ADA, Ohio - Rachel Anderson won her third consecutive national indoor 400-meter dash title and anchored the winning 1,600 relay to help give Illinois Wesleyan its first NCAA Division III women's national championship in any sport Saturday.

The Titans scored 30 points to best runner-up Wartburg by three. Third-place Washington (Mo.) had 23.

"It's surreal," said IWU coach Chris Schumacher trying to sum up his feelings two days after being named the national women's indoor coach of the year in Division III. "Great athletes make coaches look good and that's what we have."

Anderson lowered the meet record in the 400 to 55.66 seconds, setting an Ohio Northern University Fieldhouse record in the process. The fieldhouse record had been held by a four-time national champion.

"What Rachel did on this track is pretty amazing," said Schumacher, whose star also ran a fieldhouse record 55.87 in Friday's preliminaries.

The senior from Clinton ended her indoor track career never having placed worse than second in the national 400 her freshman year.

"It just means so much because all these guys are my best friends," said Anderson of the team title. "We knew if we won or lost, we were all still going to be best friends and love each other."

Anderson received the baton in the 1,600 relay in last place and made up a substantial deficit with a 55.94 split to help her team win in 3:52.21.

"It was dramatic," said Anderson, whose relay partners were sophomores Ali McCoy (58.46) and Mackenzie Clemens (57.94) and senior Brooke Halcott (59.74).

The splits by McCoy and Clemens were season bests while Streator's Halcott was close to her best.

"It's pretty much indescribable," said Clemens of the team title. "It's definitely the best day of my life so far."

Wartburg (3:52.68) was second in the 1,600 relay and defending champion Texas Lutheran third (3:53.59).

"The important thing was not to win that race, but to beat Wartburg," Schumacher said. "We knew if we beat Wartburg and placed in the top six, we would be national champions."

Texas Lutheran had finished two hundredths of a second ahead of IWU in last year's national 1,600 relay.

"I didn't even think we had a chance of catching Texas Lutheran, they were so far ahead," Clemens said. "I just wanted Rachel to catch Wartburg. When she came around the last curve, it was awesome."

Anderson won the 400 by .61 of a second to narrowly miss breaking her IWU record of 55.46.

Clemens, a Bloomington High School graduate, earlier placed third in the 800 in 2:14.74, just missing her school record of 2:14.36.

"She ran a great strategic race," Schumacher said. "She stayed within herself. She could have easily gone with top two girls. She ran smart and saved her kick and hung on for six points."

Also scoring for IWU was sophomore Amanda LaRocca, who placed fifth in the 55 hurdles in 8.34.

"LaRocca didn't have a very good start Friday," Schumacher said. "I didn't think she'd make the finals. She was in lane eight. For her to get fifth out of lane eight was crucial. That (four-point effort) was the difference in the meet."

IWU's other national title came in 1997 in men's basketball. The previous best finish by the IWU women's in indoor track team was fourth in 2006.

"We have an amazing coaching staff," Anderson said.

IWU men place 14th

The Titan men placed 14th with 11 points.

Senior Matthew Harden placed fifth in the 400 in 49.62 while teammate Segun Olopo was sixth in the 55 in 6.37.

Harden and Olopo joined Mike Conti and Pontiac's Noah Dunham to finish fifth in the 1,600 relay in 3:21.64.