Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

WAVERLY, Iowa (Mar. 6, 2021) – The No. 3-ranked Loras College women's track and field team crowned five individual champions, tallied ten All-Conference honors, and saw three more of the nation's best times set at the 2021 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Indoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday as the Duhawks finished second as a team at the championship, hosted by No. 7 Wartburg College.

"We knew heading into the meet there were going to be teams we went up against with a lot of depth, but we performed very well as a team and saw a lot of women have personal successes today," said head coach Matt Jones '05. "With it being a one day meet, we asked some of our women to do a lot and they handled it well. Looking ahead to next week's championship and the outdoor season, we are moving in the right direction to keep the momentum going. There is a lot for us to be proud of from this meet."

The distance medley relay team of Kaylee Osterberger, Ellie Osterberger, Merryl Green and Alexis Riesberg started the Duhawks off with the first All-Conference honor of the day, finishing third in the event with a time of 12:45.72 and each member running a personal best in her respective leg. Elayna Bahl defended her title as the 60-meter hurdles champion, tying her personal best and the second-fastest time in program history in the prelims to post the fastest time before repeating to win with the same mark (8.92 seconds). She added another All-Conference performance in the high jump, finishing second with a leap of 1.59 meters.

In similar fashion to Bahl, the highly anticipated mile run, featuring Kassie Rosenbum, the defending title winner and No. 1 miler in Division III, played out as expected as Rosenbum won the event with a time of 5:06.51. She added another All-Conference award to her resume in the 3,000-meter run, finishing second with a time of 10:00.14.

Coming in with the top-seed in the 60-meter dash, Marion Edwards put on a display as she earned her first conference champion title with a time of 7.71, the second fastest time in Division III and third-best in Loras history. She added another program top-ten time in the 200-meter dash, finishing second (25.70) to rank third all-time. Alyssa Pfadenhauer also scored her first conference title in the 400-meter dash, racing to the No. 1 time in the nation (57.82) and third-fastest in program history before she, Edwards, Bahl and Stevie Lambe teamed up to close out the meet with a conference title in the 4-by-400-meter dash (3:57.18). In the throws, Courtney Schnoor added a third-place finish in the shot put to earn her first career indoor All-Conference honor with a distance of 12.69 meters.

Loras scored 136 points to place second while the host Knights won the meet with 200 points. The No. 15 University of Dubuque placed third with 102, followed by No. 6 Nebraska Wesleyan University with 82 points in fourth, No. 10 Central College with 79 points in fifth, and Luther College in sixth with 42 points. Buena Vista University finished seventh (36) and Simpson College was eighth (17) with Coe College placing ninth with eight points.

The Duhawks await the final national seeds for the Division III Elite Championship, back at Hoover Fieldhouse at Wartburg, on Mar. 12 and 13, in lieu of the canceled NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championship. The top-16 individuals and top-12 relays, as verified by the Track and Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) will compete at the two-day event.