Illinois States Kathrine Nielsen knocked off two-time heptathlon champion Mellanee Welty of Wichita State on her home track to win the seven-stage event at the 2000 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Thursday, at Cessna Stadium.
Nielsen tallied 5,455 points to better her school-record mark by 151 points. She also posted an NCAA provisional mark and currently ranks No. 8 in the national best list.
With the victory, Nielsen earned 10 points, while teammates Hildegunn Holten and Hillary Hyland placed fourth and fifth, respectively. All three Redbirds registered career-best performances and gave meet-favorite Illinois State the early lead with 16 points after the first event. Wichita State ranks second with eight, Drake is third (6) and Northern Iowa is fourth (1).
In the mens decathlon, ISUs Ryan Meister finished in seventh with 6189 points. Northern Iowas Kenney Edwards won the event totaling 7173 points.
Nielsen entered the second day of competition with a 60-point lead. After a second-place finish in the long jump, the Illinois State junior increased her lead to 90 with two events remaining.
Heading into the third and final throw in the javelin, Nielsen stood in seventh-place for the event and Welty in first with the potential to regain the lead. Welty failed to improve her mark on her final attempt, while Nielsen, with her back against the wall, unloaded a toss of 124 feet, six inches and maintained a 60-point lead heading into the 800-meter-run.
Nielsen focused on her form on the final javelin attempt.
I had to throw through the point, because thats what makes (the javelin) go far, Nielsen said. Thats all I kept thinking.
In the 800, Nielsen added insult to injury by shocking the Wichita State crowed with a time of 2:25.56 to win the final event, ahead of Welty, and the two-day competition. Heading into the final event, Nielsen just had to stay within 4.1 seconds of Welty, but the Glostrup, Denmark native wanted to go out with a bang.
I was going for the best score I could get, Nielsen said. I just wanted to run as fast as I could and improve on my score.
Head coach John Coughlan was pleased with all three of the heptathletes performances.
All three heptathletes did an outstanding job, Coughlan said. Kathrine had a marvelous heptathlon and I think she is maturing into a quality athlete and she has a good chance of being named the Valley Athlete of the Meet.
Beating Welty here in Wichita, and with her being the defending conference champ, Kathrine really took on the challenge. She is coming into her own.
