MORRIS, Minn. – For years, the Yellowjacket women's track and field team was forced to watch its male counterpart celebrate conference titles. The women got in on the act in 2023, when they won their first-ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) indoor track and field championship. They repeated as indoor champions in February of this year, and on Saturday, they finally got to celebrate an outdoor title and will raise another banner.
 
And it wasn't particularly close, either.
 
The Yellowjackets took a 10-point lead into Saturday's action and blew things open to roll to the UMAC championship. As a team the Yellowjackets accumulated 185, defeating the rest of the field by 56 points. Martin Luther was the runner-up with 127 points, followed by Bethany Lutheran with 122 points. Rounding out the rest of the field was Northwestern (114 points), Crown (112), Minnesota Morris (62) and North Central (55).
 
Leading the way for the Yellowjackets was the distance crew, and in particular freshman Simone Stephens (Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro). The newcomer brings home a conference championship in the 5,000 meters, a race dominated by UW-Superior, as the 'Jackets occupied four of the top five places. Stephens won the title with a time of 19:28.74. The mark established a new personal record.
 
Tea Boerner (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna Senior) was right behind Stephens, placing second with a time of 19:37.80. Halle Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) earned a third-place finish with a time of 20:00.49, while Cora Hudella (North Branch, Minn./North Branch Area) placed fifth with a time of 20:17.20.
 
Stephens wasn't done, however. She also brought home a third-place finish in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:55.47. She was the first of three straight Yellowjackets to come across the line. Taylor DeCook (Arlington Heights, Ill./Prospect) was fourth with a time of 5:10.48, while Boerner placed fifth with a time of 5:12.10. Both DeCook and Boerner posted new personal records.
 
Colleen Claude (Centuria, Wis./Homeschool), who qualified for the finals in the 400 meters yesterday, came in second in Saturday's finals. She clocked a time of 1:01.49.
 
In the field events, Emma Johnson (Centuria, Wis./Unity) had a big day to lead the Yellowjacket throwers. Johnson claimed first place in the discus with a heave of 36.60 meters, which also set a new personal record. She also had a third-place finish in the shot put with a mark 11.48 meters. Right behind Johnson in both events was Sidney Bader (Milltown, Wis./Unity). Bader was fourth in the discus (34.98 meters) and fifth in the shot put (10.98 meters). Both of Bader's marks were personal records.
 
Myla Volk (Wabeno, Wis./Wabeno) placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 10.36 meters, which also served as a new personal record.
 
Meet Notes

• The 4-x-100-meter relay team placed third with a time of 51.53 seconds. The team was made up of Summer Hesseldahl (International Falls, Minn./Falls), Allison Alessi (Shakopee, Minn./Prior Lake), Claude and Cora Schmitz (Luck, Wis./Unity).
• Friday, Alexxa DeQuevedo (Silver Bay, Minn./William Kelley) placed fifth in the preliminary of the 100-meter hurdles. Saturday, she was even better, placing third with a time of 16.42 seconds, which was just shy of a personal record.
• Hesseldahl also had a top-five finish in the 100-meter hurdles, placing fifth with a time of 17.02 seconds, setting a new personal record.
• Alessi missed a personal record in the 100-meter dash by .08 seconds. She placed sixth after clocking in at 13.38 seconds.
• The 4-x-400-meter relay, made up of Hesseldahl, Schmitz, DeQuevedo and DeCook placed fifth with a time of 4:29.49.

The conference champion Yellowjackets will be back in action Friday, May 10 when they compete at the Eagle Open, hosted by UW-La Crosse. Events will begin at 3 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex.