The St. Ambrose track & field teams traveled to Joliet, Ill. this weekend to take on the CCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Despite some inclement weather causing a slick track and harsh conditions in the field pits, the Fighting Bees performed extremely well, with multiple school and conference records getting broken across the board.

The women's team finished in third place overall, tallying 130 points over the two-day meet. Olivet Nazarene were the conference champs for the women's meet with a total of 285 points. The men's team scored 198.5 points over the weekend to come home as the CCAC runner-up, second only to Olivet Nazarene, who won the men's meet as well with a score of 249.

Women's Meet

Alissa DeShane ended her senior season as the conference champion in the pole vault, being the only competitor to clear the 3.25m mark. Tara Ryan placed eighth in the pole vault for clearing 2.65m. DeShane also placed fiffth in the javelin (27.51m) to cap off her career. Also in the javelin was Mickey Hayes in seventh place (23.74m), Brooke Hass in eighth place (22.88m) and Anna Dunne in 12th (17.23m). Hayes also competed in the high jump, just missing the podium in fourth place (1.54m). Hana Hart also finished inside the top-10 of the high jump with a 10th-place finish (1.34m).

The reigning CCAC Field Athlete of the Year Abby Camp had another fantastic conference meet, securing two silver medals in the jumping events. Camp placed second in the long jump with a 5.20m jump, .01m behind the first-place jumper from Lincoln. Camp collected her second silver medal in the triple jump, launching to a 10.51m mark. Leah Rose and Liliana Olsen both collected points in both the long jump and triple jump. In the long jump, Rose placed fifth (4.88m) for four points and Olsen placing seventh (4.79m) for two points, and in the triple jump, Rose placed fifth (10.30m) for four points and Olse placed eighth (9.88m) for one point.

In the discus, freshman Annah Miller followed up her national-qualifying discus performance a week ago with a silver-medal performance in conference meet, launching a 38.60m throw. Jessica Hemm and Dunne both cracked the top-10 in the discus event, with Hemm finishing eighth (31.91m) and collecting a point for the Bees, and Dunne in ninth (30.73m). Felica McCroy placed 14th (26.62m) and Taylor Smith placed 17th (17.74m). Miller came in fifth in the shot put, hitting an 11.65m mark. Sarah Smith finished in 12th (9.40m) and Taylor Smith placed 14th (8.22m). In the hammer throw, Dunne and McCroy placed 12th (35.15m) and 15th (29.98m), respectively.

On the track, the highlight race for St. Ambrose the 10k run, with three Bees sweeping the podium. Megan Grady won the race with a time of 37:43.77. Right behind Grady was Michaela Pieroni, who collected the silver medal with a time of (37:47.78). Emma Duncan garnered the bronze medal, running to a time of 39.52.78. The same trio also took on the 5k run, with Pieroni placing fourth (18:16.77), Grady in sixth (18:40.45) and Duncan finishing 11th (19:15.24).

Rose continued the medal-winning with a bronze-medal performance in the 110m hurdles, blitzing to a time of 14.98. St. Ambrose collected another medal in the hurdle events, with Hart claiming the silver in the 400m hurdles (1:08.93). Megan Jansett barely missed the podium in the 400m dash, hitting a time of 1:00.77 to place fourth. Jansett also tallied points for her performance in the 200m dash, placing seventh (26.36) and collecting two points. Anna Pierce finished 18th in the 400m dash (1:09.14). Carrington Curphy and Kylie Mercier represented the Bees in the 800m run. Curphy placed 26th (2:54.75) and Mercier placed 27th (3:17.86).

The St. Ambrose 4x100m relay finished in fifth place, with a time of 51.68. The 4x400 relay finished in fourth place (3:29.01) and the 4x800 relay placed seventh (11:37.40)

The third-place overall finish for the women rounds out the powerhouse track & field trio with Olivet Nazarene and St. Francis (Ill.) and mirrors their finish from the Indoor Championships. Grady and Pieroni both qualified for the national meet with their performances in the 10k. 

Men's Meet

Brothers Jack Reemtsma and Will Reemtsma absolutely lit up the track this weekend in Joliet, taking home medals in multiple events across the conference meet. Both brothers qualified for the finals in each of their races and shared the podium in three of their events.

The brothers kicked it off by sharing the podium in the 110m hurdles, with Jack taking gold (14.73) and Will taking bronze (15.16). Up next was the 400m dash, where the brothers went 1-2. Jack won gold (48.31) and Will secured silver (48.93), with the only two sub-49 times at the the CCAC Championships. The pair went 1-2 yet again, this time in the 400m hurdles. Will got the better of the sibling rivalry this time around, winning the race with a time of 52.53, just .03 seconds ahead of Jack in second place (52.53). The Reemtsma's both placed in the 200m dash as well, with Will placing sixth (23.98) and Jack placing seventh (23.86).

Jack's 14.73 time in the 110m hurdles and Will's 52.53 time in the 400m hurdles are both new school and conference records.

Matt Jung had a great showing in the 10k, racing to a silver-medal finish with a time of 32:27.17. Jung was accompanied in the top-10 by Lucas Creek in sixth place (33:27.63) and Chris Borschnack in seventh place (34:48.11). Jung carried his strong performance into the 5k, placing sixth with a time of 15:29.27. Lucas Creek just missed the top-10, finishin in 11th place (15:55.77).

Three Bees competed in the 1500m run. Kale Cartee placed seventh (4:12.65) and collected two points for his team, Simon Hagen finished 15th (4:42.08) and Danny Parr finished 16th (4:46.32). Hagen also competed in the 300m steeple, placing sixth (11:10.60) and collecting three points for his squad. In the 800m run, Kyle Sellers tallied two points with a seventh-place finish (1:59.84). Tommy Ashby finished 11th (2:01.40), Cartee went 13th (2:02.84) and Aaron Cox crossed the finish line in 20th (2:12.98). Jonny Swarm placed fifth in the 400m dash with a time of 50.75, while Jackson Stoos finished 10th (52.19) and Davea Davis finished 14th (53.41).

The St. Ambrose 4x800 relay collected a silver medal for their 8:05.65 performance. The 4x100 team raced a to seventh-place finish (43.75) and the 4x400 relay went fourth (3:29.01).

Jackson Callahan got things started in the field events, winning gold in the javelin. Callahan blasted off a 52.24m throw to end his senior season as a conference champion. Alec Seifert tallied a few points in the javelin as well, placing sixth with a 38.46 throw for three points. Bryce Peacher and Fabian Barth-Alonzo went 17th (25.20m) and 18th (24.52m), respectively.

Also coming home as a conference champion was Geoff Murphy, who launched the discus 46.63m to win gold. Just missing the podium in the discus were Josh Mathis in fourth place (45.85m) and Jonah Wilson in fifth place (43.16m). Hunter Kasap finished in 11th place (37.65m) while Seifer finished in 13th place (35.00m). Mathis placed fourth in the hammer throw, as well, hitting a 43.73m throw. Jacob White placed sixth (43.73m) for three points and Payton Woods placed seventh (42.50m) for two points. Murphy and Kasap both finished inside the top-10 in the hammer throw, with Murphy in ninth place (41.65m) and Kasap in 10th (37.91m).

St. Ambrose took up two-thirds of the podium in the shot put, with Mathis collecting the silver medal and Mick Saloninas bringing home the bronze. Mathis unleashed a 16.52m throw, while Saloninas launched a 16.31m throw. Wilson and Peacher both scored points for St. Ambrose in the shot put, with Wilson tallying four points in fifth place (14.19m) and Peacher garnering two points in seventh place (13.41m). Seifert just missed the top-10 in 11th place (12.31m).

Another conference champion in the field events emerged when Samuel Rush cleared the 4.58m mark in the pole vault, shattering a 52-year-old school record and also setting a CCAC record in the event. Jacob Rossmiller and Jacob Mertes just missed the podium in the pole vault, with Rossmiller placing fourth (3.80m) and Mertes placing fifth (3.65m).

Justin Griser tied for fifth in the high jump for clearing the 1.80m mark and garnering 3.5 points for the Bees. Just after Griser was Connor Dertz in seventh place (1.75m) to tally an additional two points. Cody Thole tied for ninth for clearing 1.70m. Justin Wright just missed the top-10 in the long jump, placing 11th for his 5.93m jump. Quantrell Polk finished one spot behind in 12th place (5.85m). Dertz placed 14th (5.76m), Thole placed 17th (5.59m) and Keegan Norris placed 18th (5.49m). Wright collected a bronze medal for his efforts in the triple jump, launching to a 12.96m mark to secure third place. Norris finished in 11th place (11.94m) while Polk finished the day in 13th place (11.91m).

The 25th-ranked men's team finished the outdoor season as the conference runner-up, second only to Olivet Nazarene. Jack Reemtsma was named the 2021 Outstanding Male Track Athlete of the Meet. Jack qualified for the national meet in the 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, and the 400m dash. Will qualified in both the 100m hurdles and the 400m hurdles. Mathis and Saloninas both secured their spot in the shot put for the national meet.

The St. Ambrose men's and women's track & field teams will have one last chance to qualify for the national meet when they host the Fighting Bee Last Chance Qualifier on May 12 in Davenport, Iowa.