Wartburg is hoping for a strong performance at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The school has 14 athletes – 11 women and 3 men – competing in 15 events at Marietta College in Ohio. Wartburg is the reigning indoor women’s national champion, but Coach Marcus Newsom says the Knights aren’t favored to win the outdoor title.

He says the projected scores have LaCrosse as the team projected to win, but he says his team will go about their business. Newsom says that underdog status gives Wartburg motivation. He says traditionally the Wisconsin schools are bigger and have done better, and he says they would like to win as a small private school.

The Knights’ bid for the outdoor title is built around their quarter-milers. Wartburg qualified four runners for the 400-meters and three of them are among the top five qualifiers in the nation.

Junior Chelsey Jacobs of Allison says it’s exciting to be a part of that group, and it should be fun. The other 400 qualifiers are junior Hannah Baker of Keota, junior Jenny Kordick of Allison and freshman Nevada Morrison of Chicago.

Kordick says they’ve pushed each other in practice to make themselves better on competition day. She says that really helps in practice as they hold each other accountable and expect bigs things.