WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carthage College Firebirds women's track & field team had an exceptional showing at the CCIW Championships, hosted by Carroll University this weekend. The team put forth its best showing at the championships since 2018, taking third place out of nine teams.
The Firebirds as a team brought home 26 all-conference honors during the weekend, and had 11 athletes earn all-conference honors in multiple events - whether as individuals or as part of a relay team. Leading the way was sophomore
Abbey Calhoun, who finished top-eight in three different events (triple jump, pole vault, long jump). Calhoun broke the program record in the triple jump on Saturday, leaping 11.38 meters to make history. Sophomore
Teresa Topolski also earned all-conference honors in three events, taking fifth in the 200-meter dash and taking fourth and eighth as a member of the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams, respectively.
Junior thrower
Aubrey Schoeneman won the shot put to become a CCIW Champion in the event. It was 29 years ago that Schoeneman's mother (and Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame member) Robyn (Schenk) Schoeneman ('96) won the shot put at the CCIW Championships. Now, Robyn's daughter joins her in program and conference infamy. Schoeneman's mark of 13.61m won her the conference crown in the event today.
Senior
Katelyn Smith also made program history, establishing a new Carthage women's track & field record in the 10,000-meter run on Friday evening. Smith completed the race in 37:11.82 to set a new program bar in the event and take second overall. Katelyn earned all-conference honors in both the 5K (6th) and 10K (2nd).
Carthage's
Jessie Clevenger, from Rock Falls, Illinois was named as the team's CCIW RESPECT Award winner. Clevenger earned the distinction for her consistent displays of responsibility, enthusiasm, service, pride, excellence, collaboration, and trust.
- North Central (Ill.) - 184
- Elmhurst - 116
- Carthage - 115
- Illinois Wesleyan - 94
- Wheaton (Ill.) - 79
- Augustana (Ill.) - 78
- Millikin - 72
- Carroll (Wis.) - 46
- North Park - 35
^CCIW Champion
**Program Record
*All-CCIW
"I am very happy with the result of this weekend's CCIW Championship. It was a total team effort and I am proud of the way the team stepped up big on day two after an average day one. We are a young team and I am excited about the future of this team. We had multiple PRs in each event by many athletes! They competed well as a team," remarked Carthage Firebirds head women's track & field coach
Stephanie Domin.
"A few special shout outs to sophomore
Abbey Calhoun for breaking the triple jump record where she placed second. Abbey also placed sixth in the pole vault and fourth in the long jump. Senior
Katelyn Smith crushed the school record in the 10K
by 27 seconds and placed second. She also had a solid sixth-place finish in the 5K on day two."
"Junior
Aubrey Schoeneman was our CCIW Champion in the shot put and also placed fifth in the discus. Our throws squad put up some major points in the shot and discus by placing all five entries with several lifetime PRs."
- After a strong showing in Waukesha this weekend, the Firebirds will head down to Naperville, Illinois for North Central College's Gregory Invitational from Thursday, May 11 through Friday, May 12.
