Head Coach Dan Tomlin

Dan Tomlin is entering his second season as the head coach for both the men's and women's track and field teams.

During his first season at the helm, the Fighting Bee men won four invitationals, including the Midwest Collegiate Conference Indoor Invite and the Midwest Collegiate Conference Outdoor Championship.

Tomlin was named Midwest Collegiate Conference Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year in 2008.

Tomlin has coached multiple men and women to conference championships, and school records in the hurdles and pole vault.

Tomlin is a graduate of St. Ambrose University (2005), where he was a four-time letter winner for the Fighting Bees track and field team, and a two-time letter winner for the cross country team.

He was named MVP of the track team his junior and senior seasons.

To contact Coach Tomlin, email TomlinDanielD@sau.edu

Assistant Coach Dan Zeimet

Dan Zeimet is the head men's and women's cross country coach for the Fighting Bees, and also serves as the assistant coach for track, working with the middle-distance and long-distance crew.

From 1999-2002, Zeimet served as the Head Cross Country Coach at Assumption High School, Davenport, IA. At Assumption, his boy’s squad finished in the top 5 at the Iowa state meet in 2001 and 2002 while also winning the Boys Mississippi Athletic Conference Championship in 2001. Zeimet was named Iowa Class 2A Boy’s Southeastern Area Coach of the Year in 2001. Zeimet was named Midwest Classic Conference Women's Coach of the Year in 2004 and again in 2005. He was named Midwest Collegiate Conference Men's Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007.

Zeimet, a '91, '96 MBA alum, was a 2-time XC national qualifier at Ambrose. He was inducted into the St. Ambrose Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. He also serves as the University Registrar. Coach Zeimet and his wife, Melissa, have two children, Tyler James and Leah Rose.

Assistant Coach Ryan Saddler

Ryan Saddler is a former head coach of the Fighting Bee men's and women's track and field teams, and works primarily with the sprinters and relays.

Saddler is a native of Waterloo, IA where he graduated from East High School in 1991. He later graduated from St. Ambrose in 1995 with two undergraduate degrees: a BS Degree in Biology and a BA Degree in Psychology. Currently, Coach Saddler is also the Director for Students with Disabilities at St. Ambrose.

He had been Head Coach for the four seasons between 2000-2003. Saddler’s Head Coaching career began in 2000 when he stepped in to continue the prolific 19 season’s Coach Kevin Rose invested in rebuilding the Track and Field program. Saddler ran for four years under Coach Rose before serving as his Assistant Coach for three years.

Coach Saddler was named the 2000 MCC Women's Coach of the Year, the 2001 MCC Women's Coach of the Year, and also honored as the 2000 MCC Men's Coach of the Year.

On the National level he qualified three women to the NAIA Indoor Championships while two qualified for the Outdoor Championships. Five men qualified for the NAIA Indoor Championships and the one that qualified for the Outdoor Championships brought back a fourth place finish and the All-American Honor.

Saddler also coached Rob Firrell to a National Championship in the 35# Weight Throw in 2003, only the schools second national championship, and the first for the track and field team.

While at St. Ambrose, Saddler was involved in various activities such as: Athletics, the Black Student Union, the Gospel Choir, Residence Life, and the University Choral. During his athletic career, Saddler was a four-year starting defensive back for the Fighting Bee football team and a two-time national qualifier in track and field.

Assistant Coach Rob Firrell

Rob Firrell begins his third season as an assistant coach for the Bees in the throwing events, after two very successful seasons, and a college career that included an NAIA National Championship.

Under Firrell, Bee throwers have placed 43 times in Conference competition, with 5 conference championships. He has also coached 2 school record holders, and qualified a thrower 3 times to the NAIA National Indoor and Outdoor Track Meets.

A Graduate of Davenport West, Firrell threw at both the Drake Relays and the State Meet, where he finished 3rd in the Shot Put. At St. Ambrose, Firrell won MCC conference titles in both the Shot Put and Hammer Throw, as well as placing in the Discus. He still owns many meet records, including the Midwest Collegiate Conference record in the Hammer Throw.

He qualified two times to both the NAIA National Indoor Meet and NAIA National Outdoor Meet. Firrell is a 2-Time All American in the Weight Throw. He finished 3rd his junior year, and won the NAIA National Championship in his senior campaign.

Firrell graduated in 2003 as one of St. Ambrose most decorated athletes in school history. He was selected as the team MVP his Junior and Senior year, served as the teams captain his senior year, and won The Fighting Bee Award, the highest honor bestowed on a student-athlete, his senior year. He still holds the school records in the men's weight throw and the men's hammer throw.
 

Assistant Coach Dick Washburn

Dick Washburn enters his second season as the Fighting Bees jumps coach, and is regarded as one of the best track and field minds in the country. After more than 30 years as the head girl's track and field coach at Muscatine High School, Washburn was inducted into the Iowa Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Washburn has coached Track & Field for 31 years winning conference titles and many runner-up finishes on the Varsity and Fresh-Soph levels. He has coached sixty-six individual and relay conference champions, fifty-nine conference runners-up, fourteen State champions, eleven state runners-up, thirty-eight state place-winners and seven Drake Relays Champions.

He is the co-founder of the Senior All-Star Spotlight Track & Field Meet, the founder of the Statewide Middle School Cross Country Meet and founder and meet director for the Senior All-Star Spotlight Cross Country Meet. He has organized and hosted IATC Mini-Clinics in Track & Field, is a Level II USAT&F Certified Coach and a USAT&F Level I Lead Instructor.

Dick has spoken at many clinics and workshops including being the first Iowa High School presenter at the Championship Books Iowa Track & Field Clinic. He has served as the Head Referee at the AAU National Track & Field Meet for the Multi-Events. He has worked as a meet official for three NCAA Division 1 National Cross Country meets, 2 Division III National meets, four NCAA Division 1 Regional, 2 Division lll meets and 2 NAIA Regional Meets. Served as the Head High Jump, Head Throws Official and assitant Multi-events Judge for the University of Iowa and the Big Ten.
 

Assistant Coach Beth Cunningham

Beth Cunningham is entering her first season as assistant coach to both the men’s and women’s cross country and track team in 2008-09. Cunningham comes to St. Ambrose from Central College after receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

While at Central, Cunningham excelled in both cross country and track. In 2004-2005, she was an IIAC Indoor Conference Champion in the 5k (in 2004) and in the 3k (in 2005). Also in 2005, she was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year.

Cunningham is originally from Davenport, Iowa, and graduated from Davenport Central High School in 2001. She was assistant track and field coach from 2005-06 at Central College. Cunningham comes to SAU from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., where she was the assistant coach for cross country and track and field from 2006-2007.