Georgia Ellenwood set a new personal best and a school record on her way to winning gold in the heptathlon at the 2018 Big Ten Outdoor Championships held May 11 to May 13 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Ellenwood, who has come close to breaking the 6,000 point barrier before, smashed it this time with 6,173 points
Her performance in the two-day, seven-event challenge of the heptathlon was a personal best and the leading score in Canada, bettering the silver medal performance of New Westminster’s Nina Schultz, who won 6,133 points at the Commonwealth Games in Australia last month.
Ellenwood set personal bests in five of the seven events.
The victory also represented a comeback from an injury that forced her to miss the 2017 outdoor season.
Ellenwood, a senior at the University of Wisconsin, is a former Langley Secondary School track star who signed with the NCAA Division 1 Big 10 school in 2013, a year after she won her third consecutive B.C. high school girls’ heptathlon title to become just the third three-time winner of the event.
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READ MORE: ‘PB’ leads to bronze for Langley’s Ellenwood
The University of Wisconsin website noted going into the event, Ellenwood wanted to win a Big Ten outdoor title, to break the 6000-point barrier in the heptathlon and break the conference record in the event.
She accomplished all three in her final appearance at the outdoor big 10 event as a UW Badger.
“I think sometimes I have a hard time believing that I can reach the Olympic standard or even break 6,000 points,” Ellenwood told uwbadgers.com.
“This time, coming to the Big Ten championship, feeling good, competing in hot weather, and I just put it together. And it’s nice because I put it together, but I still look at each event and know that there’s room to improve.
“6,173 points in any conditions is spectacular,” UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said.
“I know she’s been knocking on the door of 6,000 points for quite a while and she really wanted to do it.”
We 👀 you @Geeorrgiaa!
She launches a PR of 150-9 on her final attempt in the javelin! pic.twitter.com/2qcZVWxfke
— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) May 12, 2018
Ellenwood flew 20 feet, half an inch on her final attempt in the long jump to score 884 points and to finish second in the event behind PSU’s Madeline Holmberg, who was the runner-up in the competition.
In the javelin, Ellenwood launched a personal record of 150-9, to score 782 points before winning the 800 meters in two minutes, 16.37 seconds.
TFW when you realize you not only win the #B1GTF heptathlon title, but you just scored 6️⃣1️⃣7️⃣3️⃣ points!
Congrats @Geeorrgiaa on making history at the @bigtenchamps pic.twitter.com/k5ZLxdProI
— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) May 12, 2018
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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