Mustangs nab pair of event titles, finish fourth at Heart indoor championships

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Mount Mercy's Ava Conrad and the women's 4x800 meter relay squad brought home event titles, leading the Mustangs to a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Heart of America Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at Hughes Fieldhouse.

Conrad won the shot put with a personal best, a 13.78 meter throw that hit the NAIA automatic qualifying standard and was good for second in school history. She currently ranks 13th in the nation in the event and will compete at the NAIA national meet next week.

The 4x800 meter realy team that included J'Lyn Knutson, Corinne Gadient, Kayla Overton, and Abby Knepper posted the third-fastest time in school history and won the event on Saturday with a time of 9:41.91.

Benedictine, which swept the team titles over the weekend, cruised to the women's championship with a total of 182.5 points. MidAmerica Nazarene was second (161), Central Methodist third (154), and Mount Mercy fourth (87). The rest of the field included Clarke (85), William Penn (35), Grand View (32), Baker (28), Graceland (25), Culver-Stockton (20.5), and Park (9).

Heart Indoor Track & Field Championship Honors

First-Team All-Conference:
Ava Conrad (shot put/13.78m)
4x800 meter relay (J'Lyn Knutson, Corinne Gadient, Kayla Overton, Abby Knepper/9:41.91)

Second-Team All-Conference:
Corinne Gadient (800m/2:20.77)
J'Lyn Knutson (mile run/5:16.02)
Bre Nail (shot put/13.62m)

Honorable Mention All-Conference:
Corinne Gadient (4th/600m/1:39.47)
Abby Knepper (6th/1,000m/3:10.75)
Kayla Overton (5th/3,000m/10:57.21)
Abby Hill (4th/3,000m race walk/18:08.91)
Carla Santos (5th/pole vault/3.02m)
Brooklyn Johnson (6th/triple jump/10.85m)
Ava Conrad (5th/weight throw/15.68m)
Bre Nail (6th/weight throw/15.46m)
4x400 meter relay (Brooklyn Johnson, Haley Hartshorne, Corinne Gadient, Esther Attwood/4:13.89)
Distance medley relay (Abby Knepper, Brooklyn Johnson, Abby Rinderknecht, Emma Althoff/13:18.13)