Jeff Rebholz enters his fourth year as an assistant coach for Illinois State track & field, specializing in the throws.
In just three years leading the throws squad at Illinois State, Rebholz has coached 19 All-Valley performances, one individual MVC champion, 14 NCAA West Prelims qualifiers and two NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships qualifiers, while also helping to contribute to six MVC team titles.
During the 2020-21 campaign, Rebholz’s throws squad reached new heights. The women’s discus throwers, led by Sydney Laufenberg, finished the outdoor season ranked 9th in the nation in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings, averaging 50.97 meters. Laufenberg, who was crowned MVC champion in the discus, qualified for the NCAA Championships, where she finished fifth in the nation and set a new school record in the event with a throw of 58.02 meters (190-4 ft.). For her performance, Laufenberg earned First Team All-America honors, becoming the first woman in Illinois State history to earn the honors in the discus. Laufenberg would also go on to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
At the 2021 MVC Outdoor Championships, Rebholz led five athletes to All-Valley honors in seven events. On the women’s side, Tayler Weaver notched two second-place finishes in the hammer throw and shot put. Freshman Mye’Joi Williams also earned All-Valley honors in the shot put and discus. For the men, Logan finished third in the shot put to garner All-MVC honors.
Even during the shortened 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebholz's throws squad found great success during the indoor campaign. The women's weight throwers finished the 2020 indoor season ranked 12th in the nation in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings, averaging 18.69 meters. Led by Sydney Laufenberg and Tayler Weaver, four Redbirds threw marks that rank among the best in ISU history during the 2020 season. Laufenberg's personal-best mark of 19.44 meters (63-9.5 ft.) in the weight throw is the third-best on the ISU indoor track & field top-10 list, while Weaver who threw a personal-best mark of 19.06 meters (62-6.5 ft.) ranks fourth. Faith Ayodele, who threw 18.44 meters (60-6 ft.), and Julia Bourke, who threw 17.83 meters (58-6 ft.) rounded out the group in eighth and 10th, respectively.
Weaver shined for ISU at the MVC Indoor Track & Field Championships, where she earned All-MVC honors in both the weight throw and the shot put. She placed third in the weight throw with her personal-best mark of 19.06 meters and earned the silver in the shot put with a throw of 15.05 meters (49-4.5 ft.). Hannah Johnson (shot put), Laufenberg (weight throw) and Ayodele (weight throw) all scored points in their events by placing in the top-eight, helping the Redbird women's team to their third-consecutive MVC Indoor title.
On the men's side, Amiri Buchanan stepped up, scoring points in both the shot put and the weight throw at his first conference meet. Buchanan placed eighth in the shot put with a mark of 16.52 meters (54-2.5 ft.) and finished sixth in the weight throw with a personal-best mark of 18.15 meters (59-6.75 ft.). The freshman duo of Buchanan and Joe Boyer both posted ISU top-10 performances in the shot put during their debut season with Buchanan coming in at seventh with a best throw of 17.14 meters (56-3 ft.) and Boyer coming in at the No. 6 spot with a personal-best mark of 17.35 meters (56-11.25).
In his first season with the Redbirds, Rebholz guided six student-athletes (one man, five women) to the NCAA West Preliminary Round, the most of any event group on the Illinois State team. Of those six, one went on to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Sydney Laufenberg (discus) was one of three Redbirds and the only thrower to qualify for the NCAA national meet and went on to earn Second Team All-America honors.
Rebholz has not only guided Laufenberg to the NCAA Championships, but also coached her to the ISU school record in the discus and three first-places finishes at the MVC Outdoor Championships. The summer following the 2018-19 season, Laufenberg also competed at the USATF Outdoor Championships where she finished 14th overall.
At the conference level, Rebholz led his throws group to six All-Valley performances in his first year leading the squad.
Rebholz joined the ISU coaching staff after working as an assistant coach at Towson for three years.
During his time with the Tigers, Rebholz coached one NCAA Honorable Mention All-American, five NCAA Preliminary Round qualifiers, and three individual Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) individual champions. In addition, Rebholz guided three student-athletes to Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) titles.
In 2018, Rebholz helped Lauren Coleman to her second-consecutive CAA shot put title, as she went on to be named the CAA’s Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet. Coleman was also deemed the ECAC’s Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet, after claiming the ECAC shot put title for the second-straight year as well.
Over the past three seasons, Rebholz’s student-athletes broke four of Towson’s six school records in the throwing events, including the women’s hammer throw, which was set in 2018 by NCAA Honorable Mention All-American Ksenia Safonova. Rebholz’s throws group was a major catalyst for the Tigers’ success, helping Towson win their first CAA title in school history in 2017.
Prior to Towson, Rebholz served as the associate head coach for the men’s and women’s track and field programs at Division III Carthage College from June 2015 – October 2016. Before assuming the associate head coach role, he also acted as an interim head coach and assistant coach, joining Carthage’s staff in July 2010.
While at Carthage, Rebholz worked with both the throws and multi-event groups. In 2016, he was named the Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year after coaching 62 NCAA Division III national qualifiers, 19 NCAA First Team All-Americans, 43 conference champions, and nine College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Outstanding Field Performers during his tenure. He helped student-athletes set school records in nine of the 12 throwing events while at Carthage.
Before Carthage, Rebholz spent time as an assistant coach at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, for the 2009-10 season and had also been an assistant coach at Macomb High School in Macomb, Illinois, during the 2008-09 campaign.
Rebholz competed in college for Monmouth, where he was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American in the shot put and a seven-time national qualifier in various throwing events. During his four years, he claimed seven individual Midwest Conference titles and helped his team to eight team championships. He was also named the Midwest Conference’s Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Year three times.
Rebholz graduated from Monmouth College in 2007 with a bachelor of arts in physical education. He would go on to receive a master’s of science in kinesiology from Western Illinois University in 2009.
