Heckemeyer, Dorge win individual titles at MIAA championships

KEARNEY, Neb. - A pair of area athletes won conference titles during the weekend at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association track and field championships, held Friday through Sunday at Kearney, Neb., High School.

Missouri Southern senior Allie Heckemeyer finished first in the women's heptathlon, which took place Friday and Saturday, while Central Missouri senior Amy Dorge won the women's hammer throw Sunday.

Heckemeyer (St. Elizabeth High School) scored 5,037 points in the heptathlon, breaking the Missouri Southern record she set a few weeks earlier at Wichita State. That score meets a provisional standard to qualify for the NCAA Division II track and field championships.

Heckemeyer won three of the seven events, posting first-place finishes among the 15 competitors in the 100-meter hurdles (15.02 seconds), the high jump (5 feet, 7.25 inches) and the long jump (18-6.5). She also took second in the 200-meter dash in 25.79 seconds.

In total, Heckemeyer contributed 22 of the Lions' 75 team points, which gave Missouri Southern a fifth-place finish in the team standings. She received All-MIAA honors with a second-place finish in the triple jump (42-6.25) - breaking a school record that stood for 24 years - and also took fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-6.

Heckemeyer's distance in the triple jump is an automatic-qualifying mark for the Division II national championships, while she is a provisional-qualifier in the high jump.

Dorge (Blair Oaks High School) locked up the hammer throw title with her third throw in the preliminaries, but she padded her victory with her last throw, which traveled 188-5, to win by more than seven feet.

Dorge's winning throw was seven inches shy of matching her personal-best in the event.

Like Heckemeyer, Dorge also scored points for her team in three events. Dorge set a personal-best throw in the shot put of 46-10.75 to take third place for All-MIAA honors. She also placed sixth in the discus with a throw of 147-5, garnering 19 points toward the Jennies' team total of 93.5 points, good for third place in the conference.

All three distances for Dorge are provisional-qualifying marks for the Division II national championships.

Southwest Baptist sophomore Drake Wilkerson (St. Elizabeth High School) ran the men's 4x400-meter relay with the Bearcats, who took fifth place in the event with a time of 3:18.10. Wilkerson also came in 21st place in the 800-meter run preliminaries with a time of 1:57.62.

Southwest Baptist freshman Rachel Holt (Jefferson City High School) ran the women's 4x400 for the Bearcats, helping them to a 12th-place finish in 4:17.51. Holt also came in 14th place in the pole vault, clearing a height of 11-0.75.

As for other area competitors, Central Missouri freshman Baylie Bellin (Blair Oaks High School) took 15th place in the women's hammer throw with a toss of 139-1, while Missouri Southern sophomore Gabriel Hill (School of the Osage High School) was 19th in the women's 5,000-meter run with a time of 20:01.19.