Ellerkmann leads women to fifth-place finish at Indoor Championships

GAMBIER, Ohio (February 24, 2024) – The Denison University women's track & field team finished with five all-conference performances on Saturday as the Big Red took fifth place at the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship. Sophia Ellerkmann led the Big Red with an NCAC championship in the 400 meter dash and a runner-up finish in the 200 meter dash while also helping the team to a pair of third-place finishes in both the 4x200 and the 4x400 meter relays.

Denison totaled 69 points for the meet, finished 10 points behind the College of Wooster (79 points) in fourth place, and was 10 points in front of Kenyon College (59 points) in sixth place. At the top of the standings, Wittenberg University claimed its second-straight NCAC title by scoring 191.50 points while DePauw University was second with 162 points and Ohio Wesleyan University rounded out the top-three with 81.50 points.

At the start of the track events, Denison was third in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1:46.46 from Anaya Jolivette, Ellerkmann, Libby Hornick and Piper Lee. In addition, Cara Bodary (5:24.46) was fifth in the mile and Sydney Brown (9.32 seconds) earned all-conference honors with a third-place finish and a new personal record in the 60 meter hurdles.

That helped move Denison up to fifth place in the standings with 36 points at the time, just one point in front of Kenyon (35 points) and two points ahead of Oberlin College (34 points), and then Ellerkmann's first individual conference championship of her career came in the 400 meter dash and helped the Big Red pull to within 9.5 points of Ohio Wesleyan (56.50-47.0) for fourth place. Ellerkmann won the 400 with a new personal record of 57.83 seconds while Emily Brennan was eighth at 1:03.08.

Jolivette was fourth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.96 seconds, cutting OWU's lead for fourth place to 56.50-52.0. Then in the 200 meter dash, Ellerkmann added a second-place finish with a time of 26.07 seconds while Jolivette was sixth at 27.02 seconds.

That made it 69.50-63.0 OWU in the battle for fourth place heading into the final two events, but Denison would not be able to get any closer as Michaela Hassler was 16th with a time of 11:18.84 in the 3,000 meter run while the Battling Bishops had the fourth and sixth-place finishers.

In the final event, Ellerkmann earned her fourth all-conference certificate of the day by running the first leg of Denison's third-place 4x400 meter relay team. Behind Ellerkmann was Lee, Hornick and Tessa Gerhardt helping the Big Red finish with a time of 4:05.11.

Denison was able to win both the 4x200 and the 4x400 meter relays last year before finishing third in both events this season. The Big Red were also third in the distance medley relay on Friday.

In the field events on Saturday, Kylee Silverman (11.21 meters) was fifth in the shot put, Emily Collins (1.40 meters) tied for 10th in the high jump, and Rainer Yaeger (9.24 meters) was 13th in the triple jump.

NCAC CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Sophia Ellerkmann – 400 meter dash – 57.83 seconds

All-NCAC PERFORMANCES (TOP-3):

Sophia Ellerkmann – first place in the 400 meter dash – 57.83 seconds
Sophia Ellerkmann – second place in the 200 meter dash – 26.07 seconds
4x200 Meter Relay team – third place – 1:46.46 (Anaya Jolivette, Sophia Ellerkmann, Libby Hornick, Piper Lee)
Sydney Brown – third place in the 60 meter hurdles – 9.32 seconds
4x400 meter relay – third place – 4:05.11 (Sophia Ellerkmann, Piper Lee, Libby Hornick, Tessa Gerhardt)