The St. Ambrose track and field teams took on a busy schedule this weekend when they split to compete in two separate meets.
The bulk of the team traveled Cedar Rapids, Iowa to compete in the Rittgers Invitational hosted by Coe College, while a few members of the distance squad went to compete in the 5K races at the UW-Platteville Invitational.
The distance group of Emma Duncan, Nolan Rudd, Matt Jung and Luke Benes traveled up to Platteville, Wisc. to race in the 5k events. Three runners set PRs in their events; Duncan dashed to a time of 18:38 to set a five-second PR and place 34th, Rudd ran a 14:55 to set a 23 second PR and also place 34th, and Jung pulled out a 15:32 to set a 10 second outdoor PR and finish 67th. Benes ran a time of 16:24 to finish 110th.
Rittger's Invitational Women's Meet
The Fighting Bees women got out to a quick start at the Rittger's Invitational. Paige Crippes dashed to a first-place finish in the 100m dash (12.90) with Lindsey Campbell not far behind in seventh (13.89). Three Bees placed in the 200m dash: Jadie Knecht took silver (27.16), Megan Jansett finished fifth (27.41) and Leah Rose placed eighth (27.87).
Reigning CCAC Track Athlete of the Week Gabbi Butler kept the Bees hot in the sprint events, collecting gold in the 400m dash with a time of 1:01.43. Jansett placed fourth (1:03.10), Karissa Koval took seventh (1:04.91) and Kncecht placed eighth (1:05.96).
Rose took down another gold medal for the Bees with a first-place finish in the 100m hurdles, blitzing out a time of 15.42. Faith Dillman and Lauryn Bennett followed her up with seventh- and eighth-place finishes, respectively. Dillman also went sixth in the 400m hurdles (1:20.74) while Katie Lambrecht took bronze in the event (1:09.21).
The St. Ambrose 4x100m relay notched the fastest time of the meet (50.25) to take gold, ran by Cippes, Lambrecht, Butler and Rose. The 4x400 crew of Christyna LaMantia, Rileigh Fortune, Jayne Eilderts and Becca Neaterour ran a 5:05.25 to place seventh.
Abby Camp lead the way in the jumps for the Bees, taking gold in the long jump (5.20m) and silver in the triple (10.36m). Lexie Johnson also placed in the long jump, taking sixth with a 4.90m jump. Olivia Sobieszczyk cleared 1.35m to claim fourth in the high jump.
Back-to-back reigning CCAC Field Athlete of the Week Annah Miller had another fantastic meet, hitting the NAIA "A" standard witha 13.80m throw in the shot put to to take silver. This improved her PR by over three feet, marks the second-best throw in SAU program history and is the seventh-best throw in the NAIA this season. Miller also hit a 38.10m throw in the discus to take third place.
The Fighting Bee women tallied 118 points to finish as the meet runner-up, only six points behind meet champion Cornell College (124).
Rittger's Invitational Men's Meet
The men's meet kicked off with an exciting 100m dash, with only two-tenths of a second separating third place from seventh place. Will Reynolds was that third-place finisher, just edging out the field with an 11.043. The Bees then dominated the 200m dash, taking half of the top eight spots: Reigning CCAC Track Athlete of the Week Will Reemtsma took the top-spot (22.18), Ben Wilson took silver (22.39), Reynold finished fourth (22.77) and Brentin Erickson placed sixth (23.12).
The Bees then took all three-podium places and half of the place-finishes in the 400m dash: Reemtsma first (50.55), Wilson second (51.62), and Jackson Stoss third (55.23). Matt Acosta took eighth place (56.62).
Will Dowda and Chris Borschnack scored points for the Bees in the 5k run, with Dowda placing fourth (16:22.06) and Borschnack placing sixth (16:53.02). Marquan Quinn finished sixth overall in the 400m hurdles (1:03.77).
The relay crew of Erickson, Reynolds, Justin Wright and Reemtsma ran a 43.31 to place second in the 4x100m. Nathan Boleyn, Elijah Boesch, George Barton and Brennon Munch placed seventh in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:44.01.
Simon Holland (1.70m), Isaac Mojica (J1.70m), and Justin Griser (1.65m) went 2-3-4 in the high jump while Keagan Anderson ((J3.35m), Maxwell Stoos (3.20m) and Mojica (J3.20m) went 4-5-6 in the pole vault. Teagan Bowers continued his spectacular freshman season with another gold-medal finish in the long jump (6.57m). David Arney (5.93m) and Quantrell Polk (5.88m) placed sixth and seventh in the long jump, respectively. Polk also placed fourth in the triple jump with a 12.15m mark.
The number-1 ranked St. Ambrose men's shot put was on full-display at the Rittgers invitiational. Reigning CCAC Field Athlete of the Week Mick Saloninas took down another gold medal (16.56m), Alec Seifert collected the bronze (14.96), Jonah Wilson finished in fourth (14.71m), Bryce Peacher took fifth (13.87m) and Kyle Uhl placed seventh (13.34m). Saloninas also took gold in the discus throw (45.02m), while Wilson took fifth (40.95m) and Hunter Kasap finished eighth (39.54m). Kasap also finished sixth in the hammer throw (42.31m). Blake Bohon took silver in the javelin (39.00m) and Holland took eighth (36.08m).
The St. Ambrose finished with a meet-best 191 points to claim their first meet victory of the season.
The Fighting Bees track and field teams will travel across the Mississippi River to compete in the Augustana Meet of Champions in Rock Island, Ill. on Friday.
