Women’s track and field athletes grab first, third and fourth place at CCIW indoor championships

Silas Gilklay

Several Augie women’s athletes achieved great success at the CCIW Indoor Track and Field Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The competition was held over the weekend at Carthage College, with the Vikings sweeping both individual awards and accomplishments in the showdown.

Katrina Krebasch, Jayla Hathorn and Emma Odle saw great success in the recent outing where they finished first, third and fourth. Krebasch and Hathorn were outstanding in the high jump category, soaring high at 3.82m and 5.21m, respectively. The duo finished the competition with remarkable results that placed them in the top seeds.

Senior Katrina Krebasch earned the most outstanding women’s field athlete of the competition and will be going to the nationals this year. She will compete for the title in the high jump category as she finishes her remarkable career as a student-athlete.

Krebasch has endured many physical and mental hurdles throughout her time at Augustana, but her sheer determination and optimism conquered those challenges, and she learned the sport should be about having fun.

“It was a really rewarding experience, personally. Through my time at Augie, I’ve gone through a couple injuries and mental barriers that I placed on myself,” Krebasch said. “My coach and I talked about how we just have to focus on having fun and with me just being in a positive mindset, like staying away from those mental barriers, helped me to block them out and perform at my best.”

Sophomore Jayla Hathorn earned all-conference honors at the meet and showed everyone that she is a major competitor. Hathorn prides herself on the achievement but was astonished at the same time because it was her first appearance of the season.

“I’m actually surprised that I got third because this was my first meet of the season since I took off and it wasn’t one of my best jumps ever, but somehow I still got third place,” Hathorn said. 

In the women’s distance category, sophomore Emma Odle finished fourth to secure a top slot in the indoor championships. Odle owes her success to the coaches, staff and teammates who have played a huge role in her success at several competitions.

“Obviously, the coaches help a lot. They give us instructions and the motivation to challenge ourselves and perform at our best,” Odle said. “For my personal accomplishment, it was not just me. I mean it was me, but it was my teammates that helped me play well because of the confidence we built in each other.”

When Krebasch competes in the upcoming nationals, she will rely on her momentous highs and familiarity with the competition to finish off her college career. Krebasch is second in the Augustana top 10, earned all-conference honors four times, been a conference champion three times and a national qualifier three times.