CARTHAGE WINS SECOND STRAIGHT OUTDOOR TITLE AS SIX CONFERENCE RECORDS FALL

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois - The Carthage Lady Reds used a strong second day to wrap up a second consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin outdoor track & field championship. Steve Ray's charges won seven individual events over the two day event, which was held on May 7-8 at Titan Stadium on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. Carthage, which trailed Augustana after the first day, wound up scoring 186 points to outdistance the second place Vikings total of 154. Illinois Wesleyan was third with 143 points and North Central placed fourth with 125. Wheaton (108), Millikin (50), North Park (26) and Elmhurst (25) rounded out the field.

Muffy Israel and Sheana Grigsby spearheaded the Lady Reds attack as each won a pair of individual events. Israel took the 100 in a meet record of :11.82 and the 200 in a time of :24.81. Israel's time in the 100 took down the meet record of :11.94 set by Beth Upham of Carthage in 1999. Grigsby did her teammate one better as she won both of her events in meet record times. Grigsby won the 100 hurdles in :14.16, shattering the old mark of :14.52 set by Ali Davis of Millikin in 1995 and she just nipped her own record of 1:01.64 set in 2003 in the 400 hurdles with a winning time of 1:01.44.

Three other meet records fell as a total of six new standards were set during the weekend. Gianina Taylor of Illinois Wesleyan won the 400 in :55.55, breaking the old mark of :56.11 set by Patsy Cargill of North Central in 1994. Melinda Sprague of Illinois Wesleyan won the 3000 steeplechase in 11:16.07, breaking the previous record of 11:22.86 set by Rachael Zisch of Wheaton last year. Illinois Wesleyan's 400 relay team ran :47.79, taking down the existing mark of :47.95 set by Carthage in 2002.

Other Carthage winners during the meet were Kristin Marquardt in the high jump (5' 2 ½"), Jackie Ribbich in the hammer (129' 1") and Susanna Craven in the heptathlon (4,296).

Illinois Wesleyan won six events. Besides Taylor in the 400, Sprague in the steeplechase and the 400 relay, the Titans got victories from Jenny Schloz in the discus (130' 3"), Missa Harden in the long jump (18' 1 ¼") and the 1600 relay (3:56.34). Runner-up Augustana got individual titles from Carol Reif in the javelin (129' 8") and Meghan Voiland in the pole vault (10' 6 ¾"). For Reif it was her third consecutive CCIW championship in the javelin.

North Central got a win from freshman Jessica Griffin in the 1500 (4:45.74) and Elmhurst's Erin Brice won the 10,000 in 39:28.59. Millikin's Angie Hawk took the triple jump in 37' 10 ¾" and Kara Hoxworth of Wheaton won the shot with a toss of 40' 8 ¼".

2004 COLLEGE CONFERENCE OF ILLINOIS & WISCONSIN WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS May 7-8, 2004 Titan Stadium at Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, Illinois