RT 2010 Summer

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

RABBIT TRACKS VOLUME 15 NO. 2 | SUMMER 2010

CANADIAN CONTRIBUTIONS COACHING & MOTHERHOOD DYKHOUSE CENTER

CREATING LIFELONG CHAMPIONS Dykhouse StudentAthlete Center

Investing in

LIFELONG CHAMPIONS reetings to the Jackrabbit Family. I hope this issue of Rabbit Tracks finds you and your family having a great summer. It has been an unbelievable year for the Jackrabbits, the list of accolades and accomplishments academically, athletically, and socially would be too much to fit into one issue of this publication.

I hope you noticed the title of this article, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the motto and mission that we strive for with our development and revenuegeneration meetings, “Investing in Lifelong Champions.”

In this issue, there is an article on the newly formed SDSU Letterwinners Club. It has been a goal of mine and our administration to better engage and reconnect with current and former student-athletes. We formed this club to essentially create an athletic alumni association so that we can reconnect for a common cause we all know and love, Jackrabbit athletics.

For those former Jackrabbits who are reading this, you should have received a mailing about the SDSU Letterwinners Club. This club is exclusively for you and a great avenue to give back to the Athletic Department you helped build. Make sure to mark your calendars for Hobo Day 2010. The SDSU Letterwinners Club will be hosting an all-former student-athlete reunion on Saturday, October 23.

Nearly a year ago, a few staff members and I sat down to talk about how we could take the Jackrabbit Club to the next level. As most of you know, the Jackrabbit Club is our annual athletic scholarship fund and is the foundation for funding our 200-plus scholarships.

For years we had a membership base around 800 members that brought in $350,000.

With a scholarship bill going over $3 million this year and continuing to rise, you can understand our need to increase support for the Jackrabbit Club. I am happy to report that during the last year, memberships have increased to more than 1,250 and for the first time the Jackrabbit Club exceeded $500,000.

This is a great start to our goal, but we have a long ways to go, and that’s where we need your help. I am committed to investing the resources to continue to build the Jackrabbit Club. We are revamping our annual fund membership drive and are searching for volunteers out there who will help sell our message. Please feel free to contact the athletic development office if this is something you are interested in.

Thank you for your continued support of Jackrabbit Athletics. The energy and momentum that our programs and department have is something that is very exciting and something I feel very fortunate to be a part of!

I am going to steal a line from Coach Stig here and end with: “When you Invest in Lifelong Champions, Jacks win!”

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Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

JUSTIN SELL ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

RABBIT TRACKS VOLUME 15 NO. 2 | SUMMER 2010

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DYKHOUSE CENTER The new $6 million “one-stop football center” is available to all SDSU student-athletes.

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DANNY BATTEN The defensive end becomes the first SDSU football player to be drafted since 1999.

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A DATE MARKED IN RED

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SDSU fans can’t wait for their team to take on the Huskers in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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CANADIAN CONTRIBUTIONS For baseball coach Ritchie Price, the recruiting pitch is “Go south, young man.”

10 MOTHERHOOD & COACHING The Jackrabbit family expanded this spring when coaches Katie Falco (women’s basketball) and Nanabah Allison-Brewer (volleyball) each gave birth.

12 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Former soccer midfielder Michelle (Rahe) Friedrich is back in town as a businesswoman, a youth soccer coach, and a mom.

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13 WHY I CHOOSE SDSU Student-athletes explain why they came to State.

ABOUT THE COVER

14 WOMEN’S SPORTS HISTORY Rabbit Tracks continues its look at women’s sports at SDSU and focuses on four decades of track and field, tennis, and softball.

17 DANCING WITH THE STARS Men’s basketball coach Scott Nagy paired with nursing student Leslie Miller to win the campuswide dancing contest.

19 LETTERWINNERS CLUB

Junior utility player Joel Blake of Langley, British Columbia, was one of six Canadians on the 2010 Jackrabbit roster. He showed hockey isn’t the only sport played up north, finishing the year with a .391 batting average and sixty-six RBIs in sixty games. For more on the Canadian Club, see Page 8.

NFL Hall-of-Famer Jim Langer heads the newly formed club for former State athletes.

24 LUKE LEISCHNER SDSU’s 400-meter dash record had stood since 1971, but a sophomore from Parkston topped the mark twice this spring.

SDSU PRESIDENT David L. Chicoine DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Justin Sell ASSISTANT AD/SPORTS INFORMATION Jason Hove SPORTS INFORMATION ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Ryan Sweeter ASSOCIATE AD/EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Leon Costello EDITOR Andrea Kieckhefer, University Relations CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Graves, Kyle Johnson, Dana Hess, Cindy Rickeman, University Relations DESIGNER Candace Kleinsasser PHOTOGRAPHER Eric Landwehr, University Relations

Athletic Department South Dakota State University HPER Center, Box 2820 • Brookings, SD 57007 Telephone: 1-866-GOJACKS • Fax: 605-688-5999 Web site: www.gojacks.com Rabbit Tracks is produced by University Relations in cooperation with the SDSU Athletic Department at no cost to the State of South Dakota. Please notify the Athletic Department office when you change your address.

1300 copies printed by the SDSU Athletic Department at no cost to the State of South Dakota. PE069 07/10

DYKHOUSE CENTER creating ‘lifelong’ champions

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tanding in the Chicoine Champions Room of the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center, Dana Dykhouse began his dedication remarks thanking everyone for being there.

Opening gratitudes went to family members: wife, La Dawn; son, Dan, and his wife, Kristina; and daughter, Alana. Then, after pointing out his mother, Evelyn, who had just celebrated her 88th birthday, Dykhouse paused before recalling a personal journey.

“You know Mom, thirty-five years ago, when you saw your son drive out of the driveway to become a Jackrabbit, you didn’t think you would be here in this room today,” he says. “You were

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probably just hoping I would make it through the first semester.

But, it ended up working out pretty well.”

Indeed it has, because when the center was officially dedicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 24 in conjunction with the Jackrabbit football team’s annual spring game, the dream became reality, thanks to the Dykhouse family and South Dakota businessman and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford.

Together, they provided leadership gifts totaling $6 million that set in motion construction of the first major athletic building on campus since the Stanley J. Marshall Center/Frost Arena in 1973.

The spacious football locker room includes 110 individual wooden lockers covering 2,540 square feet. Players moved in for spring ball,

replacing the white block building at the south end of the stadium.

The locker room is part of the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center.

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CENTER FOR CHAMPIONS For the Dykhouses, the center reflects a strong allegiance to their alma mater.

Meeting and graduating from State in 1979, Dana lettered three years for the Jacks, earning honorable mention allNorth Central Conference honors as a defensive tackle in 1978. Meanwhile, La Dawn was a Pride of the Dakotas Dakota Deb member.

“Everyone in this room shares something in common and that is a passion for South Dakota State University and a passion for our student-athletes,” says Dykhouse, president and chief executive officer of First Premier Bank in Sioux Falls.

“You realize it takes two things: a commitment in the classroom and a commitment on the field of competition to create lifelong champions,” he adds.

“That’s what we are all about.”

The 30,000-square-foot center rises from the same ground that previously supported thirty-foot pine trees that were a customary sight at the back of the north end zone of Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

The center is built of brick, precast concrete, glass, and features a unique butterfly roof with both ends higher than the middle.

SDSU players loosen up before the April 24 intrasquad game at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

The Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center (background) was dedicated before the game.

The second floor facing the football field has an outdoor deck offering panoramic views of the stadium and gameday action below. Athletic Department donors and special guests will use the area.

The football coaching staff also will use it to meet visiting recruits and their families.

Walls are decorated with colorful artwork and photographs highlighting great players and moments in Jackrabbit sports history. Blue artificial turf on the mezzanine level is another eye-catching feature.

The facility houses an academic center for all SDSU student-athletes. It is equipped with study areas, computers, tutors, and other educational aids for all Jackrabbit teams.

FOOTBALL HEADQUARTERS The small, single-story block building at the southwest end of the stadium grounds that served as the locker room for five decades’ worth of Jackrabbit football players is now a distant memory.

So is the trio of trailers cobbled together behind the east grandstand. Serving as makeshift meeting areas for the coaching staff, they, too are past relics.

Jacks players will put on pads and yellow-and-blue uniforms in a spacious locker room that contains 110 individual wood lockers. At 2,540 square feet, plus another 800 in showers and bathroom, it offers luxury that previous generations of Jacks never knew.

The 4,600-square-foot strength and conditioning room is impressive. The latest strength training and fitness equipment fills the area with Jackrabbit logos stamped on the weights.

Although academic, weight, and conditioning areas are available to all SDSU student-athletes, the Dykhouse StudentAthlete Center was primarily designed as a “one-stop football center,” according to SDSU Head Coach John Stiegelmeier.

Even the dumbbells in the Dykhouse weight room bear the Jackrabbit logo. New equipment was purchased for the area that supplements the lifting room in the HPER Center.

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“THIS IS A GREAT TRIBUTE TO ALL THE YEARS OF PASSION AND ENERGY DANA AND HIS FAMILY HAVE GIVEN THIS UNIVERSITY AND THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM. IT’S THROUGH THEIR GENEROUS GIFT THAT MADE THIS BUILDING POSSIBLE.” – ATHLETIC DIRECTOR JUSTIN SELL “This facility will be used by a number of different sports, but for the football program, this is really huge,” he says.

“This will affect everything we do. It allows us to teach, train, and house the football program under one roof twelve months a year.

“It will not only be home to the present football program, but ideally a home for all living football alums who have ever worn the Yellow and Blue,” he adds. “We ask our players to make a difference, that whatever they do, to have a positive impact . . .that really defines what the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center will do for SDSU and SDSU football.”

FAMILY ATMOSPHERE Each of the coaches’ offices in the building features tall glass windows facing the football field. Roomier offices allow players and coaches to have one-on-one interaction and immediate access to the football stadium.

Nine meeting rooms will accommodate offense, defense, and special teams as well as specified position space when necessary.

Coaches can use high-tech video production systems to edit and display video from daily practices and games.

There is a sports medicine room, office space for graduate assistants, and a fulltime football receptionist.

“We appreciate everything that we have been given,” says senior cornerback General Parnell. “Just having the facility overall makes a person feel good.

“We come here after class,” he adds.

“We can work out, go back to the locker room, go to meetings, or watch film. We just feel relaxed . . . it feels like home.”

Justin Sell, in his second year as SDSU director of athletics, labels the center a new era for Jackrabbit sports.

“This is the type of facility that brings a family together,” he says. “All our studentathletes can use this facility, but from a football perspective, people don’t 4

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understand how important it is to have the space that this building offers a football program.

“This is a great tribute to all the years of passion and energy Dana and his family have given this University and the athletic program,” adds Sell. “It’s through their generous gift that made this building possible.”

MORE AMENITIES PLANNED The Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center is the first athletic building actually built on campus that is part of the master plan to modernize Jackrabbit athletic facilities.

Additions to the center are planned and each is contingent on donor dollars.

When they happen, the other buildings will include a field house and an office/ locker room complex.

The field house will have a football practice field and an eight-lane, 300-meter running track. The facility would serve all outdoor sports teams, giving them a place to practice year-round.

The office/locker room complex calls for a structure to house offices, locker rooms, and team meeting rooms for

baseball, softball, golf, tennis, cross-country, track, and soccer.

The master plan’s biggest component is a new football stadium with clubrooms and suites, replacing Coughlin-Alumni Stadium that opened in 1962.

Jackrabbit fans can play an important role in the fund-raising process with naming opportunities still available for offices, individual rooms, lockers, weight room, the academic center, and even the plaza area.

For now, though, the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center is open for business, thanks to a burly defensive lineman from Rock Rapids, Iowa.

“So many people have given back to this University and this is just one piece of it,” says Dykhouse. “We all know this is just a start, but today is the day that dream is realized.

“This building will make a lifetime of memories for so many student-athletes,” he adds. “Literally, 100s and 1,000s of young people will walk through these halls and they will become those lifelong champions.”

KYLE JOHNSON

Perched on the deck of the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center prior to the SDSU spring game April 24 are, from left, Dana Dykhouse, his mother, Evelyn; his daughter, Alana; the jackrabbit mascot; his wife, La Dawn; his daughter-in-law, Kristina Dykhouse; and his son, Dan.

Phone call sends Batten packing for

BUFFALO BILLS PROVING SELF WORTHY anny Batten is experiencing something few college Batten’s prelude to life in the NFL came football players realize: the chance to play in the May 7-9 at Buffalo’s rookie mini-camp, National Football League. followed by five volunteer organized But, as Batten discovered, life at the professional level team practices in May and June. The is a brand-new ball game.

Bills’ official team training camp opens “As soon as you step on the field you can tell it’s the NFL,” July 29 with the first preseason game he says. “On the field, you either get it done or they will find August 13. somebody who can—that’s the mentality.

“They were phenomenal football “It’s like survival of the fittest,” adds Batten. “You have to put players in college and they are great in the time and do what you have to do to keep ahead of the next players in the NFL,” he observes. “The guy. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”

The decorated Jackrabbit defensive end from Gilbert, Arizona, caliber of athletes is definitely greater Danny Batten than at the NCAA level.” was taken in the sixth round by the Buffalo Bills in the NFL draft When reminded, he, too, falls in that category, Batten replies April 24. matter-of-factly, “I keep telling myself that they liked me well Batten was the 192nd overall pick and the first SDSU player enough to draft me, so they are giving me a fair shake and the drafted since 1999, when tight end Steve Heiden was selected rest is up to me,” he says. in the third round by the San Diego Chargers. In fact, no South Dakota collegian has been chosen during that time. Overall, Batten is the twenty-eighth Jackrabbit player drafted in the “TO BE HONEST, I WAS SO EXCITED BECAUSE seventy-five year history of the NFL draft.

I HAD BEEN WAITING ALL DAY. IT WAS INSTANT “It’s a dream come true,” admits the 6-foot-3, 250-pound RELIEF. WHEN I GOT THE CALL IT WAS SUPER, Batten, who is listed on the Bills’ roster as a linebacker in the new three-four defensive scheme under first-year Head Coach SUPER EXCITING.” Chan Gailey.

– DANNY BATTEN “I think it will be a smooth transition,” he says of his new position. “I’m trying Batten’s talent was much appreciated at SDSU. He was honored to get it started. I’ve got the instincts on three all-America teams in 2009 after leading SDSU in both of a linebacker. It’ll be a great move, tackles for loss (seventeen) and sacks (nine). a great transition.”

He was the Missouri Valley Football Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year and third-place finisher for the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision ranks.

The draft process is over for Batten, but the day the phone rang with good news from the Bills is a memory he will carry forever.

“To be honest, I was so excited because I had been waiting all day,” he says. “It was instant relief. When I got the call it was super, super exciting.”

In addition to Batten, four other Jacks inked free-agent deals at the conclusion of the NFL draft. It represents SDSU’s largest contingent of NFL prospects in one year. The others were: • Casey Bender, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive guard, signed with the Cleveland Browns.

• Casey Knips, a 6-foot-8, 306-pound offensive tackle, signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

• Chris Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker, received an invitation to attend a mini-camp with the Chicago Bears.

• Glen Fox, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound wide receiver, earned a tryout with the Green Bay Packers.

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KYLE JOHNSON

Danny Batten works out at the Buffalo Bills rookie mini-camp after being selected in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

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Husker fans celebrate a Nebraska touchdown inside Memorial Stadium, which has a capacity of 81,067. Dubbed a “Cathedral of College Football,” the stadium has been sold out for 304

consecutive games to date. This view is from the south end zone.

The 3,000 tickets allocated to SDSU for the homecoming game are in the southwest corner.

September 25 — A date marked in red

FANS EAGER TO MEET HUSKERS ON GRIDIRON hree Heisman trophy winners, three Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, five national titles, 81,067 fans at a home game.

Those are the numbers of Nebraska football. It can be intimidating. It is what SDSU will experience September 25 when the Jackrabbits travel to Lincoln for their first gridiron meeting since 1963. Players aren’t the only ones who have circled the date on their calendars.

“It’s going to be historic,” says Phil Carlson, of Brookings, an SDSU season-ticket holder since 2005.

“I’ve been a Husker fan since I was a teenager. Now being a Jackrabbit fan, it will be like a double joy to go to that game,” says Carlson, who will be attending the game with his wife, Pam, and their two daughters as well as a son-in-law and a future son-in-law.

Pam Carlson’s brother also lives in Lincoln so a number of relatives will gather and make the game a reunion as well.

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A SEASON-TICKET BOOM SDSU was granted an allotment of 3,000 tickets for the game by Nebraska. SDSU football season-ticket holders could purchase up 6

RABBIT TRACKS

to six tickets for the game. Carlsons did so. The opportunity to buy UNL tickets helped convince Larry Janssen to buy SDSU season tickets for the first time.

He is among more than 560 new season-ticket holders in 2010.

That pushes season-ticket holders to a record 2,200.

A $100 season ticket (plus a $50 minimum donation to the Athletic Department) buys a seat to the five home games. If one could buy a ticket from the Nebraska ticket office for the SDSU game, the cost would be $55. But the Cornhuskers enter the season with 304 consecutive sellouts.

Jay Bubak and Clint Brown will get into the game for free, but they’re still scouting for tickets.

The Jackrabbit co-defensive coordinators are both Nebraska natives. The coaches will be able to seat some of their families through an allotment given to SDSU Athletics, but they will have to tap other contacts to get extended family members into the gates.

Raised on a western Nebraska farm four hours from Lincoln, Bubak’s family isn’t among the Nebraska-ticket holders.

GRANDMA WILL BE IN RED Brown, who was raised in the eastern Nebraska town of Arlington, played for the Huskers in the early 1990s. His parents, his wife’s parents, and his grandmother all have season tickets. “I’m sure I’m still going to have to find some tickets for other people,” Brown says.

“I hope they’re wearing blue and gold and not red. I’m hoping the people around them will let it go for one game,” he jokes.

Brown says he might actually get his dad to wear blue and gold.

He adds, “I know my grandma won’t. She’s missed one Nebraska home game in five years. That was last year to go to our Northern Iowa game,” which was SDSU’s homecoming game.

HOMECOMING FOR THE HUSKERS This year’s game against SDSU is Nebraska’s homecoming.

For Janssen, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Nebraska in 1971 and his doctorate in 1978, returning for homecoming adds to the appeal. “I haven’t been back to a homecoming since my graduate days.

“We’ll get together with friends that were in our wedding and are Nebraska season-ticket holders, do a little tailgating,” he says.

Carlson also says he plans to tailgate and soak in the atmosphere, but he didn’t say if he would be wearing red or blue. Ron Einspahr, a season-ticket holder for both teams, says, “Haven’t decided what to wear yet, whether a blue sweatshirt or a red hat, red sweatshirt or a blue hat.”

But he does know who he will be cheering for—“Being in a smaller town, you get to know the players and the coaches.

I’m sure we’re going to be cheering for the Jacks.”

SDSU has played before big crowds in the last two years— 46,600 at the Big 12’s Iowa State in 2008, 50,800 at the Big Ten’s Minnesota in 2009, and 19,200 at Montana in 2009— but Nebraska is a “totally different atmosphere,” Coach Bubak says.

“Same conference [as Iowa State], but Nebraska is definitely a notch above.”

Brown wears a ring from the 1994 Husker team that went 13-0 and won Coach Tom Osborne’s first national title.

“I don’t know if you can truly prepare the kids for the atmosphere they’re going to walk into. I don’t think the kids are going to be intimidated by it. The Montana game was good preparation. You hope they’re not awestruck,” Brown says.

“It’s going to be different than Minnesota or Iowa State. It’s a different monster. You want to try to silence the crowd if you can,” he adds.

MEMORIES FROM 1963 The 1963 squad didn’t have much luck silencing the crowd. That was the last time SDSU played Nebraska. The Cornhuskers won 58-7 en route to an Orange Bowl season. “It was quite eye opening,” says Ed Maras, a sophomore end on that SDSU team.

He was struck by the size of the crowd (34,500) and the size of the Nebraska football team, both in numbers and weight.

Maras, who lives near Des Moines, Iowa, hopes to get a ticket for the game. Doug Peterson, of Rapid City and quarterback of that 1963 team, already has his tickets and will be sharing a medicine bag full of memories during the tailgating session.

He broke his ribs while blocking on a punt return late in the first half and endured a bumpy bus ride home.

But the injury isn’t the first thing he thinks about when he ’RABBITS THAT BLEED RED thinks about the game. “The first thing you think about is you But there will be Jackrabbit graduates who will be rooting for had the opportunity to go play against the bigger team. Forty Nebraska. years afterward people are still talking about playing Nebraska,” Among them are Jay Dirksen ’68/’69 and Willie Jones ’07/’09.

Peterson notes.

Dirksen has been the cross-country coach at Nebraska since 1983.

“I think we all were somewhat [intimidated]. But once you start Jones, who played football at State, became an assistant strength the game, that was all gone,” he adds. coach for Nebraska football in summer 2009.

Overcoming intimidation wasn’t enough for the Jackrabbits During games Jones is on the sidelines as a “get-back coach,” to overcome ability. Darrel Tramp, an SDSU end, recalls, “The keeping position coaches from going where they don’t belong. backfield guys were so quick and so fast. We hadn’t seen that The former Yankton High standout says, “I’m not sure how I’ll kind of quickness before. They made one little move and they react if they [the Jackrabbits] score a touchdown. There might be were gone.” a little excitement down deep. I’m always going to be a Jackrabbit, but obviously I hope Nebraska wins.”

BETTER OUTCOME EXPECTED THIS FALL Dirksen says, “Of course, I want to see Nebraska win but Maras is optimistic about the 2010 Jackrabbits.

I wouldn’t feel terrible if it was a close game.”

“They’re probably going to be much more competitive than He adds, “I actually can go to a game and be fairly calm.” we were when we went judged by how well they played against That’s not the case with most in the sea of red.

Minnesota,” he says. State gave up a late fourth-quarter field goal to fall to the Gophers 16-13 in their first meeting since 1933.

HUSKER FANS ‘LIKE OUR FANS’ Einspahr also is optimistic. “I think we can do OK. I don’t Coach Brown says, “The fans, to me, are probably some of the best expect SDSU to win, but I don’t think it’s going to be another 1963.” fans in the country. They’re like our fans. They’re loud, they have a DAVE GRAVES genuine care for Nebraska athletics like our fans, but there are 85,000, not 15,000, so it makes a different environment.”

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INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR Jackrabbit baseball draws six Canadians across the border

Glove? Check. Bat? Check. Cap? Check. Passport? Check. he Jackrabbits’ May 2 game against Centenary started like any other, with the playing of The Star Spangled Banner. However, the Jacks may have been within their rights to request O Canada as well since five of the starters on the State team were citizens from our neighbor to the north.

In all, the Jacks had six Canadians on the 2010 roster: junior utility player Joel Blake, of Langley, British Columbia; freshman pitcher Shane Kraemer, of Vancouver, British Columbia; sophomore infielder Daniel Marra, of Toronto, Ontario; sophomore outfielder Zach Rhodes, of Champion, Alberta; junior infielder Jesse Sawyer, of Alberta, Calgary; and redshirt freshman outfielder Daniel Telford, of Newmarket Ontario.

Against Centenary, the Jacks’ lineup included Blake at first base, Kraemer pitching, Rhodes as the designated hitter, Sawyer at third base, and Telford in left field with Marra injured and watching from the sidelines. The Canadian players were instrumental in the Jacks’ 10-6 victory, accounting for six runs, four hits, and five runs batted in.

Blake got the scoring started in earnest for the Jacks with a two-run single in the team’s five-run third inning and Sawyer posted the fifth two home-run game of his collegiate career and his second of the season.

“They’re making contributions, that’s for sure,” says head coach Ritchie Price of the Canadian contingent.

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The Jackrabbits’ Canadian Club, from left: redshirt freshman outfielder Daniel Telford, of Newmarket, Ontario; sophomore infielder Daniel Marra, of Toronto, Ontario; junior infielder Jesse Sawyer, of Alberta, Calgary; junior utility player Joel Blake, of Langley, British Columbia; freshman pitcher Shane Kraemer, of Vancouver, British Columbia; and sophomore outfielder Zach Rhodes, of Champion, Alberta.

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AS AN ASSISTANT, PRICE MADE CANADIAN CONNECTION Six international players is a high number for a Summit League team. A check of rosters shows only three other Canadian players in the league—two at North Dakota State University in Fargo and one on the Centenary squad out of Shreveport, Louisiana.

As an assistant coach, Price’s first recruiting class in 2008 included four Canadian players.

“I’ve got a couple connections up there,” Price says. “We’re always looking for the best players and they happened to be these guys from Canada.”

When Price is looking for the best players, geography isn’t one of his concerns.

Recruiting players from Canada, Price says, “is no different than getting kids from Texas. It’s where we’re located geographically.”

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES, DIVISION I LURE PLAYERS According to Price, SDSU has success recruiting Canadian players because of favorable scholarships and tuition rates.

“One of the reasons we’ve had some success is that baseball is a partial scholarship sport and SDSU has a very competitive international tuition rate,”

Price explains. “It works to our advantage on the financial side.”

Money aside, players were also interested in the chance to play baseball for a Division I program.

“Baseball is pretty good in Canada,” Sawyer says, “but this is Division I. It’s as good as it gets.”

Canadian teammate Blake echoes that sentiment: “I wanted to play Division I. It’s a great program, and they gave me the chance to play every day and compete.”

SDSU OPPORTUNITIES MEAN FEW TRIPS HOME Juniors Blake and Sawyer are the elder Canadian members of the team. Both players, along with Rhodes, were recruited from the Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge, Alberta, the equivalent of a junior college in the United States.

As a sport, baseball travels well from Canada to the United States. The players say the only change they had to make in their game was putting aside their wooden bats and getting accustomed to hitting with bats made from aluminum.

“It’s not a tough transition to make,” Sawyer says and the proof of his statement is in the fact that Sawyer and Blake are listed among the leaders in most of the Jackrabbit squad’s offensive categories.

Like other international students, the Canadians have to weigh the benefits offered by SDSU against the fact that trips back home will be infrequent.

“You get used to it,” Sawyer says of life far from Alberta, Calgary. “I really enjoy it in Brookings.”

Blake got accustomed to long trips home while at the baseball academy that was a good fourteen hours away from his home in Langley, British Columbia.

“I miss my family and friends, but everyone does,” Blake says. “Playing sports and having teammates helps the most. As soon as you get to a different school you automatically have thirty best friends to keep you company and help you through it.”

“BASEBALL IS PRETTY GOOD IN CANADA, BUT THIS IS DIVISION I. IT’S AS GOOD AS IT GETS.” – JESSE SAWYER JACKRABBIT THIRD BASEMAN PLAYERS HOPE BASEBALL JOURNEY CONTINUES AFTER STATE Sawyer, who plays third base for the Jacks, enjoys watching when another third baseman—Alex Rodriguez—gets up to the plate. “I like watching great hitters hit,” he explains.

For his part, Blake tries to emulate the hustle of Pete Rose. “I’m a strong believer in if you play hard, you’ll get results.”

Blake is a sociology major and Sawyer is majoring in health, physical education, and recreation. Neither player would mind putting their post-college careers on hold to keep playing baseball.

“I’ve talked to a few teams,” Sawyer says.

“I’d like to keep it going a little bit longer.”

Blake concurs, and he’s not opposed to taking his baseball skills to yet another country.

“I hope to play as long as my body will let me,” Blake says. “If I don’t get drafted, I’d like to play pro ball, maybe in Australia, and see a different part of the world.”

DANA HESS

Top: Sophomore Zach Rhodes fields a high bounder while seeing some rare action in left field against Oral Roberts University May 8. He played in fifty games, usually as the DH. Bottom: Junior third baseman Jesse Sawyer lead SDSU with nineteen home runs in sixty games, all of which he started.

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With a little help from their friends

COACHING MOMS BALANCE WORK, FAMILY B

alancing motherhood and a career is never easy. But when at home they call you Mom and at work they call you Coach, your footwork needs to be a bit fancier than most.

Just ask Katie Falco and Nanabah AllisonBrewer. If you can catch them.

Both women delivered the most recent addition to their families within a day of each other. Allison-Brewer gave birth May 12 to her third child, Tahchuhsee, little brother to sisters I’yawa, 7, and See-na-ne, 4.

On May 13, Falco delivered Jillian, her second child and little sister to brother Dominic, who will be 3 in October.

The formula for making it work reads differently for every family, but one common factor is a strong support system comprised mainly of the very people who make up the family and the job being balanced.

For Falco, who will begin her third season as assistant women’s basketball coach this fall, coming from her first coaching job at Montana State, success has revolved around her husband and high school sweetheart David, who has been a stay-at-home dad since Dominic was born.

“It’s a fantastic situation,” Falco says.

“College athletics is very demanding, with the amount of travel we have. Every season varies slightly, but on average we’re gone every other week. We leave on a Friday, play two games, and return on Tuesday.

“David is a constant figure when I’m gone.

I know our children are in good hands. He has an unbelievable gift, and I’m proud of him. I feel so grateful to have such a supportive husband.”

Early in their careers, Allison-Brewer and her husband, Joseph, made sacrifices for each other in order to get to where they are today.

“I coached high school volleyball while he pursued his master’s and doctorate degree,” she says. “Afterwards, he let me apply for college coaching positions, which have dictated where we live.”

Allison-Brewer was an assistant coach at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire before coming to State, where her husband is an assistant professor and director of the American Indian Studies program.

“It’s exciting to say we’re now at a place where we can both fulfill our professional

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RABBIT TRACKS

Meet the newest members of the SDSU Athletic Department family. Volleyball coach Nanabah AllisonBrewer, left, holds her son, Tahchuhsee, who was born May 12. Assistant women's basketball coach Katie Falco holds her daughter, Jillian, who was born May 13. The photo was taken July 2 at Frost Arena, where both women coach.

goals and dreams,” she says. “I’m very thankful that our professional careers compliment one another so we can be there for our children.”

She’s also looking forward to her family joining her on the road a time or two.

“I’m hoping they can make a couple trips,” she says. “SDSU administration encourages the coaches to take family when we can because of the rigor of our travel schedule during the season. The coaching season is not an eight-to-five, Monday-throughFriday job. We are constantly in and out, so sharing a travel weekend with my family while on the road would be nice.”

Coworkers, supervisors, and team members also put forth their own generous share of familial support.

“The coaches and players on the team have been amazing in showing interest in our kids,” Falco says. “The Athletic Department as a whole tries to provide that familylike atmosphere. My family is able to stop up on a workday and say hi. Come to have lunch with me. Poke their head in at the end of practice. You have to have that with the hours Division I athletics requires.”

A family-friendly atmosphere, both women say, was an important consideration in their coming to SDSU. “From the start, I wanted to know about the athletic culture at SDSU,” Allison-Brewer says. “Is it a family-oriented environment?

The responses from the staff and community were nothing but positive. Plus, seeing the longevity of the coaching staff showed me they had the support and that the Brookings community had to be a great place to raise a family. It is!

“You must be creative, at times, and willing to ask for help. Other major support groups have been my church members and other women mentors in the field of coaching.”

It all boils down to personal priorities and holding them in balance.

“I love coaching, and I love the athletic environment,” Falco says. “SDSU provides a place where I can do both successfully.

To have my family directly involved in my career makes me a better coach and a better parent because it puts things in perspective.”

CINDY RICKEMAN

SDSU working on more

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES wenty businesses form the core of the corporate sponsorship program. However, there are likely to be other promotional opportunities for businesses that would like to see their names linked to SDSU athletics.

“There are a lot of other businesses that want to help us,” says Leon Costello, senior associate athletic director-external.

T

And it’s his job to find ways for those businesses to help.

By using his experience in developing media contracts and special interest programs, Costello hopes to increase the number of sponsorship opportunities associated with the Athletic Department.

“We’re going to protect those core twenty,” Costello says by making sure they’re the first to hear about new sponsorship opportunities. “But we’re sure that as the number of opportunities grow, so will the number of businesses that sign on.”

Business owners interested in sponsorship opportunities for SDSU athletic programs should contact Costello at 605-688-6294 or Leon.Costello@sdstate.edu.

Company signage, such as at the Frost Arena scoreboard, is among the benefits of helping to sponsor SDSU athletics.

GIFTS IN KIND ALWAYS WELCOME There are many ways that fans and friends of the Athletic Department can be involved with the programs they enjoy.

According to Mike Burgers, associate athletic director for development, those include word-of-mouth, volunteerism, monetary donations, or, as in the case of Bowes Construction, gifts in kind.

Bowes Construction makes its donations by providing services, materials, or labor for building projects at athletic facilities on campus.

“The sheer number of student-athletes impacted is phenomenal,” Burgers says of the work provided by Bowes Construction.

Individuals or firms that would like to make similar contributions should contact Burgers at 605-697-7475 or mike.burgers@sdsufoundation.org.

Three Jacks working their way through

THE MINOR LEAGUES M

any baseball players dream of making it to the major leagues. For four former Jackrabbits, that dream might someday become a reality as they work their way through the minors for three National League clubs.

First baseman Korby Mintken, of Blair, Nebraska, signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.In his second year in the minors, Mintken is playing this year for the Clearwater Threshers in the Class A Advanced Florida State League.

RABBITS IN THE MINORS: Outfielder Craig Perry, of Colstrip, Montana, drafted in 2008 by the Pittsburgh Pirates.In his third year in the minors, Perry is in his second year in the Pirates’ farm system with the Class Low A State College Spikes in the New York-Pennsylvania League.

DRAFTED, NOT SIGNED: Pitcher Blake Treinen, of Osage City, Kansas, was taken by the Florida Marlins in the twenty-third round of June’s Major League Baseball First-Year Draft. A junior at the time of the draft, the right-hander reported for his physical and it was discovered he had inflammation in his throwing arm. Consequently, the Marlins didn’t offer Treinen a contract and he will be back at SDSU for his senior season.

Pitcher Caleb Thielbar, of Randolph, Minnesota, drafted in 2009 by the Milwaukee Brewers.The left-hander is in his second season in the Milwaukee farm system, pitching this year for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Class A Midwest League.

SUMMER 2010

11

Where are they now?

FRIEDRICH RETURNS TO SOCCER FIELD this time as coach ormer Jackrabbit standout Michelle (Rahe) Friedrich is in two fields that continue to grow: health care and soccer.

The former soccer midfielder is back in Brookings where she set many records for the then-fledgling women’s soccer program.

Friedrich moved to Phoenix after graduation in 2005, but she found her way back to Brookings in 2008 and purchased Kendall’s Home Medical Services, a medical equipment and supply company, in 2009.

“Health care, there’s always going to be a need for it,” says Friedrich, a business economics major at State. “I enjoy working with the people.”

Her professional enjoyment in Brookings was tempered, however, by the tug to return to the soccer field. Unfortunately, Brookings doesn’t have anything like the adult soccer league she played for in Phoenix.

F

Ultimately Friedrich did get back on the soccer field. But this time instead of being a player, she’s a coach.

YOUNG PLAYERS LOWER COLLEGE STAR’S INTENSITY For two years she’s been coaching 9- and 10-year-olds. Friedrich admits it’s quite a change to go from the discipline of a college team to coaching some of the youngest players in the game.

“You definitely have to change your mindset,” Friedrich says. “You have to reduce the intensity.”

For a relatively new coach, Friedrich seems to have already developed a pretty solid philosophy.

“We have fun, absolutely,” Friedrich tells her players. “We work as a team, make friends, and develop a work ethic.”

Friedrich’s experience as a member of the SDSU team gave her instant credibility with the young players.

“They love that I used to be a Jackrabbit,” Friedrich says. “Ask any of them, and they’ll say they want to play for the Jackrabbits.”

“It’s kind of fun being on the other side of it,” Friedrich says. “I’ve got a different appreciation of what a coach goes through.”

As for her former coach, he’s happy Friedrich has joined the sideline fraternity, sharing her knowledge of the game.

“I think it’s wonderful that she’s coaching in Brookings now,” says women’s soccer FRIEDRICH RECRUITS coach Lang Wedemeyer. “Not only is she ANOTHER SOCCER FAN giving back to the game itself, but to the Friedrich’s recruiting efforts for the sport of community as well.” soccer go beyond the young team she coaches.

It’s only natural that Friedrich give back Friedrich met her husband, Corey, who to a game that she says has given her so much. farms east of Brookings, after her college “Being a student-athlete gave me the playing days were over. She’s still a fan of work ethic and drive to do whatever I Jackrabbit soccer, however, and frequently want to do, ” Friedrich says.

“I appreciated goes to the games accompanied by Corey, the opportunity to be a Jackrabbit, to be a who had never seen a soccer game prior student-athlete, to be part of something to getting to know his future wife. that was greater than yourself.”

“I even made my husband a soccer fan,” Friedrich says with pride.

FRIEDRICH SIDELINED BY SOCCER’S NEWEST FAN FORMER COACH WELCOMES Now Friedrich needs to bring the work FRIEDRICH TO SIDELINES ethic and drive that has served her so well Friedrich finds the transition from player in business and on the soccer field to yet to coach interesting and rewarding. another growing endeavor—her family.

Friedrich has once again stepped away from the sport she loves, taking a leave Michelle (Rahe) Friedrich scored ten goals from coaching while preparing for the for SDSU during her four-year (2001-04) birth of her first child in July. career as a midfielder at State.

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RABBIT TRACKS

Michelle (Rahe) Friedrich holds a photo of the Brookings soccer team she coached.

DANA HESS

Why I chose SDSU JOHN BISSON, STURGIS JUNIOR, SWIMMING Why did you choose SDSU? I chose SDSU because of its great academic value. I have had many friends and family members attend SDSU, and they have all been pleased with the exceptional level of education.

What has your scholarship meant to you?

My athletic and academic scholarships from SDSU have improved my college experience by freeing up time that I would otherwise have to spend working. The scholarships have allowed me to become more involved with campus activities.

ANGELA GEBHART, MAPLE GROVE, MINNESOTA JUNIOR, EQUESTRIAN Why did you choose SDSU? SDSU piqued my interest because of the equestrian team. I ultimately decided to attend because of the feel of the campus. The first time I visited Brookings, I felt at home. I loved the fact that I could see the horse barns from my dorm room and the small-town feel of the campus.

What has your scholarship meant to you?

I don't remind myself often enough of how blessed I am to have received a scholarship to do what I love at school—ride horses. Embracing this new style of competition and horsemanship as part of the equestrian team has taught me more about being a better horsewoman than I ever thought I could be in just three years. The scholarship has also let me see so many vast areas of the country. I love the feeling of going to learn about a new place of the country and see their horses!

AARON PICKREL, WATERTOWN FRESHMAN, WRESTLING Why did you choose SDSU? I chose SDSU because I liked how close it was to home so that my family can always watch and support us. I also liked what it has to offer as far as helping me succeed in my major of premed. I liked the coaches and liked my chances of getting a starting spot early in my career.

What has your scholarship meant to you?

My scholarship has been meaningful to me because it has helped me be able to succeed and focus only on school and wrestling because it makes it possible for me to not need a job throughout the school year.

CLINT SARGENT, SOUTH SIOUX CITY, NEBRASKA JUNIOR, BASKETBALL Why did you choose SDSU? I chose SDSU because of the coaching staff, players, and the opportunity to play Division I basketball.

What has your scholarship meant to you?

My scholarship has meant everything to me. It has allowed me to achieve one of my dreams in playing Division I basketball. It has also given me the opportunity to get a good education as well as meet a lot of great people.

REBECCA SWORDS, ROSEMOUNT, MINNESOTA SOPHOMORE, GOLF Why did you choose SDSU? Choosing SDSU was a hard decision. I'm from the city, so a small town was definitely going to be something new! However, I liked the size of the school and wanted to play Division I golf.

What has your scholarship meant to you?

My scholarship has kept me going. There have been a number of times when I've wanted to just give up, but I knew that the money was important, and if I kept working hard and improving, I could only hope that it would increase.

SUMMER 2010

13

WOMEN’S

SPORTS HISTORY A SERIES

TRACK & FIELD Decades of champions grasp Jackrabbit pride

Kristin (Asp) Schoffman, right, runs to victory in the 3,000 meters at the 1984 NCAA Division II national championship in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Her time of 9:28.41 remains a school record.

The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women didn’t classify its membership. So that 1976 national meet at the University of California-Los Angeles featured Bruins, Jackrabbits, Cornhuskers, and athletes from schools of all sizes.

All-male track meets seem as ancient as an 880-yard run on a cinder track.

A CHANCE TO COMPETE But until the early 1970s, SDSU women weren’t running miles “At the time I don’t think we knew any different,” says Lunette or meters. By 1973, while a woman (Barb Strandell) was leading Birrenkott ’78, a sprinter from Lemmon. student government, Sexauer Field was still an all-male domain. “ We were all just female athletes. There weren’t as many But the 1972 passage of Title IX would bring change. women involved. The women that were involved didn’t have By 1974 SDSU not only fielded a team, it was also winning state all the training programs” so the skill levels between athletes titles in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. in big and small schools were not as great, Birrenkott explains.

While the SDSU record books can date volleyball matches “We were all just women athletes.” and basketball games to 1966, a formal track program didn’t Hoogestraat adds, “There was no such thing as recruiting. come until later. The team’s first mention in the yearbook was I remember getting one recruiting note.”

1974, when hurdler Lavone Opitz received the first women’s Teammates Birrenkott and Hoogestraat agree that the joy was athletic scholarship. in the journey. Birrenkott says, “It was just so nice to be with a It was 1976 when SDSU began awarding letters to its female track number of people that wanted to be competitive. It was more of team. The first North Central Conference track meet was 1979. a competitive environment than at high school, and we had the “We were just so happy we got to compete at the college level,” opportunity to feel like an athlete.” says Fran Hoogestraat ’79, who was one of twenty-two Jackrabbits And SDSU had successful women athletes. In 1975, the stateon the 1976 team that earned the first letters for women’s track champion team won every meet in which it entered. and field.

“A lot of the girls now think they’re entitled to things. We THE MARSKE LEGEND didn’t think that way. We were really proud when we got to The yearbook reports that Coach Ruth Marske said she was travel and South Dakota State was represented,” she says. having trouble getting other South Dakota schools to compete against the Jacks, so she would be looking for competition in FINDING EARLY SUCCESS Iowa and Minnesota for the 1976 track season.

While women’s track and field could be considered an expansion Hoogestraat says, “Because she [Marske] hadn’t gotten that program, it was by no means fledgling. “The girls at South Dakota opportunity, she was more committed to seeing that we got State really excelled,” recalls Hoogestraat, who transferred to State that opportunity. after one semester at the University of South Dakota-Springfield.

“She was very much fighting for opportunities for us girls .

“All these kids you read about in high school were at South She and Jay [Dirksen, the men’s coach] fought for us to compete Dakota State” as few considered out-of-state schools. beyond the region. We weren’t held back. ‘If they can do this good In Hoogestraat’s freshman year (1976), she competed in at Kansas [Relays], where else can they go?’ the AIAW nationals along with teammate and fellow thrower “I had never seen a woman like that before. She was a great Pam Porter. The squad also included premier distance runner role model. I’m sure she’s the reason I went into coaching,” Sue Thomas and Opitz, both of whose resumes also include Hoogestraat says. national meet experience.

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Fran Hoogestraat ’79 may have worn an Afro and suspenders, but it was her ability that really made her stand out. She qualified for AIAW nationals as a freshman and her 153-foot discus throw in 1976 still ranks sixth in SDSU’s all-time marks.

SHAPING THE FUTURE Hoogestraat ended up coaching fifteen years at Vanderbilt, and now is doing private coaching with high school throwers in the Nashville area. Birrenkott coached for thirteen years at Rapid City Stevens as well as a few years in Tacoma, Washington.

Birrenkott also remembers being influenced by Coaches Geraldine Crabbs, Norma Boetel, and Sue Yeager.

“I remember those names pretty fast. They went to bat for the programs from the administration,” Birrenkott says. While the coaches argued for better funding of women’s programs, the matter wasn’t an issue at the athlete level, she says.

Hoogestraat says, “There weren’t ever locker room discussions like ‘What are the men getting that we aren’t getting?’”

ASP CONTINUES PROGRAM’S SUCCESS Kristin (Asp) Schoffman ’86 says during her years on campus the focus continued to be more on track titles than Title IX. Marske “was big into Title IX. I never really worried about that. I just did what I did. I went out and ran,” the 1984 national champ says.

She does recall, “Our meal allowance was $3 per meal. That doesn’t go very far. It didn’t then either.”

Asp was a scholarship recruit from Lamberton, Minnesota.

She found immediate success and became the program’s first four-time All-American (1981-84). The 9:28.41 she ran in winning the 3,000 meters at 1984 Division II championship is still a school record.

Asp, now of Eagan, Minnesota, also still holds marks in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters (16:25.25 and 35:02.60, respectively.)

Looking back on her SDSU experience, Asp certainly recalls her winning kick to win the 3,000-meter national championship at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, but also the joy of teammates cheering everybody on, and the hard work to achieve individual and team goals.

“That work ethic sticks with a person for the rest of their life. You work, you strive to improve,” Asp says.

HARD WORK TRANSCENDS GENERATIONS Jennifer (Bass) Hoffer, the 1999 national champion pole vaulter, agrees. “I learned how to accomplish things and set goals. I have no fear I can accomplish anything I decide to accomplish because I’ve done it through that experience in track,” Bass says.

Winning the national championship in pole vaulting wasn’t her goal when she graduated from high school.

In fact, Bass ’99 walked onto to the SDSU team after graduating in 1994 from Heron Lake-Okabena High School in Minnesota. During her first year at State she entered 400and 800-meter races but wasn’t turning heads.

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE “I decided I didn’t fit in. So I didn’t go out in the fall. After a month I decided I missed it too much and went back out,” Bass says.

Her decision was wise, but it took perseverance to bring fruit. In her sophomore year she tried the 400 hurdles and entered a couple heptathlons. “I had a lot of skills, but nothing I was extravagant at,” says Bass, who now lives in Harrisburg.

That changed in the fall of her junior year, when coaches invited any team member to try pole vaulting.

For years, pole vaulting had been like the two-mile run.

It was considered appropriate for men but too strenuous for women. That thinking had begun to change even before 1996 with the USA Track and Field sponsoring the event in its meets.

In fact, Jill Nuttbrock ’94 was having success in those meets and worked as a grad assistant when Bass started.

VAULTING TO SUCCESS “I did well initially. It was one of those things that was just fun compared to other things in track. I discovered early on that pole vaulters were very friendly, especially at meets. You get to hang around and talk to others,” says Bass, who continued to hurdle.

“A lot of that first year was just exhibition. I don’t ever remember having contests” in which team points could be earned, she recalls.

That changed in 1998, when the women’s pole vault was contested at the North Central Conference meet. Bass was the champion with a vault of 11-1. “I had some speed, but not sprinter speed. I had some jumping ability, but never great. Pole vault put together the things that I was good at,” Bass explains.

A FRUITFUL EXTRA SEASON In 1998, Bass was a senior, but thanks to an injury that forced her to redshirt in 1996, she had a year of outdoor eligibility remaining.

During 1999, Bass competed unattached during the indoor season and then won every meet she entered during the outdoor season. The only meet at which she didn’t win a title was the Howard Wood Dakota Relays, which she skipped to graduate with a double major in horticulture and landscape.

SUMMER 2010

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WOMEN’S

SPORTS HISTORY Bass won the conference meet with a vault of 12-0 and headed for the Division II national championship May 28.

She was a favorite for the first women’s outdoor pole vault championship and had cleared 12-2 during the season. But Bass notes “you always have nerves when you compete. I remember being nervous, but not extremely nervous.

“I remember my family was there, and they looked more nervous than me. I wasn’t worried about missing twice and having to make it on a third attempt. This meet I made every single jump on the first attempt.”

She entered the competition at 10-6 and won with a mark of 12-7 ½, which, eleven years later, remains the school record.

A LONG-STANDING RECORD Bass closed the competition at 12-9. “They were all horrible attempts because obviously I had accomplished what I wanted to,” she recalls. Clearing 12-9 would qualify her to compete in the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Oregon.

She cleared 12-9 ½ at a qualifier in Blaine, Minnesota, June 13 and on June 26 was one of twenty-three competitors at Eugene.

Bass had to cancel her wedding shower to go to Eugene, and then finished twelfth with a vault of 12-3. For a while, that seemed like the end of the line. “I decided I missed it too much and tried to give it another shot,” Bass explains.

Perseverance paid off again. She was able to compete in the Olympic Trials in Sacramento, California, where she cleared 13-1 ¼ in winter 2000 and then put her poles away, four years after taking a chance on a new event and finding life-defining success.

THIRD TIME WAS A CHARM Bass was SDSU’s first national champ since 1994, when Ann (Westby) Lamer won the 10,000-meter run.

Unlike Bass, who was competing in the pole vault every chance she got, Westby was only running her third 10K of the season when she won the 6.2-mile race in 35:22.34, which ranks fifth on the school’s all-time list. What made her time remarkable were the conditions.

“About halfway through the race, dark clouds came in, the wind came up, and it was pouring,” Westby says.

She followed that effort with a third-place finish in the 5,000 meters and the Jackrabbits finished eighth as a team.

That remains the squad’s second highest finish at a national outdoor meet. The top placing was third by the 1982 squad, lead by 10K champ Audrey Stavrum and fellow distance runners Nancy Gieske and Asp. A SEVEN-TIME ALL-AMERICAN At the 800 meters, no one in the program’s history outshines Kim Fordham Lien, a four-time All-American.

In addition to four top-five placings in the outdoor 800 and a school record of 2:06.24, Fordham was a three-time indoor All-American and won national titles in 1988 and 1989. Her 1988 mark of 2:11.37 remains the school record by more than a second.

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RABBIT TRACKS

At that point, Division II national champs could advance to compete in the Division I national championships.

After 1988 that was discontinued, but Fordham counts the Division I nationals at Raleigh, North Carolina, as one of her career highlights, although it “wasn’t my best race.

I got boxed in. I was scared, I was nervous, but it was a Sara Ackman, a two-time really good experience. national qualifier in the discus.

“Suzy Favor was running in the other heat. You walk on the track and go ‘whoa,’” says Fordham, who now lives in her hometown of Aberdeen.

Suzy Favor Hamilton was named one of the top 100 high school athletes of the century, became the winningest female collegiate athlete ever at University of Wisconsin, was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Decade for the ’90s, and was a threetime Olympian.

INSPIRED BY MARQUEE ATHLETES Walking on the same stage as the nation’s elite can inspire, according to Sara Ackman, who graduated this spring.

In her freshman year, the Grove City, Minnesota, native was young enough and good enough to compete at the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships during the summer of 2006 in Indianapolis. She was named a junior All-American, but more importantly was influenced by the senior All-Americans.

“You could see all the really great athletes. It gave me a drive to see how far I could go,” Ackman says.

The thrower went where no SDSU women’s track and field member has gone before. Twice she qualified to compete in the Division I national championship. Ackman finished twenty-first in 2009 and closed her career with a twenty-second-place finish.

‘GREAT BEING A JACKRABBIT’ During the 2009 season Ackman left her mark on the SDSU record book in the discus, indoor and outdoor shot put, and the weight throw.

“There have been ups and downs, but I’ve had some really great coaches. They’ve definitely prepared me in the weight room and given me confidence,” she says. When Ackman started competing outside the area, people would ask if she was San Diego State.

“It was exciting when people started to recognize the Jacks as a DI school. It’s been great being a Jackrabbit.”

And that’s a sentiment today’s athletes share with the program’s pioneers nearly forty years ago.

DAVE GRAVES

TENNIS Program finds new life playing in DI flight IF YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Should that question be posed to the SDSU women’s tennis program, the answer would have to be the phoenix. Like the bird of Greek legend, the once proud SDSU women’s tennis program has risen from death and is starting to regain the respect it held nearly forty years ago.

The birth date for the program isn’t certain, but University photo archives hold team pictures dating to 1970.

No mention of the team is found in the SDSU yearbook until the 1974-75 season, and letters weren’t awarded until fall 1975.

Women’s athletics in the early 1970s existed below the level of public awareness, but Coach Geraldine Crabbs knew she had a good team.

SDSU claimed the title in a tournament with other in-state teams in 1974-77 and 1979 while finishing second in 1978 and 1980.

There was no team in 1981. In 1982 the women competed in the North Central Conference for the first time. (Previously, State played under the umbrella of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which guided women’s sports before the NCAA stepped in.)

IT LOOKED LIKE THE END In the 1982 NCC tournament, State finished second, the highest conference finish to date.

In 1983, Penny Narum was the only returning player for the Jacks, which finished 2-9 and scored zero points in the North Central Conference tournament. That also was the season that SDSU put the program on its funeral pyre.

Due to budget cuts, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s golf, and women’s gymnastics were eliminated.

BACK TO LIFE, BARELY Tennis remained in ashes through the 1991 season. But unlike the phoenix, Jackrabbit women’s tennis didn’t rise as a supernatural creature when the program resumed in 1992. The team finished last or next to last at almost every North Central tournament in the years that followed.

The Jacks only had two-thirds of a team in 1992. Two girls started in the fall and two more joined after Christmas break.

In the following years the team gained more players, but no accolades. No coach stayed longer than two years. So when thenAthletic Director Fred Oien approached Don Hanson in fall 1998 about directing the program, it’s understandable that Hanson said no.

Hanson, a South Dakota native, had been a teacher and coach in Australia Minion (Volin) Schwebach ’73 returns a since earning his volley at McDougall Courts on the SDSU master’s at SDSU campus May 8, 1973. Schwebach, a in 1969. member of the South Dakota Tennis Hall of But by 1999 he Fame, never lost a match in her college had retired after a career. forty-year career in education and was thinking about his mother, who still lived in Clear Lake. Later he decided he wanted to come back to see his mother and coach tennis in the spring, and Oien welcomed him aboard.

COMING BACK HOME Hanson arrived for the spring 2001 season, five years before SDSU began playing at the Division I level.

While playing a varsity schedule, the program “was more of a club sport” at that time, says Hanson, noting he had no scholarships to offer. “When I got there, it was being coached by a grad assistant [Kyle Groos] from the football program.

“When we were Division II, it was exciting. We’d go out in the spring and see who was there,” Hanson says.

Now Hanson doesn’t have the excitement of seeing who will show up at the first practice. He has scholarships to offer and by the 2011-12 season will be able to offer six scholarships, which is still two short of the maximum allowed by the NCAA. TRAVEL CONTRASTS: NORTHFIELD OR LAS VEGAS While the program still faces challenges, “We’re competitive wherever we go, and we’re going to get better,” Hanson says.

And the team does a lot of going. “We’re forced to hit above our weight with inadequate facilities. Therefore, in the ten years I’ve been there we’ve had probably five matches at home. We travel a lot,” he says. This spring’s schedule had two trips to Orlando and two to Las Vegas.

Mary Vickery ’78 also remembers traveling a lot when she played in fall seasons from 1974 to 1977.

Vickery, who still lives in her hometown of Sioux Falls, and teammates such as Dawn Johnson, Mary Dunhom, and Cheryl Williams drove to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota; the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, and Columbia (Missouri) College.

But Vickery says the team felt privileged because other in-state teams didn’t travel outside of South Dakota.

IMPROVED BY TOUGH COMPETITION She credits that to Coach Geraldine Crabbs. “She was a smart lady who knew a lot about tennis. She fought for the tennis program when it wasn’t the highest regarded program on campus. She fought for us to take the trips. No other small team made trips like that,” Vickery says.

SUMMER 2010

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WOMEN’S

SPORTS HISTORY Even after Crabbs retired, the team continued to go to Missouri and once made a side trip to Kansas City Royals game.

Private schools such as Columbia and those in the Twin Cities provided good competition for the Jacks. “We had fun winning state [AIAW] tournaments but we almost had more fun traveling.

We played a lot higher level tennis,” Vickery says.

IT’S A DIFFERENT GAME Kate Wylie, a 2008 graduate, can say the same thing.

“I always had fun even if I was losing. I might get mad at myself, but the losing made me a better player and work harder to try and beat them,” says Wylie, who played No. 1 flight at some point in all four of her seasons at State, including all matches as a senior.

The opponents that Wylie struggled against weren’t the caliber While the win-loss continues to be a challenge, Coach Don Hanson saw that Vickery mastered in the mid-1970s. promise in his 2009-10 team. In addition to improvement on the court, he Rob Wylie ’76, Kate’s father and a four-year letterman on the notes that every player earned a Summit League Academic Excellence SDSU tennis team, observes, “There is no sport, tennis included, award. Pictured, front row, from left, are, Katie Elifson, Caitlin Brannen, Carrie Jansen, Nellie Bloomberg, and Megan McDougall. Back row: Student that the quality of talent, the conditioning of the players, and the Assistant Coach Michael Engdahl, Emma Wylie, Bethany Goeden, Molly improvement of the equipment has not risen tremendously.

Johnson, Bryna Nasenbeny, and Hanson.

“Tennis is a much more demanding sport than in my day.

The rigor of the talent and the rigors of the game have stepped Hanson says of SDSU women’s tennis, “It’s an up-and-coming up tremendously. program. It’s fun to be a part of it. That’s why I keep coming back.

“How they serve, how they hit their ground strokes, how One reason I came back is so I could work more and more on they cover the court is so much better,” says Wylie. developing an indoor facility. After being here ten years, I do have a lot of alumni and some of them are very successful.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DI AND DII “It’s fun to be developing. Basketball and football—they’re the Consequently, even though SDSU fields a much more talented beacon on the top of the lighthouse. We’re just starting up the team, its win-lose record still tilts toward the latter. stairs. We want to light one of the candles in the window.”

Coach Hanson gives an example of the difference between DAVE GRAVES Division II and Division I. St. Cloud (Minnesota) State had always dominated SDSU when both played in the NCC. St. Cloud, the top-ranked Division II team in the region, hosted SDSU this spring and lost 5-4.

“We played extremely well. We had just come from Florida” and Las Vegas, playing nine matches against DI schools, Hanson says.

SOFTBALL

2011 BRINGING TOURNAMENT TO BROOKINGS SDSU will continue to make those trips and in 2011 will host a Summit League playoff match for the first time. In The Summit, conference teams gather twice each spring for a round-robin tournament with the top four teams advancing to the league tournament.

Because there is no indoor competition court in Brookings, Sioux Valley Fitness in Sioux Falls is the backup facility.

Kate Wylie says, “I grew up without any indoor court in Pierre and there’s only one [practice] court in Brookings, which we could go to between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., and we had to share it with the men, avoid the basketball rims, and deal with narrow out-ofbounds areas.”

Her opponents often were foreign-born players who were raised in tennis academies and go to schools with six to eight indoor courts.

SDSU’s long-range plan calls for an indoor facility north of the football stadium.

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A year to remember—1996 softball team produced State’s only NCAA appearance For forty years SDSU women have been giving their best effort on the diamond, but one season stands out among all the others.

That was 1996, the year the Jackrabbits won forty-three games and hosted the NCAA Central Regional softball tournament.

The team was coached by Tracie Derochie, a grad assistant. In just one season, Derochie’s win total ranks seventh on the career win list among the thirteen coaches to have led the Jackrabbits.

Her winning percentage of .662 is second among coaches with more than twelve games.

“I’m pretty proud of what we did,” says Derochie, who was at State to work on her master’s degree.

The team was coming off its first winning season since 1980. The Jackrabbits had gone 26-23 in 1995 with a young

HOSTING REGIONAL TOURNAMENT In fact, things were in place for SDSU to play in the NCAA College World Series. State was hosting the regional tournament at Southbrook softball field on 22nd Avenue. SDSU and the University of Nebraska-Omaha both beat Minnesota-Duluth to open the tournament.

Earlier in the year SDSU had beaten UNO, the 1995 third-place team in the nation, although UNO won the league tournament.

At the NCAA Central Regional, the Mavericks used an eighthinning home run off Peter, a twenty-two game winner, to win the Members of the 1996 team are, front row, from left, Angie Turner, first game 4-3 and blanked the Jackrabbits 2-0 the next day. UNO Jessie Lilly, Jen Crawford, Angie Frieberg, Stacey Warner, and Amy went on to finish second in the NCAA championship.

Larsen. Middle row, Donna Hansen, Shelly Brandel, Ann Hansen, “I’m very proud of that time,” says Derochie, whose only Jennifer Lewis, Tonia Voltin, and Meredith Franklin. Back row, Coach all-conference selection was outfielder Tania Voltin.

Tracie (Scott) Derochie, Kristie Kimball, Kelly Peterson, Melissa Peter, Jamie Dorfner, Jill Schumacker, and Carla Larsen.

but developing squad. Optimism fueled the players’ offseason workouts, but just before Christmas break they were dealt a jolt.

Beth Kirchner, who had coached the team for the past four years, was heading to Kentucky to start the softball program there.

‘A DIFFICULT TRANSITION’ “A lot of us, like me, were emotionally attached to Beth,” says Jen (Crawford) Lidel ’97, the catcher. “It was a difficult transition” from coaches with contrasting styles.

Derochie says she wanted players to focus more on the fundamentals and less on stats and standings. But the team remained united and did gel with its new coach, who, at 23 years old, was barely older than her players.

Crawford says, “We just realized we were a pretty intelligent, talented group. We knew what it was going to take to win some games. It was difficult to take the graduate assistant giving orders as the head coach, but we finally realized she knew what she was talking about and started to follow her.

“We had one senior on the team. The core of the team was this junior class that had gotten our butts kicked as freshmen and sophomores by all these women with so much more experience than us. We developed this core together.

“We had great pitching and the center of our lineup was so strong. It was no surprise [we had success]. It was just the pinnacle of all of us coming together our junior year.”

A FAST START That success came immediately. The team started the season 14-2 with those fourteen wins coming consecutively.

“I don’t think anybody took us seriously. I developed a good relationship with the other NCC [North Central Conference] coaches. They kind of took me under their wing. I learned a lot from those ladies. But nobody took us seriously until we started beating people.

“We were offensively heavy, and Melissa Peter was a great pitcher,” says Derochie. “Things just kind of fell in place.”

STRENGTH IN UNITY During the season SDSU slugged a then-team record seventeen home runs and batted .290 while holding opponents to a .224 batting average. But Derochie says the team’s strength was its unity. “That team got along very well. There was very little drama between kids on the team,” she says.

Crawford, who grew up playing softball in Belmond, Iowa, agrees, “We were a group of people that got along real well.

“The road trips were great. It was like being with your family all the time. A lot of us had parents that followed us around. It was family, not just teammates. If my parents weren’t there, Melissa’s parents probably were.” Crawford and Peter, who in 1997 became SDSU’s only All-American, grew up seventy-five miles apart and were roommates all four years at State.

A PROGRESSING PROGRAM Crawford, who now lives in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago, still keeps up with the program and in February 2009 made the trip to Las Vegas to watch a tournament and meet with other alums.

“I think the female athletes at SDSU get treated very well and the program has progressed since we were there.

“The administration has put more effort into it. They’re up to 100 percent of NCAA limit of allowable scholarships,” she says.

Ironically, the 1996 season ended Derochie’s softball career.

After the season a new coaching search was held. Shelly Bayer, a second baseman at State from 1991 to 1994 and director of the 1996 regional tournament, was hired. Derochie pursued basketball coaching. She’s now at Briar Cliff in Sioux City, Iowa.

Bayer coached five years, followed her husband to Las Vegas when he had a job transfer, and now is back at State, although not working in athletics.

“The time spent with college athletics is time I’m really proud of and enjoyed. It really made my college experience worthwhile,” Bayer declares in a statement that many players in the program’s forty-year history would claim.

DAVE GRAVES

Editor’s note: The focus of these stories is not to include every record, championship, or top performer, but to give a glimpse into the program from the perspective of some who helped shape it.

SUMMER 2010

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Long-standing partnership with

FIRST BANK & TRUST he saying, “What goes around, comes around,” applies to Kevin Tetzlaff.

As a former SDSU football player, Tetzlaff ’91 benefited from the generosity of Athletic Department donors.

Now, the company Tetzlaff works for, First Bank & Trust of Brookings, is making a significant contribution to SDSU athletics as one of twenty corporate sponsors.

As might be expected, Tetzlaff, the bank’s president, has a soft spot for student-athletes.

“It’s exciting to help student-athletes realize their dreams both on and off the field,” Tetzlaff says. “College athletics is a launching pad for success.”

As Tetzlaff sees it, the University and the bank share similar goals in making dreams come true.

“Whether we’re working with a family on purchasing their first home, setting up a savings account, or planning for financial security in their retirement, First Bank & Trust aspires to help our customers turn their dreams into reality,” Tetzlaff says.

“That’s what the University does as well.”

Making dreams come true is easier with the help of Athletic Department sponsors like First Bank & Trust, according to Mike Burgers, associate athletic director for development.

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Kevin Tetzlaff, president of First Bank & Trust of Brookings and a former SDSU gridder, continues the financial institution’s long tradition of sponsorship of University athletic efforts.

“When you get that buy-in from the community, it really has that partnership feel,” Costello says. “SDSU Athletics and First Bank & Trust really signifies what we mean by a partnership.”

It’s a partnership that Tetzlaff says is as old as the University. After all, the founders of what is now First Bank & Trust were in business in Brookings even before the founding of the University.

“My own philosophy mirrors this organization’s belief of supporting the University, both academically and athletically,” Tetzlaff says. “This has been a long-standing partnership.”

Even in tight financial times, an athletic department still needs to provide a certain number of sports and take care of the students who participate in those sports.

In SDSU’s case, that means taking responsibility for twenty-one sports programs for more than 475 athletes. Since the switch to Division I, SDSU has seen its scholarship numbers jump by 133 to 225.

“Sponsorships are one of the main reasons we’re able to operate the way we do,” Costello says. “It’s one of the lifelines to an athletic department.”

DEFINITION OF A PARTNERSHIP Costello goes on to single out his Burgers explains that the program is department’s relationship with First Bank limited to twenty corporate sponsors: four & Trust: “They’ve been great supporters of Anchors, four Founders, and twelve Majors.

SPONSORSHIPS VITAL PART the University as a whole. Their support of Sponsorships allow the firms access to OF ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT the Athletic Department has paid huge strategic signage, digital content on That relationship between the University dividends for us.” scoreboards, ticket options, crossand the business community is more Tetzlaff is proud of the support his promotional opportunities, hospitality important today than it’s ever been, employer extends to his alma mater. As opportunities, media options, and game according to Costello. He explains that an a former All-American defensive lineman day programs. for the Jacks and current bank president, “We look at it more as a partnership than athletic department has basically three ways to raise money: development through Tetzlaff knows all about the benefits of a sponsorship,” Burgers says. Those sentiments are echoed by Tetzlaff and Leon scholarships, ticket sales, and sponsorships. SDSU’s academic and athletic programs.

“Sponsorships have taken on a whole “You can apply the principles that you Costello, senior associate athletic directornew meaning,” Costello says. learn as a student-athlete and succeed external. anywhere,” Tetzlaff says.

DANA HESS

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Eric Peterson and Miranda (Bowes) Peterson of Bowes Construction make donations in kind to SDSU by working on grading, gravel, and asphalt projects at athletic facilities.

Donor spotlight

BOWES CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR’S DONATIONS PAVE WAY TO BETTER FACILITIES It usually takes more than a little rain to dampen the spirits of Jackrabbit football fans on game day. However, the enthusiasm of the day was lost on one woman in a wheelchair whose friends were having trouble getting her chair through the mud to Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

Fortunately, there was someone in the crowd who could ensure that traffic at future games wouldn’t have to contend with the mud.

“We see that. We talk about it. We get a hold of Mike,” says Eric Peterson of Bowes Construction in Brookings.

In a case like that, Peterson will call Mike Burgers, associate athletic director for development. Those are calls that Burgers likes to get.

“They’re a company that comes to us and says, ‘What can we do to help?’” Burgers says.

Founded in 1975, Bowes Construction produces, sells, and services products in the gravel, asphalt, and asphalt-recycling industries. The company also has a long history of donating its services for work on SDSU athletic facilities.

At Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, Bowes helped get patrons out of the mud by supplying new asphalt for the entrance and by the ticket booths. The company also provided gravel under the scoreboard.

At the new baseball field Bowes provided fill material to shore up areas used for seating and batting cages. The company donated a parking lot on the east side of the Equestrian Center and provided fill material, a walkway, and cleared away construction debris during the building of the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center.

“Now we’re building a new entrance road and parking lot” at the Dykhouse Center, Peterson says.

When most people think of making donations to an athletic program, they reach for their checkbooks. Bowes’ crew, on the other hand, fires up some heavy equipment and gets to work providing services, materials, and labor.

“They’re responsible for marked improvements in facilities that our fans and student-athletes don’t take for granted,” Burgers says.

MANY BENEFIT FROM BOWES’ GENEROSITY LONG HISTORY OF HELPING With eighty-five employees and construction As a new generation is taking over the family jobs that range across eastern South Dakota, business, that tradition hasn’t changed. In working out the logistics for putting together the recent past Bowes Construction has a donated project might seem daunting. donated its services to an impressive array “The biggest challenge is trying to fit of athletic facility projects. it into your schedule,” Peterson explains.

“But because we do so much work up there, it fits in our operations well. We try to do whatever we can for SDSU.” “WHEN YOU GROW UP IN THIS COMMUNITY, IT’S JUST NATURAL TO LOVE THE JACKS.” MIRANDA PETERSON The University isn’t the only place in Brookings that benefits from donations made by Bowes Construction. The company has also supplied materials and expertise for Habitat for Humanity and site work and asphalt for the Boys and Girls Club.

For Peterson and his wife, Miranda (Bowes) Peterson, along with other owners Lyle and Marcia Bowes and Jason and RaeAnn Bowes, there’s a special pride in knowing that student-athletes and fans will be served by projects they completed on campus.

“Because we live here, because we go to the events, we’re proud when we go up there, to see our work,” Miranda Peterson says.

The Brookings natives aren’t alums, but they are fans of the athletic program.

“When you grow up in this community,” Miranda Peterson explains, “it’s just natural to love the Jacks.”

DANA HESS

SUMMER 2010

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NAGY SHOWS NEW SIDE Dances his way to win “The first move I ever showed him was a body spin on the floor,” Miller says. “He looked at me like a deer in the headlights. I told him to just try. Then he did it, and I thought, ‘OK, we can do this.’”

The pair practiced for two hours at a stretch, ten hours for their first competition, and four to five hours each for the three shows after that.

Evenings, Nagy rehearsed with his wife, Jamie, once their five children were asleep for the night.

“My wife has had some ballet and contemporary dance training and was on the dance team at the University of Illinois,” Nagy says.

“She would come to our rehearsals, see the dance from my side, and we’d go home and dance after the kids were in bed, from about ten to midnight.”

“It was good for us,” Jamie Nagy says. “He did great. Now, when I look back, I wonder how in the world he pulled it all together.

His partner is just a sweet, sweet girl.”

Nagy and Miller won the competition April 27, besting four other couples, including two individuals connected to the Athletic Department: Tonya Hohenthaner, senior secretary for the football team, and Jenna Smeenk, equestrian team member.

Throughout the competition, the couples danced their way through ’80s music, hip hop, and contemporary. For the finale, it was couples’ choice. Nagy and Miller, she dressed in a baby blue Top: Junior nursing major Leslie Miller and men’s basketball coach ’50s-style dress with brown sash, he in plaid pants, button-up Scott Nagy show off their winning moves in the finale of SDSU’s shirt, brown sweater, bow tie, and nerdy glasses, chose to dance version of Dancing with the Stars. to Ladies’ Choice by Zac Efron from the movie Hairspray.

Throughout, Nagy and partner were an obvious audience Right: Jenna Smeenk, an equestrian team member, teams with favorite.

Kameron Nelson, a communications studies and theater major, “A lot of people connected with him,” Bickel says. “He definitely for the contest that began with six couples. brought a strong fan following.”

“We even got international votes,” Miller says. “My dad is a efore Coach Scott Nagy even entertained the idea of waltzing lieutenant colonel in the Army. He watched online and voted in across a public stage in the 2010 Dancing with the Stars Ethiopia.” campus competition, he thought of a reason or two not to.

Dance Club, which Miller and four friends started last year, “He had a lot of reservations. He didn’t want it to be a situation cosponsored this year’s, third annual Dancing with the Stars along where people would mock him,” says Robin Bickel, the University with Alpha Psi Omega. Both groups handled Program Council special events coordinator who, with her faith in choreography; APO designed the dancers’ the student population ever strong, assuaged Nagy’s doubts and costumes. The University Program convinced him it would be a good thing to do.

Council coordinated the event.

“Students think it’s cool when they see faculty get involved and Miller and Nagy donated their step out of their element,” Bickel says. $250 winnings to Samaritan’s Feet, “I went way outside my box,” Nagy admits. “What people a nonprofit that distributes shoes to usually see is this stern, very serious, very hard, grumpy guy.” people in Third-World countries.

Nagy, head men’s basketball coach for fifteen years, saw the Stardust may settle, but good potential to relate in a new way with students both on and off the feelings last. court.

“This past year, the best thing I “I used to teach, so I had some connection with students then,” did, in terms of how people view he explains. “For some time, my only connection is with my me, wasn’t coach,” Nagy says, student-athletes. “but Dancing with the Stars.

“Most of the players came to most of the shows. It was good for It was a great experience.” them to see Coach Nagy in a different light. I was concerned CINDY RICKEMAN there’d be some negative comments. I haven’t gotten any.”

His dance partner, nursing major Lesli Miller, of Sioux Falls, saw the potential in Nagy immediately.

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Letterwinners club

STUDENT-ATHLETES RECONNECT to aid alma mater SDSU is about to field perhaps its most prominent athletic squad in school history.

The Letterwinners Club, designed exclusively for former Jackrabbit student-athletes, is an important entity of the SDSU Athletic Department, especially when understanding its role as a formidable fund-raising arm of the department.

And, once the competitive fire of the nearly 3,500 former letterwinners is rekindled in the name of their alma mater, the sky is the limit, just ask Club President Jim Langer, 1970 graduate and National Football League Hall of Famer.

“We are the history, heart, and soul of SDSU athletics,” says the former baseball and football standout. “It will be our goal and mission to help provide the fuel and support to grow Jackrabbit athletics.

“I like to think of it as ‘feed the rabbit,’” adds Langer, who led the Miami Dolphins to two Super Bowl wins, including an undefeated season in 1973. “We know what it takes to win. I’m asking all former student-athletes to join me as we kick off the Letterwinners Club. It will enable us all to reconnect in a common cause we all know and love.”

Plans for the club were hatched about six months ago by Athletic Director Justin Sell and Assistant Athletic Director for Development Alex Kringen.

A letterwinner mailing address database was created with the help of the SDSU Alumni Association, sports information, and coaching staff. A mass mailing went out in June to former Jackrabbits informing them of the new venture.

REUNION PLANNED The mailing encouraged them to make plans to attend the allletterwinner reunion October 23 in conjunction with Hobo Day. The event will start at 11 a.m. with a cookout on the green space just north of the Wellness Center. Following the football game at 2 p.m., they will be given tours of athletic facilities.

“The goal of the Letterwinners Club is to provide opportunities for the Athletic Department to reconnect and stay connected with former letterwinners while supporting current studentathletes,” says Kringen.

“The club is designed to bring all current and former letterwinners together so that we can celebrate the history and embrace the future of Jackrabbit athletics,” he adds.

Letterwinners can join the club for an annual cost of $100 per year. All contributions raised go directly to support SDSU student-athletes and athletic programs.

They can also opt for the Letterwinners Legacy Fund for a one-time fee of $500. The fund will be set up as a perpetual endowment, and once the fund reaches $20,000, a scholarship will be awarded annually to a student-athlete.

For the time being, Langer and Kringen are spearheading the Letterwinners Club with the aid of SDSU athletic staff personnel. The eventual goal, according to Kringen, is to have a self-sustaining club with SDSU letterwinners running the show.

“We have a plan during the next couple of years for a board of directors,” he says. “This will essentially be a volunteer-run group. They will do the events, help out with mailings, and provide the resources.

“Hopefully, this takes off so we can bring in former studentathletes who want to help us,” adds Kringen. “We want to let them know all the great things going on here at SDSU.” KYLE JOHNSON

LETTERWINNERS CLUB QUICK FACTS Reunion: Former Jackrabbits are invited to attend the all-letterwinner reunion October 23 in conjunction with Hobo Day. Club fees: $100 per year or one-time fee of $500.

The perks of belonging to the SDSU Letterwinners Club: • Annual SDSU letterwinners magazine.

• Quarterly SDSU letterwinners E-newsletter.

• Discount on season tickets.

• Invitations to exclusive SDSU letterwinners events and reunions.

• Online recognition as a member of the letterwinners club.

• SDSU letterwinners lapel pin.

SUMMER 2010

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JACKS MAKE SOME HISTORY during spring sports season he 2010 spring season was a history-making one for SDSU as the school continues to make its mark as an up-andcoming member of NCAA Division I athletics.

Let’s take a look at notable Jackrabbit accomplishments in baseball, equestrian, swimming, track and field, women’s basketball, and wrestling.

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BASEBALL The Jackrabbits were runner-up in the Summit League Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. SDSU finished 39-21 overall, tying a singleseason school record for wins.

Ritchie Price was named Summit League Coach-of-the-Year after guiding the Jacks to a 19-9 finish in the conference, good for a share of the regular-season title.

SDSU placed six players on the all-Summit League first team: first baseman Joel Blake, third baseman Jesse Sawyer; outfielders John Lee and Billy Stitz; and pitchers Blake Trienen and Trever Vermeulen. Shortstop Eric Cain and catcher Zach Briggs made the second team.

Six seniors lead the Jackrabbits to a 39-21 mark, tying the school record for wins in a season. From left, are Mike Robinson, Scott Hood, Sam Pieczynski, Jared Koch, John Lee, and Blaine Alberta.

Vermeulen was named to the Pro-Line Athletic National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-American team. A third-team selection, he posted a 9-1 record with a school-record ten saves and his 1.45 earned-run-average ranked fourth among all Division I pitchers.

He is the first Jackrabbit to earn All-American honors at the Division I level.

Trienen, a junior, was selected by the Florida Marlins in the twenty-third round of the Major League Baseball Draft. He compiled a 7-1 record with eighty-two strikeouts in seventy-five innings.

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His selection marks the fourth consecutive year SDSU has had a player taken in the draft: infielder Jake Rogers was a twenty-secondround choice of the Washington Nationals in 2007; outfielder Craig Parry was drafted in the fiftieth-round of the 2008 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates; and pitcher Caleb Thielbar was an eighteenthround selection by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2009. All were seniors when they were drafted.

EQUESTRIAN SDSU’s newest sport, equestrian, was well represented on the national scene, both individually and as a team.

At the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships in Lexington, Kentucky, junior Angela Gebhart placed ninth in the open reining event for the Jacks’ western squad. Meanwhile, on the English side, junior Ashley Marrin competed in open equitation on the flat and didn’t place.

Angela Gebhart Marrin advanced to the national show after winning the zone nine title in Maple Park, Illinois.

Gebhart qualified after finishing fourth at the western semifinals in Pomona, California.

SDSU sent its western team to the Varsity Equestrian National Championship in Waco, Texas, and lost to Georgia in the first round.

SWIMMING Senior Katie Budahl was a three-time conference champion, sweeping breaststroke events at the 2010 Summit League meet.

She set school and league records while establishing NCAA provisional times in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke. Undefeated in ten 200 breaststroke races during the season, she became the first Jackrabbit to record a provisional mark for the NCAA championship.

Katie Budahl Senior Emily Tschetter, school record holder in the 400-yard individual medley, and Budahl were selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic all-District VII at-large second team after posting grade point averages of 3.91 and 3.83, respectively.

Both were honored on the Summit League All-Academic team and Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence.

TRACK AND FIELD Amanda (Kuchta) Frohling and Ashley Storm were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic all-District VII Track and Field/ Cross-Country Team.

Frohling was named to the elevenmember first team, while Storm earned second team honors. Later Frohling was named a second team Academic All-American.

On the field, Sara Ackman earned her second straight trip to the NCAA Amanda Frohling Division I Championships. (For more on Ackman, see Page 16.)

Six other Jackrabbits finished their season at the regional meet: Sean Burns, hammer throw; Nicole Davis, 3,000-meter steeplechase; Luke Leischner, 400 meters; Jennifer Mack, hammer throw; Michelle Schuch, hammer throw; and Jared Vlastuin, long jump.

With a 5-3 decision over James Hamel, of the University of Buffalo-New York, in the first round of the 197-pound wrestlebacks, the SDSU wrestling program earned its first team point ever in the national tournament.

The Jackrabbits competed in the event seven times in the 1960s, but couldn’t accumulate team points due to their status as a Division II school. Since moving to Division I in 2004, the program sent two representatives without scoring.

Tyler Sorenson, top, works over Ross Drew, of North Dakota State, at the West Regionals in Brookings March 6. Sorenson scored a technical falls to advance to the national championships in Omaha.

Women’s basketball team members celebrate winning the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls March 9. That advanced the Jacks to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SDSU earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 79-75 overtime victory over top-seeded Oral Roberts in the title game of the Summit League championship at the Sioux Falls Arena.

In the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Norman, Oklahoma, the fourteenth-seeded Jackrabbits fell to number-three seed University of Oklahoma, 68-57.

SDSU, which finished with a 22-11 record, landed three players on the all-Summit League team. Senior forward Maria Boever earned first-team honors. Senior forward Ketty Cornemann was a second-team selection, while junior guard Kristin Rotert received honorable mention recognition.

WRESTLING Tyler Sorenson made the most of his senior season at the NCAA Division I Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.

Sorenson, who ended up with two wins and two losses in Omaha, automatically qualified for the national meet after winning the championship match at the West Regional in Frost Arena.

Sorenson, who also qualified for the national meet as a junior, finished with a 31-7 record, becoming the thirtieth member of the thirty-win season club. He ended tied for twenty-fourth on the Jacks’ all-time victory chart with a 75-19 slate.

Sorenson landed first-team all-Western Wrestling Conference honors while sophomore teammate David Michaud was a thirdteam selection.

Academically, redshirt freshman teammate Aaron Pickrel was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association AllAcademic team. With a 3.867 cumulative grade point average, he ranked third among all academic honorees.

The Jackrabbits were one of thirty teams named to the association’s Division I All-Academic list, placing twelfth with a 3.106 grade point average.

Five Jacks earned spots on the Western Wrestling Conference All-Academic team that requires a minimum 3.20 grade point average: Pickrel, Michaud, Kevin Kelly, Seth Moe, and Joe Rasmussen. Four wrestlers made the Coaches’ Honor Roll with at least a 3.0 grade point average: Bryce Drefke, Nick Hagar, Tyler Johnson, and Jeremy Swier.

KYLE JOHNSON

SUMMER 2010

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Leischner brings down long-standing 400 mark

DROUGHT BUSTER

One lap around the track. As fast as you can go.

Luke Leischner became the school record holder in the 400-meter dash this spring. At the Twilight meet in Brookings April 27 he gave the 800 a try (pictured here) and won by more than a second.

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t’s been a signature event of track meets since the origin of the oval track. SDSU’s record for the 400-meter dash didn’t go back quite that far, but before this year the mark was set on a 440-yard track by a runner old enough to be sending grandchildren to college.

“To say we had a drought in that area would be a kind word,” says coach Rod DeHaven.

The reigning one-lap record holder had been Rob Wahlstrom, a grandfather who continues the family tradition of managing Wahlstrom Ford in Chadron, Nebraska. Wahlstrom’s mark of 47.56, established at the North Central Conference meet, is pretty impressive. That’s part of the reason it stood since 1971. Jason Harris, who also played defensive back, made a run at it in 1998 with a time of 47.63.

A decade earlier Jason Gengerke clocked what was then the second-fastest 400 time in school history (48.10 in 1987).

But the next fastest times on the SDSU top ten list go to Rick Kiley (1971) and Tony Kelly (1972), both at 48.16. That’s ample evidence of the 400 drought at State. In fact, no top ten time was recorded this century even though marks in many other events were being established annually.

I

RUNNING UNDER THE RADAR “We made a concentrated effort in spring 2008 to bring in quality quartermilers,” says DeHaven, the Jackrabbit coach since fall 2004 There were plenty to recruit in 2008, even just in Class A South Dakota. Among them was Luke Leischner, a sub-fifty-second 400runner from Parkston, who despite his speed wasn’t able to catch the headlines. A couple standouts from Sioux Falls Christian were grabbing the publicity and the trophies.

At the state meet his senior year, Leischner finished third in the 200 and second in the 400 despite clocking a 49.30.

DeHaven saw talent even when Leischner and many college coaches didn’t. Leischner says he wasn’t considering college track and it took the prompting of his sister to return a questionnaire from DeHaven. The coach didn’t face a lot of competition in making Leischner a Jackrabbit.

He says his only other offers were from a couple private schools. There also was family tradition to consider.

HONORING FAMILY HERITAGE His sister, Lauren ’08, was a Jackrabbit cheerleader and his father, Ron ’75, was a sprinter and jumper at State when Wahlstrom’s record was still relatively recent. Luke Leischner did arrive on campus with a track scholarship in fall 2008, but he still wasn’t sure he belonged.

“After the first couple meets I realized I did have the potential and work ethic to be a college runner,” the wildlife and fisheries major says.

Before the indoor season was over, Leischner had run the ninth fastest time in State history in the 200 meters and was a fourthplace finisher in the 400 at the conference meet. That motivated Leischner to want to stand on the podium (top three) at the outdoor conference meet.

He achieved that with a 48.52, which placed third and put the freshman in at No. 10 on the SDSU all-time record book.

READY TO BREAK RECORDS Coming back for his sophomore season, Leischner’s goal was to break the school record. That happened twice. He took advantage of a nice day at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa, April 10 to win in 47.43. That edged Wahlstrom’s mark by .13.

Then he broke his own mark by winning the Howard Wood Dakota Relays April 30 with a 47.04.

In that race he made a strong surge on the backstretch to take the lead and held off a North Dakota State runner on the homestretch to win 47.04 to 47.41.

“Not winning a state championship in high school gave me motivation to work harder. When in high school everybody wanted to run their best time at Howard Wood, so to win at Howard Wood is a really big honor for me,” says Leischner, who won the 400-meters at Howard Wood in 2009 in 48.76.

While Howard Wood is THE high school meet in South Dakota and the best chance to see college track in South Dakota, it’s small potatoes on the college level.

PERFORMING ON THE BIG STAGE The sport has given Leischner the chance to compete in a couple of the nation’s premier events. At the Drake Relays, which draws national champions among its 7,200 athletes, Leischner ran on two relay teams. At the Mount Sac Relays in California, he finished seventh in the 400 with a 47.78.

Drake is an atmosphere where “it seems like I never get nervous,” says Leischner, who adds that nerves were his biggest challenge as a freshman.

At Mount Sac, he was with only a handful of teammates, which are usually a calming influence. “But I can relax more at the bigger meets. In a way it seems like I can run better at those bigger meets because there is a high level of competition,” Leischner says. At Mount Sac the top eight times were under 48 seconds.

Will Leischner be among those in 2011?

“He has the potential to run 46.75 this year,” DeHaven says in advance of the conference meet in Toledo, Ohio. “Can he run low 46? Who knows? The faster he runs, the more excited he gets.”

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QUALITY PLUS CHARACTER That excitement isn’t easy to detect. He’s a low-key athlete.

DeHaven shares, “He’s the type of teammate that urges teammates on. A lot of skilled runners have this prima donna attitude. Luke’s definitely not that way.”

Despite his 6-0, 162-pound build, Leischner has reason to consider himself a big man on campus. His name is on the top ten in three indoor events, he broke a thirtynine-year mark in the outdoor 400 meters, and he is ruling that event at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls.

“I don’t like to think like that. I’m just thankful God has given me the ability that I do have,” says Leischner, who was raised in the Christian faith.

Luke Leischner

IT’S GOTTA BE THE SOCKS He attributes his faith for keeping him grounded and his nerves in check. Leischner says a prayer before each race and wears his cross. He also uses music—rap, raggae or rock—to help keep his nerves in control. And, of course, there are the socks; those knee-high blue and yellow striped socks.

“My roommate [middle distance runner Mike Bredeson] bought a pair. I said, ‘Why not?’ and got a pair for myself,” Leischner says.

He started wearing them during the indoor season, when he posted top ten marks in three events, so they’re not coming off. Leischner claims the socks relax him when he glances at them while stepping into the starting blocks. In a sport where most wear no socks or no-show socks, Leischner does stand out.

At Parkston High School, Leischner also played football and basketball, where more team uniformity is the rule.

Being part of the collection of individuals that comprise the SDSU track team brings a smile to Leischner’s face. “It’s an awesome group of people. I look forward to going to track practice. It’s the best part of my day. I’ve made so many friends. They’re a flamboyant group of people.

“We’re always laughing. We make the best out of every situation,” Leischner shares.

Don’t interpret laughs as a sign of being lackadaisical.

‘A FIRE IN MY BELLY’ DeHaven credits Leischner’s improvement from 2009 to 2010 to “internal drive. He wants to do better. Plus he does as good job of taking care of himself. A lot of kids will eat a bunch of junk food so they can’t practice well or skip out on stretching.

Times and distances don’t lie.

“In track and field if you’re not improving, you can’t hide. There’s not a lot of directions you can point fingers. He’s done a good job of making it happen.”

Leischner says part of his drive has come from his teammates—one in high school and one in college. Both suffered injuries that could have ended their careers. At Parkston, standout 800 runner Alex Muntefering got his foot caught in a power takeoff drive in his junior year.

At SDSU, hurdler Brandon Priebe landed wrong at the Drake Relays in 2009, leaving him with a mangled knee and other injuries.

“Seeing them injured and not be able to run put a fire in my belly and made me want to work harder and harder,” Leischner testifies. Both teammates worked their way back onto the track, Muntefering at the University of Oklahoma and Priebe competed in the hurdles at Howard Wood.

LEISCHNER KNOCKS ON WOOD, HAVING BEEN ABLE TO AVOID INJURIES He adds that he has become a more powerful runner in college. “In high school I barely touched the weights. I realize now that weights are a big part of sprinting. I’ve got to give a lot of the credit [for improvement] to my hard work in the weight room and our lifting coach [Brad Schmidt].”

With another two years to establish marks in the weight room and on the track, it’s safe to say the quarter-mile drought is over.

DAVE GRAVES

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RABBIT TRACKS

AN EASY TRANSITION PAVES WAY FOR BUSY YEAR As I look back at the past four months at South Dakota State I am reminded of how quickly time flies when you are truly having fun. It was four short months ago that my wife, Heather, daughter Cailin, and I packed up the moving truck and started our journey to Brookings. Having gone through the interview process for the senior associate athletic director position and having worked with Director of Athletics Justin Sell at the University of Northern Iowa, I had an idea of what to expect. What I didn’t expect was the best part of the transition.

My first “official” event as a Jackrabbit was the Summit League Basketball Tournament.

I was very impressed by the support of the Jackrabbit faithful throughout the tournament.

From the alumni pregame events to the raucous crowds in the Sioux Falls Arena, the atmosphere was incredible. The SDSU fans came out in full force beginning with the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls all the way through the NCAA tournament in Norman, Oklahoma, and proved why it’s great to be a Jackrabbit!

But that wasn’t even the best part. As a new employee in any organization, there is always a sense of nervousness. From meeting people for the first time to understanding the details of the job, there is always a sense of uncertainty. However, the people of SDSU have made the transition an easy one. From SDSU coaches, staff, and fans, my family was welcomed with open arms and we’re thankful for the decision we made to become Jackrabbits. We can’t wait to get more involved in the SDSU and Brookings communities, and I look forward to contributing to the growth of the Athletic Department. The people of Brookings and South Dakota State University have truly been the best part.

In each issue of Rabbit Tracks, this section will focus on current activities within the Athletic Department. The goal is to keep you up-to-date on new ideas and focus areas in the department. Here is a sneak peak of what is currently underway: • • • •

A focus on increasing television and radio coverage and exposure Expanding opportunities for new corporate sponsors New ticket packages Increased awareness for the entire Athletic Department

As you can see there is work to be done, and we are ready for the challenge. Progress is continually being made, and we can’t wait to be able to share our successes with Jackrabbit Nation. I can’t wait for my first full season of Jackrabbit Athletics!

Thank you again to everyone for making my transition an easy and exciting one.

Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

LEON COSTELLO SENIOR ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

SUMMER 2010

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SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID BROOKINGS SD PERMIT 24

Athletics Department Box 2820 Brookings, SD 57007-1497 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

SDSU LETTERWINNERS CLUB Chili Kickoff Reunion Hobo Day, October 23, 2010 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Tailgaiting green south of Coughlin-Alumni Center Free to former student-athletes

Join us for: • brats • chili • chips/salsa

Presented by: est. 2000

• beverages • SDSU ice cream