JACKS COLLECT 31 MEDALS AT SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

SKYLER JACKSON Co-Sports Editor (He/Him)

South Dakota State’s track and field teams competed at the Summit League Indoor Championships last weekend in Vermillion.

Despite neither team capturing the Summit League title, many Jackrabbit athletes had successful showings throughout the two-day event. On Saturday, they claimed 11 medals and two individual championships. On Sunday they garnered 20 total medals, including six individual championships.

Here’s a look at some of the top performers for the men’s and women’s teams.

Men

The Jackrabbit men’s team finished in second place with 161.50 points in the final team rankings, only behind South Dakota, who won the Summit League title with 179.50 points.

“It’s unsatisfying, we got beat,” coach Rod DeHaven said. “We didn’t perform as well as we could have, USD performed well and they beat us.”

After winning the conference championship last season, the Jackrabbits weren’t able to defend their title. Despite that, a total of seven SDSU athletes claimed their individual titles.

Saturday saw a pair of Jackrabbit athletes claim the gold medal. Hunter Wallster won the weight throw, while Joseph Minor-Williams won his first of two gold medals in the 3,000-meter run.

Dominick Etherington was named the Field

Championship MVP after winning the shot put with a school record throw of 60-08.50. Wyatt Seagren took eighth in the event with a 51-02.75.

Minor-Williams claimed his second Summit League title in the 5,000-meter run Sunday in 14:27.20. After his successful weekend, he was named Track Championship MVP.

“He has been running well this year and got rewarded with that,” DeHaven said. “It was a good weekend for (Minor-Williams) and we certainly needed him because you try to finish as high as you can in the team standings.”

In that event, Max Selbach finished third in 14:29.89, while Cody Larson and Will Lohr earned personal records in 14:33.97 and 15:14.31 respectively.

Daniel Burkhalter won the Summit League title in the mile after clocking a 4:08.21 and Ben Olson took second at 4:10.15. Reid Pierzinski then won the 400meter dash in 48.76 seconds.

In the 60-meter hurdles, Pierre Lear won the conference title for the second-straight year after clocking a personal-best time and school record of 7.81 seconds.

Women

On the women’s side, the Jackrabbits finished third in the team rankings with 111 points with many athletes having runner-up finishes. South Dakota also claimed the women’s title with 214 points, while North Dakota State finished second with 166 points.

“On that side, it’s not like it was a bad meet,” DeHaven said. “It’s just that you hope to see some of those athletes that performed at a high level to maybe climb to the top of the heap.”

On day one, Jaiden Boomsma took second place in the long jump with a mark of 19-06.75 and Layne Kirkendoll earned a personal record with a leap of 17-08.75.

Catylynn Duff finished eighth in the weight throw with a personal best mark of 59-11.25, good for fifth in SDSU history. Leah Hansen finished third in the 3,000meter run in 9:50.22.

Hansen then claimed the Summit League title in the 5,000-meter run Sunday in 17:01.17. In the 60-meter dash, Rich-Ann Archer finished as the runner-up with a time of 7.51 seconds.

Other Jackrabbits with runner-up finishes were Cerington Jones, who claimed second in the 400-meter dash in 55.25 seconds, and Faith Leiseth, who was second in the shot put event with a mark of 48-00.75.

Brielle Dixon took third place in the 60-meter hurdle finals, breaking her own school record after an 8.43 mark in the event. Savannah Risseeuw took fifth with a personal-best time of 8.56.

Grace Waage ran a 5:00.84 for sixth place in the women’s mile and Nicole Greyer finished at 5:01.15 for seventh place. Claire Beckman was ninth in 5:02.81 and Emma Ecker was 14th in 5:14.50.

In the women’s high jump, Madison Kizer claimed fourth with a clearing of 5-05.00, while Taylor Jochum (5-03.00) finished 10th and Layne Kirkendoll (5-01.00) was 11th.

Up Next

If SDSU has any national qualifiers, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be March 10 and 11 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.