Hanover Women Claim First HCAC Track & Field Championship

Results (click here)

HANOVER, IN – The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men’s track and field team held off Franklin at the 2011 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships held at Hanover College on April 29-30.  The Engineers scored 226.5 points in the 20 events to hold off Franklin’s 123 point effort to claim the school’s fourth straight HCAC men’s outdoor track title.  The Hanover women’s track team earned their first track and field title in school history, holding off Defiance and Franklin in a highly contested meet.

The Hanover women’s team won four events on its way to the conference championship.  Freshman Jane Burnell (Speedway, Ind./H.S.) won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes with times of 13.10 and 26.61. Sophomore Lexi Vincz (Greenfield, Ind./Eastern Hancock) set a new HCAC record in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 1:04.71.  The Panthers 4x400-meter relay team ran to the championship, besting the field with a time of 4:05.61.

Four other conference records were broken at the 2011 championships.  Manchester’s Jessi Bremer (Howe, Ind./Prairie Heights) set a new league-best in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.47, while Rose-Hulman’s Liz Evans (Bicknell, Ind./North Knox) and Bluffton’s Megan Neal (Arlington, Ohio/H.S.) earned a record in the high jump (1.71 meters) and hammer throw (49.10 meters) respectively.  Anderson's Candace DeLong (Frankton, Ind./H.S.) also set a new HCAC mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, capturing the title in 11:26.21.

Defiance finished second in the women team standings with 125 points with Franklin placing third with 122 points. Manchester finished fourth with 115 points and was followed by Rose-Hulman (102 points), Anderson (73), Mount St. Joseph (34), Earlham (29), Bluffton (23), and Transylvania (14).

Women’s Event Winners                                                                      

***New HCAC meet record