The Aurora University men's track and field team finished runner-up with 169 points at the 2021 NACC Conference Championships hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran College. The Spartans had two event champions, nine top three performances (earning all- conference honors), and 37 season bests.  
 
Robbie Peterson Jr. got the weekend started off by winning the men's triple jump on his first attempt in the competition. Shortly after he had a strong throw on his final attempt in javelin to place fourth. Peterson then went on to finish all-conference in both long jump (second) and high jump (3rd). Day two he helped the men's 4x100 of Malik Whitehead, Danyrine White, and Eli Grundman finish fourth. His stellar performances earned him field athlete of the year for the NACC. 
 
Overall, the jumps crew dominated the competition by having all-conference performers in each event. Grundman finished second in pole vault with a season best of 4.05m (13'3.5") after being ranked fourth. Five Spartans placed in the top eight in long jump including Peterson (second), Whitehead (fifth), Jarrell Mates (sixth), Eric Teverbaugh (seventh), and Aaron Stallworth (eighth).   
 
Whitehead also finished top five in the 100 and 200 with PR's in those events and long jump. Danyrine White finished all-conference in 200 and 400 running PR's of 22.53 and 50.23. The 4x400 relay of Jacob Bohnert, Jeremiah Cooley, Jacob Hernandez, and White placed second with a season-best time of 3:28.10. 
 
Dylan Whisenant finished top six in all three throwing events. In shot put he earned all-conference with his second-place finish. He threw his lifetime best of 35.58m (116'0") in discus and placed fifth in hammer. Jalen Cole placed finished right behind Whisenant in shot put to place all-conference and also placed in discus with a PR. 
 
Jeremiah Cooley earned all-conference in both of his individual events. He came into the last 100m of the 800 in third place, but a strong finish on the outside allowed him to pass two Illinois Tech runners and finish as conference champion in a time of 1:58.29. Prior to the 800 he ran a lifetime best in the 1500 to finish in third place. Jacob Hernandez (fourth) and Jacob Bohnert (fifth) also placed in the 1500. Hernandez (fourth) and Bohnert (sixth) also ran PR's in the 800, finishing out the weekend with all three scoring in both events.

 Nick Valle placed fifth in the 10K running his lifetime best. Also scoring for the Spartans were Cris Valencia (sixth), Fernando Viveros (seventh), and John Hunter (eighth). Viveros also PR'd. 
 
Cormac Dietz scored in steeple running a PR of 10:25.95. The next day he placed fourth in a very exciting and competitive 5K. Dietz, Valle, and Valencia all ran 5K PR's and Steve Kalish ran a huge PR dropping 19 seconds off his previous time. Dietz's time of 15:56.94 is the tenth fastest in AU history.  
 
Head Coach Jeff Fellers said, "This group had a great weekend, I challenged them to focus on what we can control and bring a lot of energy. They exceeded expectations on all accounts and I'm so proud of them for not only this weakened, but the entire season. They turned every obstacle into opportunity and let nothing stop them from reaching their potential. 37 season bests at the biggest meet of the year on a chilly weekend is remarkable and goes to show how hard they worked and how prepared they were." 
 
Next action for the Spartan men is Thursday, May 13 when they travel to Naperville, IL for the Dr. Keeler Last Chance Meet hosted by North Central College.