No. 3 Top Performance of 2010-11: Ellingson excels through adversity
Throughout the summer, follow us as we count down Simpson's Top 10 Performances of the 2010-11 season. The school year saw conference champions crowned, records broken and milestones reached. You can re-live the top moments on www.simpsonathletics.com this summer as we count down to No. 1. Join the conversation on Twitter with #StormTop10.
No. 3: Ellingson excels through adversity
The world’s greatest athletes are often remembered by their performances amid adversity.
Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series despite two injured legs. Michael Jordan’s 38 points with the flu in game five of the 1997 NBA Finals. Brett Favre’s 399-yard, four-touchdown performance a day after losing his father in 2003.
Simpson distance runner Catie Ellingson overcame her own personal turmoil in 2010.
Only two days after her mother, Kristi, lost a long battle with cancer, Ellingson traveled to the Iowa Conference Cross Country Championships in Dubuque, finishing second. Two weeks later she ran to a second-place finish at the Central Region Championships, earning a spot in the National Championships. There, she placed 34th, becoming Simpson’s first All-American since 1991 and the first athlete in school history to earn All-America honors in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field.
Ellingson continued her record-setting senior year during the indoor track and field season. Throughout the year she set school records in the 800, Mile and 1,000 meters, won the 800 and Mile at the Iowa Conference Championships for the second year in a row en-route to Most Valuable Track Performer honors and placed fifth in the Mile at the NCAA Division III Championships.
Due to a knee injury Ellingson was unable to compete during the outdoor track season, but plans to return to Simpson for the 2011 season.
To re-live Ellingson's All-America performance cross country, HERE.
Simpson's Top 10 Performances of 2010-11
| Rank | Performance |
| 10 - June 13 | Buxton Stadium Resurfacing |
| 9 - June 20 | Huyser, Svehla make their mark |
| 8 - June 27 | Edwardson breaks distance drought at IIAC Championships |
| 7 - July 5 | Johnson closes record-setting career on the diamond |
| 6 - July 11 | Potratz puts up record-setting power numbers |
| 5 - July 18 | Schutjer joins 1,000-point, 500-rebound club |
| 4 - July 25 | Kinsey Bak adds to All-American legacy |
| 3 - August 1 | Ellingson excels despite adversity |
| 2 - August 8 | |
| 1 - August 15 |
