Jacks Compete With Four Summit League Schools

Saturday, September 15

Lincoln, Neb.

9 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Woody Greeno Invitational

9/13/2018 6:18:00 PM | Cross Country, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Jackrabbits travel to Lincoln, Neb., the 2018 B1G 10 XC Championship site to compete this weekend

MEET 2: South Dakota State (Men & Women) at the Woody Greeno/Dirksen Invite

When	TIME CHANGE: Saturday, Sept. 15 - Women's 6k: 9 a.m. \| Men's 8k: 9:45 a.m.
Where	Host: Nebraska, Nebraska Wesleyan \| City: Lincoln, Neb. \| Location: Mahoney G.C. \| Google Maps \| Parking Map
Live Results	HeartlandTiming.com
Teams Competing	Team Entries & Rankings (Page 4): South Dakota State Notes Four Summit League Schools: Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota
Notes	South Dakota State Notes \| Men's 8k Map \| Women's 6k Map \| Nebraska Wesleyan Meet Info
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| Instagram \| #GoJacks

The South Dakota State men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the 29th annual Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invite this Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m. in Lincoln, Neb.

SCHEDULE
The women's team will line up along the start line at Mahoney Golf Course at 9 a.m. to run their first 6k of the season. The men will follow the women's race at about 9:45 a.m. in their first attempt in the 8k.

Originally, the meet was scheduled for the women to start at 10 a.m. and the men to follow at 10:45 a.m. but the host schools, Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan announced that the start times will be an hour earlier due to forecasted heat later in the day.

PARKING
Team parking will be in the Mahoney Golf Course clubhouse lot, at 76th & Adams. Spectator parking will be in Mahoney Park. Entrance to the park is at 70th & Fremont street.

COMPETITION
Four other Summit League schools are expected to compete in the races at the 2018 Big 10 Cross Country Championship site (Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota). Along with the league competition, there are several Big 10 and Big 12 schools in the area are entered to compete (teams like: Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas).

There are 15 NCAA Division I schools in the entry list who are ranked in the top 15 of their respective regions and six nationally ranked schools (according to DirectAthletics).

Entries (Region: Men/Women, National: Men/Women):

Air Force (Mountain: 6th/8th, 16th/--)
Colorado (Mountain: 3rd/2nd, 7th/2nd)
Colorado State (Mountain: 4th/5th, 10th/30th)
Iowa (Midwest: 8th/10th)
Iowa State (Midwest: 1st/1st, 5th/18th)
Kansas (Midwest: 7th/8th)
Michigan (Women Only - Great Lakes: 4th/2nd, 29th/12th)
Minnesota (Men Only - Midwest: --/24th, 4th/2nd)
Missouri (Midwest: 10th/9th)
Nebraska (Midwest: 9th/--)
North Dakota State (Midwest: --/15th)
Northern Iowa (Midwest: --/14th)
South Dakota (Midwest: --/4th)
UMKC (Midwest: 15th/--)
Wyoming (Women Only - Mountain: 9th/11th)

SCORING
The teams will be separated into two divisions for team scoring - University Division (NCAA DI) and College Division (NCAA II, NCAA III, NAIA and junior colleges). Individual finishes will not be separated between the two divisions.

USTFCCCA REGIONAL RANKINGS
In the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional week one rankings, the men's team was ranked in top-15 regionally. The men, who are ranked 11th after the first round of competition kicked off, are the only Summit League school ranked. The Jackrabbits are sitting in the same spot they were in when the preseason rankings were released on Aug. 27. SDSU men finished the 2017 season ranked 13th - same as the team-finish in the 2017 NCAA Midwest Regionals.

In 2017, the squad ranking for the men reached as high as eighth last year (preseason through week two), and the highest-ever ranking since becoming Division I in 2007 is sixth - last done in week five and six of the 2016 season and week five of the 2015 season.

The women's team fell out of the rankings after the first round of competition. In the beginning of the season, the women were ranked in the regional preseason listings for the third consecutive year, and fourth time out of five years. The team was 13th, the highest-ever ranking for the Jackrabbits since becoming Division I in 2007 - edging out the 14th-ranked squad in the 2014 preseason.

ONE YEAR AGO
This time last year, the Jackrabbits had a weekend off. The 2017 teams were just coming off of a trip to Falcon Heights, Minn. where they competed in the Oz Memorial (Sept. 8, 2017) and preparing for the 32nd annual Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 23rd, 2017.

At the Oz Memorial, men's team won the four-mile event while the women placed third. Leading the way for the men was senior Kyle Burdick, who won the race - his first attempt on the season. His time (19:55.7) was his personal-best at the Oz Memorial. Junior Chase Cayo (second, 20:13.0) and sophomore Micah Mather (third, 20:16.7) competed in their first races of the season, with both of them improving their four-mile mark.

Rounding out the top 20 was junior Lukas Nelson in 10th place (20:56.7) and sophomore Gabe Peters at 19th place (21:16.2). Nelson beat his personal-best time he previously set last year while Peters competed in his first four-mile race.

For the women, sophomore Cailee Peterson led the Jackrabbits for a second-consecutive week, placing ninth (23:02.6). Coming in second for SDSU, and 15th overall, was sophomore Anna Donnay (23:21.1). Senior Emily Berzonsky finished 20th (23:35.0) in her first race of the season while senior Mackenzie Schell rounded out the top 25 for the Jackrabbits with a 24th place-finish (23:46.3). They both improved upon their times at the Oz Memorial with Berzonsky beating her freshman mark and Schell beating her sophomore time.

2018 SEASON OPENER
The South Dakota State cross country teams opened the 2018 season at the Bison Open for the seventh consecutive year, competing against North Dakota State and new Summit League foe - North Dakota, on Aug. 31.

The men came away with a victory (26 points) in Fargo, their second one in three years and sixth overall, as sophomore Micah Mather was the first Jackrabbit to cross the finish line as runner-up (18:55.2). It was his best 4k-mark of his career, beating his 2016 runner-up finish by 26.8 seconds. The time of 18:55.2 is the fastest active-Jackrabbit PR, beating junior Lukas Nelson's 2017 mark of 19:21.9.

Sophomore Gabe Peters finished behind Mather at third overall (19:03.5), his first career 6k-mark as a Jackrabbit. The 2017 Summit League XC Newcomer of the Championship has the second-fastest mark of active SDSU runners in the 4k.

The freshmen trio of Thomas Breuckman (fifth, 19:13.4), Ben Olson (seventh, 19:21.8) and Joseph Minor-Williams (ninth, 19:24.7) rounded out the top-10 place-finisher on Friday with their first career runs as South Dakota State student-athletes.

Other runners recording personal-best marks on Friday was sophomore Evan Fick, who placed 13th overall (19:41.3) and beat his 2017 PR by 43.2 second; and sophomore Jacob Wilts, who posted 23rd overall (20:30.7) and beat his 2017 PR by 25.4 seconds.

Redshirt freshman Michael Schwinghamer recorded his first career 4k-mark, placing 17th (19:58.0).

For the women, the team placed third (60 points), behind the strong effort of freshman Ellie Friesen. The Crestwood, Iowa native, finished runner-up (14:20.8) at her first meet in yellow and blue.

Sophomore Anna Donnay returned to Rose Creek Golf Course and beat her 2017 mark by 7.4 seconds, placing eighth overall (14:34.8). Donnay also finished in the top 10 of the event for second consecutive season in Fargo.
Junior Emma Nelson was the third Jackrabbit to cross the finish line, notching a PR in the event. She finished 17th overall (15:24.0) and trimmed her 2016 PR by 23.3 seconds.

Along with Friesen, four other freshmen debuted in their SDSU gear. Tori Glazier finished 26th (15:53.0), Elise Emmick placed 29th (16:31.9), Jessica Christoffer posted 31st (16:38.9) and Bailey Dergan notched 32nd (16:41.0).

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits will be off a weekend (weekend of Sept. 22) and then return to action at the 33rd annual Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn. on Saturday, Sept. 29th. The meet at the Les Bolstad Golf Course, is one of the largest meets in the country that includes six collegiate races and four high school races. Action begins with the Suzy Wilson Women's Maroon III (Division III) Competition at 9 a.m. NCAA DI action, the races Jackrabbits will compete in, will begin with the men's 8k at 11:10 a.m. and the women's 6k following at 12:15 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on the South Dakota State cross country teams, follow the Jackrabbits on Twitter (@GoJacksTFXC) and Instagram (@GoJacksTFXC), and like us on Facebook (/GoJacksTFXC).

-GoJacks.com-