Mile posts: Items on Loras women, Christopher Collet, Reece Smith, Eleonora Curtabbi, Isaiah Wittrock, Karissa Schweizer, Nehemia Too

Another Iowa team was crowned national champion in track and field. Add in several individual championships in NCAA Division II, III and NAIA, plus an Iowa native qualifying for the IAAF World Championships, and you have a jam-packed WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes last weekend.

The highlights start with the Loras women's track team capturing a third consecutive NCAA Division III outdoor championship. The Duhawks become the fifth program in the division to win three outdoor titles in a row and the first since Wartburg College did so from 2012-14. Loras needed a third place in the final event, the 4x400-meter relay, and the Duhawks did even better than that, winning the national title by top Wisconsin-La Crosse by four points, 55-51, at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Alyssa Pfadenhauer, a junior from West Burlington, ran the critical anchor leg that sealed the relay and team championship. Geneva was where Loras started its run of run of outdoor national titles in 2019. The Duhawks also swept both indoor and outdoor titles this school year, taking the indoor title in Winston-Salem, N.C., by 15 points over La Crosse.

Wartburg College had a national champion in the 3,000 steeplechase when junior Christopher Collet captured his first individual title. Collet, running a school record 8:50.57, held off Christian Patzka of Wisconsin-Whitewater by .3 of a second. Collet came back the next day to finish 10th nationally in the 5,000 meters in 14:37.39. Collet, from Verona, Ill., made the finals by running 9:07.79, the second-best time in the first round, two days before. Collet helped the Knights finish fifth in the team standings with 30 points.

Runners with Iowa ties swept both steeplechase events in the NCAA Division II outdoor championships in Allendale, Mich., on Friday. Former Garner-Hayfield-Ventura prep Reece Smith did so in decisive fashion, setting a Division II championship record of 8:33.64. Smith, a Northwest Missouri State sophomore, covered the final 400 meters in an impressive 61.07 seconds to win by nearly 10 seconds over Adams State's Clement Duigou. Smith also ran the fifth-fastest time in Division II history while becoming the eighth men's national champion in school history and the first non-field man at Missouri State to capture a national crown.

Only Adams State's Tabor Stevens (2015, 8:26.81), Duigou (2022, 8:29.05), Western Colorado's Kim Hogarth (2007, 8:29.12) and Stevens again (2015, 8:32.50) have run faster than Smith in the 3,000 steeplechase.

Smith returned the next day on Saturday to finish 13th in the 5,000 meters in a solid 14:18.97 time.

Former Iowa Central Community College standout Eleonora Curtabbi also won her first national title in similar dominating fashion. The junior from Turin, Italy, broke her own West Texas A&M school record, running 10:07.77 by dominating the final 800 meters. Curtabbi finished over five seconds ahead of Walsh senior Alexa Leppelmeier. Curtabbi improved 13 spots from her performance at outdoor nationals a year ago to become the first Buff to claim the national title in this event. In the opening round of the 3,000 steeplechase Thursday, Curtabbi finished with the fourth-best time of 10:27.26. Curtabbi's 10 points helped West Texas A&M capture its second national championship in four years with 77 points.

At NAIA outdoor nationals in Gulf Shores, Ala., Grand View University senior (junior eligibility-wise) Isaiah Wittrock showed he's much more than a half-miler, with the former Pekin prep claiming a national title in the 1,500-meter final on Friday. Wittrock, who is from Richland, held off Montreat sophomore Dylan Montreat by .26 of a second to claim his first national title in 3:51.57. Wittrock had qualified for the final with only the ninth-best time in the first round, a 3:56.89. Twelve made the finals.

Wittrock's title came less than three hours after he anchored the Vikings to a runner-up finish in the 4x800 final in a school-record 7:30.67. The Grand View quartet of senior Talon Munger, senior Ben Huftalin, junior Carter Huyser and Wittrock were 1.23 seconds behind champion Indiana Wesleyan in the finals. Munger and Huyser are from Oskaloosa, while Huftalin hails from Osage. This group ran the best time in the first round, 7:32.58, to make the final.

The other top highlight came from former Dowling Catholic prep star Karissa Schweizer. Competing in the USA Track and Field women's 10,000 championship Friday night as part of the Prefontaine Classic action at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, Schweizer held off Alicia Monson on the final straightaway to capture the victory and one of three automatic berths to the IAAF World Championships on this same track in July. Schweizer was competing in her first race since having Achilles surgery in October.

"I definitely didn’t think I was in that good of shape," Schweizer told the Oregonian. "I was very confident that I was in a better place than I was last year. I'm excited to see where this continues to go. ... So many doubts and uncertainties lying ahead and I was really nervous, but I'm so excited that I was able to have that surgery and able to come back so quickly."

The Urbandale native who trains with the Bowerman Track Club in Portland covered the final 5,000 meters in under 15 minutes as she and Monson lapped several runners late in the race.

"I'd say when Alicia took the lead, I told myself if I can stick on her as long as possible, I had confidence in my kick," Schweizer told the Oregonian. "She definitely made it difficult. With 400 to go, I dug really deep."

Schweizer now has a chance to qualify for the U.S. team in the 5,000 when that U.S. nationals race is held on this same track on June 26.

Those were the top highlights. Time now to delve deeper into each outdoor national championship event.

NCAA Division I prelims

Most of the Iowa collegians competed at the West Prelims in Fayetteville, with several earning berths at the NCAA championships in Eugene June 8-11. One of those was Iowa State junior Nehemia Too, who in the process set a school record that had stood since 1994. Too, from Bomet, Kenya, made the 24-runner 1,500 semifinals in Oregon on time after finishing sixth in heat 1 of the quarterfinals Friday in 3:39.15.

Too had to wait for the results of the second heat before learning he had qualified for the trip to Eugene. Too knocked .04 off the record set by Steve Green, representing Jamaica, at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. Too is the first Cyclone to qualify for the outdoor championships since Brandon Rooney in 2010. Too had narrowly missed Green's record earlier this season when he ran 3:39.27 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April. He had qualified for the quarterfinals Wednesday by placing fourth in the fourth heat in 3:46.61.

Earning his second consecutive trip to Eugene was Drake University junior Isaac Basten. The native of Buffalo, Minn., is hoping to improve on a second-team All-American finish from a year ago when he finished 12th in the NCAA final. On Friday, Basten finished fourth in heat 2 of the 1,500 quarterfinals in 3:42.90 Friday to earn his spot. Two days earlier, he was third in heat one in 3:43.05.

Iowa freshman Max Murphy, a former Pleasant Valley star, made it through the first round before he his season ended in the quarterfinals. Murphy on Wednesday finished eighth in the fastest heat 3 to advance on time with a 3:43.48 effort. Murphy then finished 11th in heat 2 on Friday in 3:48.77.

In the 5,000 semifinals Friday night, Iowa State graduate student Ryan Ford kept his college career going. The transfer from Tennessee-Martin continued his meteoric rise by finishing seventh in heat 2. Ford's time of 13:34.79 hlled up when heat 1 winner Sam Gilman's time was slower than Ford's. The top five in each heat, plus the next two fastest times, make it to Eugene in this race.

Iowa State also qualified two runners for the 800 semifinals in Oregon. Junior Jason Gomez is going to nationals for a second consecutive year after he placed second in heat 3 of the 800 quarterfinals in 1:47.62. Gomez finished second in the first round two days before in 1:48.70 to advance.

Going with him to nationals for the first time will be teammate Cebastian Gentil. Gentil won heat 2 in 1:47.41 Friday, but had to wait through a short review of the race. The junior from Miami, Fla., posted a fourth-place finish in heat 1 Wednesday in 1:48.01.

Former Dowling Catholic star Matthew Carmody of Notre Dame qualified for the NCAA finals in the 10,000 after placing eighth in a semifinal of the East Prelims in Bloomington, Ind. The junior ran a personal-best time of 28:42.50 to seal his first trip to outdoor nationals. Carmody on Friday finished 29th in the 5,000 semifinals in 14:00.88.

Two former Iowa junior college stars also advanced to Eugene. Former Iowa Central star Adva Cohen placed sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase quarterfinals in Fayetteville by finishing sixth in 9:58.81. Cohen is a senior at New Mexico. Cohen also was 29th in the 5,000 semifinals Saturday in 16:46.33.

At the East Prelims in Bloomington, Ind., Faith Linga of Toledo placed ninth in the 10,000 in 34:27.92. Linga starred at Iowa Western before joining a women's program led by former Iowa State coach Andrea Grove-McDonough.

Three Iowa State athletes came very close to making the field in Eugene. The closest was junior Dana Feyen, who was unlucky 13th in the 10,000 semifinal at Fayetteville on Thursday. The Big 12 champion in the 5,000 ran 34:05.86, which was five seconds behind the final qualifier, Utah Valley's Hannah Branch.

Also, Cyclone senior Winrose Chesang, a former Iowa Central runner, finished 20th with a new best time of 34:26.83. Chesang was seeded 41st coming in to the event.

In the women's 3,000 steeplechase quarterfinals on Saturday that included Cohen, former Glenwood prep Janette Schraft finish 14th with a huge personal-best time of 10:11.17. The Cyclone junior, a recent third-place finisher in this event in the Big 12 championships, needed to improve three seconds to advance to Hayward Field.

In the 800 quarterfinals, Iowa State freshman Peter Smith posted a new personal best of 1:48.05, but he needed to run .14 of a second faster to secure the third spot in his heat to advance. Iowa also had a pair of runners competing in freshman Antonio Abrego and junior Alec Still. Abrego was 23rd after placing seventh in heat 2. Still, a former Woodbury Central athlete, was disqualified for a lane violation while running in heat 2.

Still qualified for the quarterfinals Wednesday by running the 18th-best time of 1:48.77. Abrego ran the 20th-best time, 1:49.13. Smith owned the 21st-best time, 1:49.13.

Iowa freshman and former Ottumwa High prep Alli Bookin-Nosbisch made it through the first round before ending up 24th in the quarterfinals of the 800 Saturday in 2:09.30. Bookin-Nosbisch had advanced with the 22nd-best time in the prelims Thursday in 2:07.17.

Her teammate, Iowa sophomore Clare Pitcher, was 42nd place in the first round in 2:09.77. Former Des Moines Christian prep Oksana Johnson, in her final season with South Dakota State, was 34th after running 2:08.14.

The result of the West Prelims men's 10,000 meters left a sour taste for Iowa State's coaches and Thomas Pollard, in his final outdoor season. Pollard on Wednesday was in a large group of close to 20 runners in a slow race. Between the third and fourth turns with just over three laps to go, Arkansas' Emmanuel Chebosen clipped his feet with another runner and went down. Three other runners were taken out by the accident, including Pollard. The former Gilbert High star was not able to make up the distance to the leaders and finished 15th in what turned out to be his final college race in 29:04.74. Pollard, however, finishes as a cross country All-American and helped lead the Cyclones to national runner-up in cross country in the fall.

In the 10,000 at the East Prelims, former Pleasant Valley star and Vanderbilt University senior McKenzie Yanek finished 18th in 35:06.65. The final qualifier for Eugene ran 34:36.11.

In the men's 10,000 in Bloomington, former Iowa State runner Andrew Jordan finished 22nd in 29:47.73 in his final college race. Jordan was running for Georgetown.

In the West 3,000 steeplechase quarterfinals, former Central Lyon/GLR prep Gable Sieperda of Iowa State finished 21st in 8:50.65. Awet Johannes, a former Iowa Central runner competing for New Mexico, was four spots behind Sieperda after running 8:55.47. Drake's Aziz Jdai, the Missouri Valley champion in this event, was 31st in 9:00.65.

NCAA Division II nationals

In the opening round of the 3,000 steeplechase Thursday, former Cedar Falls prep Caroline Cunningham of Northwest Missouri State ran 10:38.08. That time was good for 14th place, but not enough to advance the junior to the 12-runner final.

Cunningham's teammate, former Indianola prep Bailey Blake, finished 17th in the women's 800 first round. Blake ran 2:11.96.

NCAA Division III nationals

Former Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) star Kassie Parker had hoped to add two more outdoor championships to the pair she won at 5,000 and 3,000 indoors in March. The Division III record holder for 10,000, when she ran 33:03.61 at the Stanford Invitational last month, Parker had to settle for runner-up in the 10,000 meters in 35:17.82. The Loras junior trailed the winning effort of 34:50.55 of Wellesley's Ari Marks.

Marks also topped Parker in their second showdown Saturday in Geneva. Marks ran 16:08.90 in the 5,000 final to cruise past Parker's 16:19.65 time.

Wartburg's Aubrie Fisher also settled for runner-up honors in the 3,000 steeplechase final Saturday. The former AGWSR of Ackley prep ran a new best of 10:20.94 to earn first-team All-American honors in a race won by Trine's Evie Miller in a new NCAA record of 10:07.06. Fisher's freshman teammate Ellie Meyer, a former Iowa Falls-Alden prep, also earned All-American honors by placing sixth in new personal-best time of 10:38.74. Fisher and Meyer had qualified for the final with the No. 1 (10:40.10) and No. 5 times (10:48.75), respectively.

Another Knights runner, senior Joe Freiburger, finished fifth place nationally in the 5,000 final Saturday in 14:33.07. Freiburger opted to concentrate on the 5,000 and it paid for the former Western Dubuque prep. The winning time was Carroll's Jamie Dailey in 14:28.54.

Two Loras College standouts earned All-American status in the 800 meters. Mike Jasa, a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep, finished fifth in the final Saturday in 1:50.85. Teammate Carter Oberfoell was eighth in 1:51.92. He is a former Dubuque Wahlert prep. The winner was MIT's Ryan Wilson in 1:50.19. Jasa and Oberfoell advanced to the final by running 1:50.62 and 1:50.72, respectively, in the first round the day before.

Wyatt Schmidt and Dalton Martin of Wartburg narrowly missed making the 800 final. Schmidt, a former Northeast of Preston athlete, was the first one out of making the final in 10th place. Schmidt ran 1:51.57. Martin ran 1:52.31 for 12th.

Loras freshman Ryan Harvey missed All-American status after placing ninth in the 1,500 final Saturday in 3:49.11. Harvey had run the second-best qualifying time in the first round, a 3:49.98 effort. Harvey's teammate, former Hudson prep Wyatt Kelly, missed qualifying for the final by .08 of a second after running 3:51.32.

In the 3,000 steeplechase final Saturday, Wartburg had another qualifier besides Collet. Connor Lancial, a former Council Bluffs Lewis Central star, placed 12th in the final in 9:21.22. Lancial had qualified ninth Thursday in 9:07.53.

Central College's Caroline McMartin, from Pella and a former Pella High standout, was unlucky 13th in the first round of the 3,000 steeplechase Thursday. McMartin, the first runner out, ran 11:03.57.

NAIA nationals

Five Iowa collegians finished in the top 11 of the 3,000 steeplechase final on Friday in Alabama. Dordt College senior Eric Steiger narrowly missed winning a national championship, coming up .54 behind winner Shimales Abebe of Oklahoma City. The native of Washington was clocked in 9:04.61 to earn All-American honors and a school record. His senior teammate, Nicolas Veldhorst, finished sixth in 9:17.75 to also earn that distinction and score three more points for the Defenders. St. Ambrose junior Nolan Rudd was another two spots back in eighth place to earn All-American honors in 9:20.90. He took that final spot away from Grand View senior Trevor Albert, who ran 9:23.06. Albert is a former Cardinal of Eldon prep. Dordt also had an 11th-place effort from junior Peter Shippy in 9:29.85. Shippy is from Sioux Center.

In the first round Thursday, Albert owned the second-best qualifying time of 9:24.46. Veldhorst had the third-best time, 9:24.75. Steiger was next in fourth in 9:25.00. Rudd set the 11th-best time of 9:31.26 while Shippy's 9:32.80 was 14th best.

Also Friday in that men's 4x800 relay final, Dordt finished fourth in 7:34.27 with a lineup made up primarily of Iowans. Cole Zevenbergen is a sophomore from Rock Valley, Trey Engen is a junior from Algona and sophomore Payton Mauldin is a former Central Lyon/GLR prep. The other relay member was senior Jebadiah Merkle. That group ran the fourth-fastest time of 7:33.16 in the first round early Thursday when bad weather canceled the Wednesday night action.

Dordt's women's 4x800 also earned All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in 9:12.17 in the final Friday. Relay members were junior Bethany Ten Haken, freshman Emilee Heynen, senior Anmarie Stuit and senior Mika Kooistra. Heynen is from Sioux Center while Stuit is a former Sheldon High prep. The winning time was British Columbia's 8:57.70. Dordt made the finals by winning their heat and owning the best time of 9:04.83 Thursday morning. Morningside, with Jo McKibben, senior Tenna Beel, Emily Chicoine and Emalee Fundermann running, was 12th in 9:21.86. McKibben is a senior from Mapleton, Beel a sophomore from Primghar, and Fundermann is a senior from Anthon.

Grand View senior Morgan Lawson placed ninth overall in the 3,000 steeplechase final. The former Ottumwa prep, moving up five spots from her qualifying time, ran 11:02.70 in a race won in 10:16.87 by British Columbia's Jenna Melanson.

Mauldin, the Dordt runner, also finished eighth in the 800 final Saturday in 1:54.24 to help the Defenders finish in a tie for 10th nationally with 21 points. Mauldin qualified for the final by winning heat 1 in 1:52.76. Huftalin was fifth in that heat in 1:53.97 and didn't make the final.

Dordt junior Joe Anderson was ninth in the 1,500 final won by Wittrock. Anderson, a former Central Lyon/GLR prep, ran 3:55.08 to miss scoring for the Defenders. Anderson had qualified on Wednesday by running the seventh-best time of 3:55.60.

The half marathon also was held on the streets of Gulf Shores on Saturday morning. Northwestern College sophomore Katlyn Wiese finished fourth overall in 1:27.22. Wiese is a former Ridge View (Holstein) prep. The winning time was 1:23:42.

Grand View junior Caleb Chmelka was 11th in the 3,000 racewalk final on Thursday in 25:40.33. Clarke sophomore Noah Church was 13th in 26:50.62. Grand View sophomore Seth Diser was 14th in 28:41.28. Chmelka is from Council Bluffs, Church from Polk City, Diser from Marshalltown.

Also Thursday, Grand View sophomore Paige Thompson, from Sigourney, was 15th in the 3,000 racewalk in 30:31.41.

St. Ambrose tied for 15th with 19 points. Grand View was 21st with 18 points. On the women's side, Dordt took a tie for 19th in the team race with 14 points.

Brian Kraft Memorial 5K

On Monday in the Twin Cities, former Iowa State standout Annie Frisbie captured the overall women's victory in a new course record of 15:31. The Minnesota Distance Elite athlete topped her teammate, Dakotah Lindwurm, by 30 seconds.

Their MDE teammate, former Ottumwa High and Iowa All-Big Ten runner Kevin Lewis, finished second overall in 14:30. Lewis was just three seconds behind winner Daniel Docherty. Lewis will be running in the Grandma's Marathon later in June.

MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at bergeson@registermedia.com.

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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Loras women, Christopher Collet, Reece Smith, Eleonora Curtabbi, Isaiah Wittrock, Karissa Schweizer, Nehemia Too