Coe Women's Track

Coe's Alger digs the discus

As a sophomore, Melissa Alger certainly has made her mark at Coe College.

Breaking Coe’s discus record with a throw of 149 feet, 11 inches earlier this month, Alger has set herself apart from the competition. But her path hasn’t always been easy.

Initially, Alger didn’t even come to Coe to throw.

“I came here to play volleyball,” she said. “I was just in the weight room one day and they came up to me and said, ‘Do you throw? You have really long arms.’”

The answer was yes. Alger starting throwing her sophomore year at Lisbon High School, after choosing not to play softball.

“I thought that I should do another sport because I like to be active and so I decided to do track. I’m not really a runner so throwing intrigued me,” she said.

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Kohawks win 4 events in Pella

PELLA - The Coe track teams won four events at the Central College Open in Pella Wednesday.

Kenzie Drahn captured the triple jump (35-7 1/4), Melissa Alger took the discus (140-3) and Felicia Devine won the 3000 meter steeplechase (13:37.96) for the women's team.

Erik Franklin won the triple jump (45-10 1/2) for the Coe men's team.

Beth Heims placed second in the 3000 and Ashley Nemechek was the runnerup in the javelin. The men received second-place finishes from Beau Freeborn in the 800, Alex Deeds in the shot put and the 4x400 relay.

No team scores were kept.

Coe women collect 2nd places at Norse Relays

DECORAH —  Coe freshmen Erik Franklin, Clayton Birkes, Anton Jones and Beau Freeborn won the 1600 sprint medley at the Norse Relays in Decorah on Saturday.

Brett Mitchelmore won the javelin for the Kohawks. Alex Deeds placed second in the shot put, and the 4x1600 relay team also placed second.

The Coe men collected third-place finishes in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The Kohawks placed fourth out of six teams in the men's standings.

The Coe women got second-place showings from Laura Bybee in the pole vault, Kirstin Franklin the triple jump, Melissa Alger in the discus and Ashley Nemechek in the javelin. The sprint medley placed third.

The Coe women finished fifth out of six teams in the standings.

Luther captured the men's and women's overall titles.

Alger breaks Coe record in discus

MOUNT VERNON — Melissa Alger of Coe College in Cedar Rapids broke the school record in the discus Saturday with a winning toss of 149 feet, 11 inches at the Cornell Open in Mount Vernon.

The Coe women won three other events at the meet. Sammie Osterberger claimed the 100 hurdles (16.06 seconds), Laura Bybee won the pole vault (9 feet, 2 1/4 inches) and Kenzie Drahn captured the triple jump (35 feet, 10 inches).

Erik Franklin was a double-winner as the Coe men's team finished second out of six teams. Franklin won the triple jump (41-3) and also took the long jump (20-11 3/4).

Luther won the men's title with 184 points, followed by Coe (168), Cornell (136), NIACC (107), Southwestern (75) and Grinnell (38).

Luther also won the women's title with 218 points, followed by Cornell (140), Coe (129), Grinnell (102), NIACC (97) and Southwestern (24).