Rachel King No. 2 in the NCAA, 4th in the World

3/30/2019 12:34:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results: ORU Invite 2019 (Friday)Live Results: Mike Fanelli Classic 2019 Results: Stanford Invite (Friday)

King opened up her 2019 outdoor senior campaign by notching a PR, school record, and runner-up finish in the Stanford Invite

The South Dakota State track and field teams opened up their outdoor campaign across three different meets in the final weekend of March.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL
STANFORD, Calif. - Senior Rachel King picked up right where she left off, recording her opening 3,000m steeplechase mark as a personal-best and school-record mark.

According to TFRRS and several meet results over the weekend, King finished runner-up behind the NCAA leader in the invite section at Stanford, adding the NCAA DI's second-best steeplechase mark and fourth-best mark in the world.

Last year, she had the fifth-best steeplechase mark and eventually became to be the first Jackrabbit on the NCAA Championship track in DI history.

Fellow senior Kyle Burdick notched his first mark of the season as well in arguably his best event, the 1,500m. The 2017 NCAA qualifier recorded his second-best mark since attending the national championships with a sixth-place finish in the second section.

MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC
HAYWARD, Calif. - Sophomore Oksana Covey led off the Jackrabbits in California with a personal-best mark in the 400m, just missing the school's top 10 by 0.02 seconds.

She ended up winning the second heat of the event with the meet's third-best time out of 58 competitors (56.61).

Teammate senior Krista Steele also notched her first mark, competing in the first section, and adding her best 2019 indoor/outdoor 400m mark (14th, 58.62).

Sophomore Gabe Peters also added a personal-best mark, finishing fourth in his section of the 1,500m, 49th overall (3:56.97), while trimming 0.66 seconds off.

On the women's side of the 1,500m, freshman Ellie Friesen missed the school's top 10 list by 1.54 seconds to finish runner-up in her hear, 15th overall (4:34.41) out of 145 competitors.

ORU INVITATIONAL
TULSA, Okla. - Senior Logan Ammons led the charge in the rain-delayed first day of competition at Oral Roberts, posting a personal-best mark in the hammer throw that remains No. 3 all-time for South Dakota State.

On the women's side, junior Chloe Holtz (5-05.00, third) notched a personal-best mark in the high jump by two inches while freshman Addison Eisenbeisz (5-05.00, second) posted her first career outdoor mark in the event - both women one inch away from the school's top 10 list all-time.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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UP NEXT
South Dakota State will continue to compete in California and Oklahoma on Saturday. See the full schedule here.

The Jackrabbits will continue their outdoor trek next weekend (April 6) when they battle in the Dakota Duals in Vermillion, hosted by South Dakota, before going to Minnesota for their Spring Open on April 12-13.

INDIVIDUAL JACKRABBIT RESULTS
MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC
400m - Men - Final
5. Gatrost, Wyatt (49.69)

Senior Wyatt Gatrost finished by out-kicking the competition in the last stretch to win his heat. It is his first career outdoor 400m mark, finishing fifth out of 76 runners, with a 1.57-second overall PR.

400m - Women - Final
3. Covey, Oksana (56.61)
14. Steele, Krista (58.62)

Sophomore Oksana Covey opened up her outdoor season with a personal-best mark - missing the school's top 10 by 0.02 seconds - and winning her heat (2). She finished with the third-best time out of 58 competitors. Senior Krista Steele finished seventh in the opening heat (1) and finished 14th overall, with her best 2019 indoor/outdoor mark this season in the event. Megan Bren is the 10th all-time mark in the 400m for the Jacks (56.59).

1,500m - Men - Final
49. Peters, Gabe (3:56.97)

Sophomore Gabe Peters finished fourth in his heat (4) with a personal-best mark by 0.66 seconds. Out of a total of 142 competitors, Peters placed 49th overall.

1,500m - Men - Final
15. Friesen, Ellie (4:34.41)

Freshman Ellie Friesen finished runner-up in her section (4) of the 1,500m, and 15th overall out of 145 total competitors. It was her first attempt as a Jack outdoors, missing the school's top 10 list by 1.54 seconds.

5,000m - Men - Final
60. Minor-Williams, Joseph (14:38.75)
70. Mather, Micah (14:43.76)
82. Nelson, Lukas (14:50.82)

Freshman Joseph Minor-Williams competed in his first career outdoor event, finishing ninth in his respective section. Juniors Micah Mather and Lukas Nelson competed in the fifth section of the meet, finishing sixth (Mather) and 10th (Nelson). Mather added a personal-best, a mark he had reset in the 2018 SF Distance Carnival. A total of 227 runners competed.

5,000m - Women - Final
88. Schell, Mackenzie (17:50.36)

Senior Mackenzie Schell added her first mark of her senior outdoor campaign, finishing 13th in her respective heat, 88th overall among 157 runners.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL
1,500m - Men - Section 2
6. Burdick, Kyle (3:45.24)

Senior Kyle Burdick finished sixth in his inaugural competition. His mark is the second-fastest mark since his NCAA Championship run at the end of the 2017 season.

3,000m Steeplechase - Women - Finals
2. King, Rachel (9:54.44)

The senior reset her personal-best mark in the first steeplechase event of the season, trimming 3.31 seconds to finish runner-up in the invite section. According to results on TFRRS and over the weekend, King is sitting No. 2 in the NCAA behind the Stanford Invite winner and No. 4 in the world. Not to mention, the school record.

ORU INVITATIONAL
High Jump - Men - Finals
T-4. Milton, Jay-Shawn (6-02.75)
T-4. Sears, Riley (6-02.75)
T-4. Schmidt, Mason (6-02.75)
7. Hieber, Evan (6-02.75)

Freshmen duo Jay-Shawn Milton and Mason Schmidt notched their first outdoor marks as Jackrabbits while junior Evan Hieber and senior Riley Sears notched their season-first marks.

High Jump - Women - Finals
2. Eisenbeisz, Addison (5-05.00)
3. Holtz, Chloe (5-05.00)
5. Mingo, Madison (5-01.00)
8. Stevens, Lynsey (4-09.00)

Junior Chloe Holtz recorded a personal-best mark, tying her overall best, gaining two inches. Freshman Addison Eisenbeisz, along with Holtz, are within the school's top 10 list all-time. Eiesenbeisz with teammate Lynsey Stevens added their first outdoor marks as Jackrabbits.

Hammer Throw - Men - Finals
2. Ammons, Logan (193-02.00)
12. Coil, Samuel (156-04.00)

Senior Logan Ammons came into the season with the No. 3 all-time mark in the hammer throw, and reset his personal-best mark, still No. 3 all-time. Redshirt freshman Samuel Coil notched his first mark as a Jackrabbit, fouling in all attempts last year as a redshirt.

Hammer Throw - Women - Finals
None.

Javelin Throw - Women - Finals
None.

Javelin Throw - Men - Finals
None.

-GoJacks.com-