LEXINGTON, Ky. – Manchester completed its climb back to the top of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Women’s Outdoor Track & Field world on Saturday, claiming its first conference title since 2022 with a team score 206.

Rose-Hulman finished as the runner-up with 200.5 points followed by Transylvania with 95.5. Mount St. Joseph and Franklin closed out the top-five with respective scores of 67 and 47. Earlham ranked sixth with 45 points followed by Berea with 42. Anderson, Hanover, and Bluffton concluded this year’s standings in that order with 27.5, 26.5, and 20 respective points.

The Spartans added three more individual golds on Saturday with two of them coming from Chesnee Miller who captured titles in both the 800m and 1500m races. She finished in 2:17.27 and 4:46.83 in each respective race. The final individual title for the Spartans came from thrower Abbigal Kohler who won the shot put with a personal-best toss of 12.43m.

Sprints and hurdles are where the Engineers got most of their gold this year, winning four events on the track on Saturday. Alex Adams defended her title in the 100m dash with a finals time of 12.49. Rose Talbert also repeated as HCAC Champion in the 400m with a time of 56.40. Narindwa Semakula continued her dominance in the 100m hurdles, winning her fourth-straight conference crown in the event with a time of 14.86. Adams and Talbert were also part of the first-place 4x100m relay team. They joined up with Emma Johns and Iliana Hernandez to set a new meet record with a time of 48.39. Semakula also earned a gold in the triple jump with a mark of 10.64m.

The Pioneers won four events on Saturday, all on the track. Most notable was Olivia Sparks who set a meet record in the 200m with a time of 24.76. Jatajza Pinkney also got a gold, running the 400m hurdles over the span of 1:05.99. Sparks and Pinkney also set a new record with their teammates in the 4x400m relay. Hannah Cox and Peyton Tan joined the duo for a record-setting time of 3:56.91. In the distance races, Ella Detjen added a 5000m title to the Pios total. She finished the race in 17:58.65.

Two of the remaining golds in the field events went to the Mount St. Joseph duo of Madalyn Hudnall and Aunaleisa Newhart, who won the javelin and high jump, respectively. Hundall marked a 36.64m and Newhart cleared 1.57m. The final gold medal went to Franklin’s Alaina Kellerman who cleared 3.13m to win the pole vault.

DAY 1 & 2 RECAP

At the conclusion of the Championship meet, major award winners were honored. Manchester had two student-athletes honored as Kohler and Miller were named Throws Athlete and Distance Athlete of the Year, respectively. Earlham’s Slone was the Jumps Athlete of the Year, while Sparks won Sprints/Hurdles Athlete of the Year. Sparks’ teammate Detjen took home the Newcomer of the Year honor.

Meanwhile, Shane Mills from Rose-Hulman was named Coach of the Year and Manchester’s Ben Villafuerte won Assistant Coach of the Year.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Each student-athlete and relay team that finished their respective events in first place were named to the First Team HCAC All-Conference; second place finishers are named to the Second Team HCAC All-Conference; and third place finishers are named to the Honorable Mention HCAC All-Conference Teams.

MAJOR AWARDS
Throws Athlete of the Year - Abbigal Kohler, Manchester
Jumps Athlete of the Year - Isa Slone, Earlham
Distance Athlete of the Year - Chesnee Miller, Manchester
Sprints/Hurdles Athlete of the Year - Olivia Sparks, Transylvania
Newcomer of the Year - Ella Detjen, Transylvania
Coach of the Year - Shane Mills, Rose-Hulman
Asst. Coach of the Year - Ben Villafuerte, Manchester

2026 HCAC INDIVIDUAL/RELAY CHAMPIONS

• 100m - Alex Adams, Rose-Hulman
• 200m - Olivia Sparks, Transylvania (Meet Record)
• 400m - Rose Talbert, Rose-Hulman
• 800m  - Chesnee Miller, Manchester
• 1500m - Chesnee Miller, Manchester
• 5000m - Ella Detjen, Transylvania
• 10,000m - Ella Detjen, Transylvania
• Steeplechase - Ava Egolf, Manchester
• 100m Hurdles - Narindwa Semakula, Rose-Hulman
• 400m Hurdles - Jatajza Pinkney, Transylvania
• 4x100m Relay - Emma Johns, Rose Talbert, Iliana Hernandez, Alex Adams, Rose-Hulman (Meet Record)
• 4x400m Relay - Hannah Cox, Jatajza Pinkney, Peyton Tan, Olivia Sparks, Transylvania  (Meet Record)

 

• Discus - Carolina Snyder-Perez, Rose-Hulman (Meet Record)
• Hammer Throw - Katrina Sejour, Manchester
• Javelin - Madalyn Hudnall, Mount St. Joseph
• Shot Put - Abbigal Kohler, Manchester
• Long Jump - Isa Slone, Earlham
• Triple Jump - Narindwa Semakula, Rose-Hulman
• High Jump - Aunaleisa Newhart, Mount St. Joseph
• Pole Vault - Alaina Kellerman, Franklin

TEAM RESULTS

1.	Manchester	206
2.	Rose-Hulman	200.5
3.	Transylvania	95.5
4.	Mount St. Joseph	67
5.	Franklin	47
6.	Earlham	45
7.	Berea	42
8.	Anderson	27.5
9.	Hanover	26.5
10.	Bluffton	20

For more information on HCAC outdoor track & field, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the HCAC's home on the internet at www.heartlandconf.org. Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference news by following @HCACDIII on Twitter and by liking the "HCAC DIII" Facebook page.