April 27, 2004

ABERDEEN, S.D. - Senior Caesare Stimson (Chisago Lakes, Minn.) pulled ahead of Northern State’s Katie Anderson during the final event to earn her third consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference heptathlon title on Monday afternoon. Stimson is thought to be the first athlete in the history of the conference to accomplish such a feat.

“For Caesare to win it three years in a row, she has to be one of the best female athletes to come out of Bemidji State and the NSIC in a long, long time,” head coach Craig Hougen said. “Not only has she accomplished this in track, but she was also a legitimate Division I hockey player for three years at this school as well.”

Trailing Anderson by 39 points in the overall standings heading into the 800-meter run, Stimson posted the fourth-best time (2:32.89) in the wind-riddled event. The 657 points she earned in the run gave her 4387 total points, more than enough to overtake Anderson.

“She’s a great competitor, and the way she won it shows that. When she wants it, she goes after it and gets it,” Hougen said.

Stimson used a balanced performance to prevail over her competition. Though she did not win a single event over the course of the two-day heptathlon, she finished lower than fourth only once. Her best events were the 200-meter dash (26.55 s) and the javelin throw (98-8), finishing second in both. Stimson was an easy choice by the conference to be named Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday as well.

Thanks to Stimson’s victory, Bemidji State’s women’s team will head into the NSIC championships two weekends from now with 10 points already on the board. Junior Travis Schwarz (Pine City, Minn.) finished in eighth place in the decathlon, scoring one championship point for the men’s side.

As a team, the squad competed at the Al Cassell Relays in Jamestown, N.D. on Saturday afternoon. Sophomores Sara Olson (Fairmont, Minn.) and Christa Pribula (East Grand Forks, Minn.) both broke their own school records in the hammer throw and 3000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Olson’s throw of 131-5 smashed her old mark by almost 13 feet, while Pribula set the new standard in the gruelling steeplechase at 12:01.79. Junior Steve Schreiber (Forest Lake, Minn.) and sophomore Adam Wilson (Forest Lake, Minn.) were the only two individual event winners of the meet. Schreiber ran away with the high jump, clearing 6-7, while Wilson won the shot put with a 50-4 1/2 toss.

Weather permitting, the Beavers are scheduled to participate in the Sioux Open in Grand Forks, N.D. on Friday and the Ron Masanz Open in Duluth, Minn. on Saturday. The squad will use these two meets to gear up for the conference championships, slated for May 7-8 in Duluth.