Timeline

10.31

Senior Kellee Willer netted the 14th hat trick in program history, and South Dakota twice battled back from two-goal deficits to earn a 4-4 draw against Oral Roberts in Tulsa. Willer led the Coyotes with eight goals and 18 points in earning first-team all-Summit honors.

11.13

In perhaps the play of the year, Monica Arens banked in a regulation buzzer-beater to force overtime and the Coyotes went on to top Drake 102-94 in an early clash of mid-major powers. That shot, and that win, proved mighty in national rankings yet to come.

11.15

Senior Tyler Hagedorn set a Summit League record by going a perfect 8-for-8 from 3-point range and netted a career-high 33 points to lead the Coyotes to an 88-69 win against Texas Southern in their home opener. It marked the program’s 13th consecutive home-opening victory.

11.16

Sophomore Leah Drengenberg became the Coyotes’ first all-American triathlete and South Dakota recorded its second runner-up finish in as many seasons at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship Meet in Tempe, Arizona. Drengenberg’s time was 1:07.21, good for third place.

11.17

Volleyball finished off an unbeaten Summit League season and ran its program-record win streak to 24 matches with a 3-0 sweep on the road at Purdue Fort Wayne. The Coyotes, behind nine kills on 11 attacks from Madison Harms, hit .387 for the match, their best in Summit play.

11.23

South Dakota’s defense stopped three SDSU drives in the fourth quarter and the Coyotes knocked off the Jacks 24-21 on Senior Day inside the DakotaDome. It was the Coyotes’ first win in the series since 2000, ending a 10-game slide. Austin Simmons accounted for 299 yards and all three USD touchdowns.

12.14

Volleyball advanced to the title game of the NIVC by topping Tulsa 3-1 before a crowd of more than 1,300 inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. The win moved USD to 31-2 on the year. Elizabeth Juhnke became the second Coyote to reach 500 kills in a season. The Coyotes hosted all five NIVC contests including the title game against Georgia Tech.

12.22

We couldn’t know it at the time, but South Carolina women’s basketball would go on to be the top-ranked team in the country. Thus, a 13-point loss in Columbia proved highly useful in South Dakota’s road to a No. 11 national ranking. The nation watched Ciara Duffy pour in 20 points and boost her candidacy for Mid-Major Player of the Year.

01.19

The women handed SDSU its worst defeat by a Summit League foe while the men had five score in double figures as the Coyotes swept the Jacks on the hardwood in front of a capacity crowd inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Scores were 83-48 and 99-84, respectively.

02.14

Sophomore Ben Hicks fired a season-low round of 67 that put him in fifth place following the first round at UNCG Martin Downs Collegiate. He went on to finish 1-under par for the competition and led the Coyotes with a 20th place finish. The performance earned him Summit League CoGolfer of the Week, marking his first career weekly honor.

02.21

Senior Chris Nilsen broke the NCAA indoor record for the pole vault with a clearance of 19 feet, 5.5 inches in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was one final signature moment for Nilsen, a three-time NCAA champion who put the rubber stamp on “Pole Vault U” in Vermillion.

02.22

Sophomore Jake Leichner won the 100 individual medley on the final day of the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships in Sioux Falls to claim the Coyotes’ first-ever Summit crown by an individual swimmer. The Coyotes’ men and women both placed second in the team standings.

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TIMELINE

02.29

On the same day Aleesia Sainz hit a game-tying homer in the seventh and fellow frosh Jordyn Pender delivered a game-winning hit, junior Lauren Eamiguel became the first Coyote with four hits in a single game since 2017 as USD softball competed in a tournament hosted by New Mexico.

03.06

Five Coyotes – Chris Nilsen, Ethan Bray, Zack Anderson, Brithton Senior and Helen Falda – earned the right to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championship Meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sadly, the meet was cancelled just before the start of competition due to COVID-19. All five would later be recognzied as All-Americans by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association.

03.10

USD completed perhaps the greatest regular season in Summit League history with a 63-58 win against SDSU in the championship game of the Summit Tournament in Sioux Falls. Hannah Sjerven scored MVP honors with 15 points and eight boards. It was USD’s 19th straight win and moved the team to 30-2.

03.13

One day after the NCAA announced the cancellation of the remaining indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships, the Summit League announced it was immediately canceling spring sport seasons. Though spring sport athletes would be granted another year of eligibility, the announcement effectively ended the careers of many USD senior athletes.

Senior basketball player Ciara Duffy and senior track and field star Chris Nilsen took home the top honors in a digital version of The Charlies, the athletics annual award ceremony that was moved online for 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional Awards:

Female Rookie of the Year: Elizabeth Juhnke

Male Rookie of the Year: Brithton Senior

Duffy picked up the Catie Tobin Female Athlete of the Year award. She received a handful of postseason awards, including honorable mention All-America from the Associated Press, the espnW Mid-Major Player of the Year, the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year presented by Her Hoops Stats and the Summit League Player of the Year. She is a threetime Academic All-American as well. Student-Athlete Choice Award: Darin Hochstein

Nilsen took home the Dr. John Van Why Male Athlete of the Year award for the third time in his career. A three-time NCAA Champion, Nilsen broke the NCAA indoor pole vault record with a vault of 19 feet, 5 ½ inches. He was also the 2020 USTFCCCA National Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Coyote to receive such national recognition in the Coach of the Year: Dawn Plitzuweit

Outstanding Team of the Year: Women’s Basketball

Courage Awards: Julia Hall, Kenneth McMahan

Leader of the Pack: Women’s Basketball, Men’s Golf

Division I era.

Performance of the Year (Fan Vote): Leah Drengenberg’s All-America finish at the USA Triathlon National Championships

Volleyball player Anne Rasmussen and senior swimming and diving member Josh Sorbe were named the Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year, respectively, which is given to a senior with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2.

Rasmussen graduated with a 3.94 GPA in kinesiology and sport management. She was the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year the past two years and a three-time all-Summit League honoree. Rasmussen earned a spot on the Academic All-Summit League volleyball team twice and the CoSIDA Academic AllDistrict team as a senior.

Sorbe graduated with a 4.00 GPA in economics and political science. A 2019 Truman Scholar and past student body president, provided team points in three events at the Summit League Championships.