LA CROSSE, Wis. — This time around, Ellen Koranda's (Blue Earth, Minn.) performance is the 1,500 was a little better than just another school record.

Sure, the Saint Mary's University sophomore broke the SMU track and field record in the 1,500 with her third-place time of 4:41.13 at the UW-La Crosse Invitational Friday evening.

But then, when you have broken an SMU record in every meet in which you've stepped on the track, Koranda's record-setting performance has almost become expected of her.

This time around, however, a new school record was just the tip of the iceberg.

Koranda also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships — and that's something to get excited about.

"I am so happy for Ellen," said SMU coach Kirk Nauman. "She puts in so much time and effort, and it's really started to pay off for her."

Koranda's effort completed a three-day, Cardinal trifecta, as she joined Jenny Folgers (McHenry, Ill.) and Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.) as NCAA provisional qualifiers. Folgers qualified in the 100 hurdles with a school record-setting time of 14.89 at the Tommie Twilight on Wednesday, while Yankowski became the school's first-ever decathlon champion, winning the MIAC event — and provisionally qualifying for nationals — with a school-record total of 6,033 points.

"It's been a pretty incredible couple of days," said Nauman. "Jenny had an excellent race — her time is very, very good. And Todd, that was an awesome performance Going in we figured he had a very good chance to finish in the top three, and an outside shot at (the conference championship) and a provisional mark.

"I guess he exceeded our expectations a bit."