while he and junior Wendell Booth (Deer River. Mnn.), are among the group in the long jump. Booth ranks in a tie for sixth (23 feet, two and three-quarters inches), and Elusme is tied for ninth (23 feet, one and a quarter inches). For the women, on the track, juniors Faith Burt (Cedar Falls) and Nevada Morrison are in the top seven of the 55 meter dash. Burt is tied for the fastest time (7.12 seconds), while Morrison is tied for seventh (7.21 seconds). Morrison tops a list of four in the 400 with the fastest time in the nation (55.94 seconds). She is followed by senior Brittany Melloy (Mount Pleasant) (fourth-fastest – 57.7), junior Kendra Kregel (Delhi) (T-6th – 58.09), and Skye Morrison (9th – 58.25). Senior Brittany Thomas (Kansas City, MO), and freshman Camesha Goods (Danville, Virginia) are in the top 10 of the 55 meter hurdles with Thomas ranking seventh (8.42) and Goods ranking ninth (8.5). Newsom's group is also dominating the 4x400 meter relay list with three teams in the top 10 including the nation's fastest time, a 3:50.65 clocked at last weekend's Wartburg Select. In the field, the Knights' women's squad also has several mentions. Skye Morrison's 18 foot, 10 inch leap at the Select is second in the nation in the long jump, and her 38 foot, one and a half inch triple jump at the ISU Open, is fourth-longest. Sophomore Monique Davisson (Cedar Rapids) is also in the triple jump top 10, ranking 10th (37'5''). The throwing duo of junior Sarah Hoffmann (Epworth) and sophomore Britlyn Sieck (Fayette) rank in the top 15 of the shot put with Hoffmann sitting ninth (43'5'') and Sieck 15th (42'6''). Goods and Melloy are also in the top 10 of the pentathlon, as Goods is eighth (3,159 points) and Melloy ranks ninth (3,155 points). … Newsom's teams close their home indoor season Saturday, Feb. 19, with the Wartburg Invitational. The meet also serves as Senior Recognition Day for the two programs.