ST. LOUIS- The AMC Outdoor Track & Field Championships began this past Thursday (May 4). During the two-day meet, there were numerous individual titles for the Spartans along with a team silver medal. The Spartans were just two points behind Columbia College with 187 points.

The first champion for the Spartans was Jordan Crawford. The graduate student was the lone participant in the 5000-meter racewalk. While Crawford was the only one in the race it doesn't make his accomplishment any less exciting. With a time of 21:33.42, the graduate student was just shy of beating his personal record but was still faster than anyone in the NAIA.

The next gold medal was actually a tie. Both Camden Woolbright and Mayson DeRousse secured first place with a height of 3.80 meters. They easily beat their competition, who had jumps of 2.30m and 3.35m.

Grant Shankle was dominant in the javelin throw. On his very first throw, he launched the javelin 53.26 meters. He beat out his competition by more than five meters and was the only thrower to make it into the 50s.

Donovan Denslow was able to secure not one but two individual titles. Denslow competed in the 10,000m run on day one. With a time of 31:46.67, the junior beat out his competition by over 30 seconds to secure the gold. In the 5000m run on day two, the Eolia, Mo. native faced off against seven other athletes. Denslow had a time of 15:09.51 to earn his second gold medal of the meet.

The Spartans had a number of top five finished to pave the way for their second-place finish. Brayden Bauman who competed in the 100m dash took third with a time of 11.69. Not far behind him was Davion Bennett who placed fifth with a time of 11.83. Bauman also went on to clock in a time of 23.38 in the 200m dash for a fourth-place finish. Josiah Heras was the lone Spartan to make his way into the top five of the 400m dash. With a time of 52.80, the freshman was less than a second behind the other top three runners.

David Fletcher found his way into the top five in two events. In the men's 1500m run, Fletcher secured fourth with a time of 4:10.45. Clocking in a time of 2:05 flat, the freshman placed fifth in the 800m. Wyatt Elliott joined Donovan Denslow as one of the top runners in both the 5,000m and 10,000m. In the 5,000m, the senior came in just two seconds behind the second-place finisher. He earned third with a time of 15:27.56.  Elliott found himself in a similar position in the 10,000m, earning third place with a time of 32:23.65.

There were also a couple hurdlers to just miss out on first place. Woolbright was only a few steps behind the first-place winner in the 110m hurdles. The junior earned silver with a time of 15.99. Keon Graham also competed in the 110m hurdles and came in fifth place with a time of 16.76. Graham also took on the 400m hurdles as well and was just behind first place. With a time of 59.00, the junior earned second.

Woolbright also stood out in other jumping events as well. On top of his first-place tie in the pole vault, he took third place in the triple jump with a distance of 13.00m. In the long jump, the Centralia, Ill. native came in fifth place with a distance of 6.20m. Woolbright was just behind fellow Spartan, Mayson DeRousse. With a distance of 6.29m, DeRousse was able to earn fourth place, less than .2m behind third place.

Jordan Walker-Wright did well this meet, earning two fifth place finishes. The sophomore placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 40.25m. Walker-Wright also placed fifth in the hammer throw with a distance of 44.73m.

The relay teams put in the work this go around as well. The 4x100m team of Brayden Bauman, Davion Bennett, Dorian Gray, and Steven McFeders took bronze with a time of 44.80. The 4x400m team made up of Keon Graham, Camden Woolbright, Josiah Heras, and Elias Neely earned second place by less than a tenth of a second. They clocked in a time of 3:27.71, just behind William Woods. Ethan Bliss, Josiah Heras, Charlie McCallister, David Fletcher were just a few steps behind first place with a time of 8:16.96.

While the conference championships may be over the Spartans are not done yet. On top of Nationals at the end of the month they will have a couple more opportunities to qualify at the St. Francis Fighting Chance next weekend (May 12-13).