Jamaican Yanique Ellington was named the meet's High-Point Scorer after scoring 22.50 points at the three-day MIAA Division 2 Championships, which was hosted by Missouri Southern State University. For the fourth year in a row, Ellington's Lincoln women's indoor track & field team is the MIAA champion.
The Blue Tigers racked up 153 points to win their fourth-straight MIAA indoor title on Sunday (March 2).
Ellington won two individual events and was a part of Lincoln's winning distance medley relay team, which broke the MIAA Indoor Championship record after clocking in at 12:06.01. Both of Ellington's individual victories came in record-breaking fashion, as she took the crown in both the 60m (7.42) and the 200m (24.01). Both times are automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Division II National Championships, and both also broke building records at Missouri Southern's Leggett & Platt Center.
Lincoln swept the top-three in the 200m, with Janae Johnson taking second (24.99) and Tamara Keane finishing third (25.12). Donna-Lee Hylton also scored in that event, taking eighth with a time of 25.52. In the 60m, Johnson placed third (7.61) and Kimberly Bailey finished fourth (7.65) while Juneille Barker took seventh (7.71).
The Blue Tigers also swept the top-three of the 60m hurdles, with Ladonna Richards winning the race in 8.42. That time also broke the MIAA Indoor Championship meet record. Barker was the runner-up in the hurdles, finishing in 8.46, while Shakeisha Miller took third in 8.55. Miller was also an individual winner at the meet, taking first place in the long jump at 5.87. Nickeisha Beaumont, meanwhile, finished second in the long jump (5.82m).
Twishana Williams scored points for Lincoln in four events, including the distance medley, where she teamed with Willomena Williams, Ellington and Jhevere Hall to break the meet record. Individually, Twishana Williams placed third in both the 3,000m (10:11.73) and 5,000m (17:53.53) and finished fourth in the mile (5:03.98).
Monique Thompson had the next-best finish for LU in the track events, taking second in the 800m at 2:11.74. Hall placed seventh in that event, clocking in at 2:17.29. In the 400m, Hylton took third (56.07) and Keane placed fourth (56.47) while in the 600-yard, Marcia Harrison finished eighth (1:27.88). Lincoln also had two other impressive finishes in the triple jump, where Jonelle Campbell took second (12.12m) and Daniele Newman finished third (11.93m).
Lincoln beat second-place Missouri Southern (123.50 points) by 29.50 points while Central Missouri earned 82 points to round out the top-three. Pittsburg State finished fourth (59 points), Southwest Baptist came in fifth (56) and Nebraska-Kearney took sixth (55) while Emporia State placed seventh (41) and Fort Hays State checked in at eighth (36.50). Northwest Missouri (34), Central Oklahoma (33) and Lindenwood (29) rounded out the 11-team field.
The Blue Tigers, who also won the league indoor title in 2011, 2012 and 2013, became the first team to win four consecutive MIAA Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships. The four titles also tie Lincoln with Truman State and Pittsburg State for the second-most by one MIAA program.
With the league title meet completed, Lincoln will now wait to see how many entries it qualified into the 2014 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship meet, which will be held in Winston-Salem, N.C. from March 14-15.
