Jackrabbits at Final Tune Ups

Friday, May 3

Sioux Falls, SD

Fri: 9 a.m. | Sat: 9 a.m.

South Dakota State University

Howard Wood Dakota Relays

Tickets

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/2/2019 4:15:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

SDSU competes at Howard Wood Dakota Relays and the Nebraska Invite before competing in The Summit League Championships on May 8-10 in Macomb, Ill.

MEETS 13-14: South Dakota State (Men & Women) at Howard Wood Dakota Relays & Nebraska Invite

When	Dakota Relays - Friday - Field: 9 a.m. // Track: 2 p.m. \| Saturday - Field: 9 a.m. // Track: 9 a.m. Nebraska Invite - Saturday - Field: 10 a.m. // Track 3 p.m. (Jacks: 12: 30 p.m.)
Where	Dakota Relays - Dakota Relays \| Howard Wood Field \| Sioux Falls, S.D. \| Tickets/Parking Information Nebraska Invite - Nebraska \| Ed Weir Stadium \| Lincoln, Neb.
Live Results	Dakota Relays - Live Results \| Live Stream via MidcoSN: Friday 7-9 p.m. CT \| Saturday 3-5:30 p.m. Nebraska Invite - Live Results \| No Live Stream
Meet Notes	Dakota Relays - Home Meet Page \| Event Schedule \| Heat Sheets \| Record Page Nebraska Invite - Home Meet Page \| Event Schedule \| Heat Sheets JACKRABBIT WEEKEND SCHEDULE \| South Dakota State's Performance Lists & Records Page
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \| Instagram \| #GoJacks

The South Dakota State track and field team will split among two meets on the last regular-season weekend before The Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Macomb, Ill. on May 8-10. Several Jackrabbits will compete in Sioux Falls at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays on both Friday and Saturday while a small group will make the trip to Lincoln, Neb. to compete in the Nebraska Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

JACKRABBIT WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Several of the SDSU student-athletes will begin their weekend at the Dakota Relays on Friday with the field events beginning at 9 a.m. and the track opening competition at 2 p.m. The last scheduled field event is the women's javelin at 6: 30 p.m. and the men's 5,000m will conclude Friday's action on the track, beginning at 9:30 p.m.

On Saturday, both the track and field events will kick off at 9 a.m. in Sioux Falls with the last scheduled field event at 3:30 p.m. (HS boys javelin) and the last track event beginning at 6:30 p.m. (HS Class AA boys 4x400m relay). Several special events will be included throughout the weekend at Howard Wood, including many high school evets, award recognition programs, and special olympic events.

At Nebraska on Saturday, Jackrabbits will open competition tentatively at 12:30 p.m. and run until 6:10 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG
There are select live results and live stream options available in the links above. You can also follow Jackrabbit-specific action on the SDSU track and field's Twitter account (@GoJacksTFXC). A meet recap will be made available following the conclusion of each day on GoJacks.com.

USTFCCCA TFRI RANKINGS
Men - After jumping up to the No. 2 mark in the conference TFRI rankings by the USTFCCCA, the Jackrabbits remained runner-up (1,402.67) behind North Dakota State (2,051.80) in week three of the rankings. The Jackrabbits are one of three teams over 1,000 points in the rankings as South Dakota is the third team above the ledger (1,058.61). As a team, the men have picked more and more points as the season comes to the league championships on May 8-10 in Macomb, Ill.

Freshman Joseph Minor-Williams tallied the more single-event points in the rankings this week as he leads the league in the 10,000m (50.72 points). Minor-Williams is just one of nine events the Jackrabbits lead the league in. Senior Kyle Burdick owns two league-leading marks (5,000m and 1,500m) while being fourth behind teammates in the 800m to score a total of 98.06 points. Sophomore Coby Hilton also leads the league in two events (100m and 200m) while also being a member of the top-ranked 4x100m relay team (82.84 points).

2019 MOTF Weekly Conference Rankings: April 15-Wk 1 (3rd, 1,047.29) ... April 22-Wk 2 (2nd, 1,356.63) ... April 29-Wk 3 (2nd, 1,402.67)

In the regional TFRI action, the Jackrabbits move up one spot from last week to No. 15 in the Midwest Region, the third Summit League team in the region (NDSU-third, USD-13th). The 15th-best spot is tied for the best ranking of the season under the scoring system, being No. 15 in week two of the regional rankings as well (April 8). The Jacks opened the seson 19th overall and have been the third-best league team every week so far (five weeks of regional rankings).

Nationally, the Jacks are No. 137 out of 188 schools represented on the USTFCCCA national TFRI, the fourth-best Summit League team (NDSU-29, USD-39, ORU-105). In week two of the national rankings, SDSU reached their highest national ranking of the season at No. 122 overall (April 8). The last two weeks, the men have been the fourth-best league team - but have been the third-best on the national stage throughout the prior rankings (March 18-April 8, three rankings).

Women - The Jacks remain in fourth place (803.52) of the third conference rankings by the USTFCCCA, the fourth Summit League team behind North Dakota State (1,827.76), South Dakota (1,489.74), and North Dakota (868.98). The team has rallied for more and more points from week to week.

The highest-scoring individual event is senior Rachel King in the 3,000m steeplechase (39.67), scoring a total of 107.6.82 points from three events (steeplechase, 1,500m and 5,000m). Sophomore Oksana Covey is responsible for 69.19 points from the league-leading 800m, fourth-best 400m, and being a member of the fifth-best 4x400m relay mark.

Freshman Addison Eisenbeisz (high jump, 36.20) joins King and Covey in leading the league in their respective events.

2019 WOTF Weekly Conference Rankings: April 15-Wk 1 (4th, 666.65) ... April 22-Wk 2 (4th, 725.96) ... April 29-Wk 3 (4th, 803.52)

In regional TFRI rankings, SDSU remains No. 16 overall in the Midwest Region after jump six spots in the prior week. The Jackrabbits remain ahead of North Dakota (19th) and Oral Roberts (20th) while still trailing NDSU (eighth) and USD (13th). It's their best rankings of the season in the Midwest after opening the season ranked 22nd (April 1).

Nationally, the Jacks rise two spots to 107th out of 191 schools represented on the list, the fourth-best league school behind NDSU, USD, and UND. The women opened their season (preseason poll, March 18) with the 100th-best spot.

The fourth outdoor #EventSquad rankings were released this week (April 22) and the following list are the eligible #EventSquad rankings for the Jackrabbits. The Jackrabbits moved up in two events on the men's side - 27 spots in the 5,000m and nine spots in the steeplechase. For the women, the Jackrabbits climbed 16 spots in the high jump.

USTFCCCA #EventSquad rankings places a rank order to a program's "squad" of athletes in a particular event, using the cumulative season-best qualifying marks from a team's top-four ranked athletes on the national desending-order list. As with the national decending-order list for qualifying and seeding purposes, marks are subject to be converted due to track size and/or altitude. A team must have four or more athletes with a valid season-best mark recorded with TFRRS to achieve a ranking in a particular event.

Event	Men	Women
100m	69	159
200m	94	238
400m	133	135
800m	26	53
1,500m	72	106
3,000S	24	--
5,000m	55	47
10,000m	--	--
110H/100H	61	--
400H	40	--
High Jump	39	44
Pole Vault	46	--
Long Jump	78	--
Triple Jump	--	--
Shot Put	70	62
Discus	102	44
Hammer	--	73
Javelin	--	100
Multi (Dec./Hept.)	--	--

2019 Indoor Rankings
South Dakota State men finished the indoor season with a No. 131 national ranking (week five, Feb. 18), No. 15 regional mark (week six, Feb. 25), and the best conference position (week five, Feb. 18). The women did not reach national recognition, but were ranked No. 25 regionally (week six, Feb. 25) and third in the conference TFRI rankings (week five, Feb. 18). The men reached their highest-ever ranking in week one of indoors at No. 7 and were ranked No. 12 and 13 regularly throughout. The women reached No. 24 in week three of indoors as their highest mark of the season. Each team's final indoor event squad rankings are below (week six, Feb. 26) -

Event	Men	Women
60m	25	153
200m	25	213
400m	89	162
800m	46	36
Mile	72	105
3,000m	67	93
5,000m	48	85
High Jump	34	63
Pole Vault	50	66
Long Jump	23	134
Triple Jump	16	49
Shot Put	85	49
Weight Throw	--	50
Multi (Hept./Pent.)	--	--

KING RANKED IN THE STEEPLECHASE BY FLOTRACK
FloTrack.org initially released individual rankings on March 25 with senior Rachel King No. 15 on the projected All-Americans (top-15 in an event) in the NCAA DI 3,000m steeplechase. In this week's release of the rankings (April 29), the St. Michael, Minn. native sits at No. 12 after being No. 10 the week prior (April 22) and No. 9 the week before (April 9).

She currently ranks No. 3 in the NCAA, No. 11 in the world, No. 1 in the NCAA West Region, and No. 1 in The Summit League with her fifth school record-breaking performance of her career.

She finished last outdoor season with her first career appearance in the NCAA Championships and the Jackrabbit's first female to be on the track in the championships, placing 23rd (12th in the second heat) in the semifinals of the steeplechase with a time of 10:27.92 to earn NCAA All-American Honorable Mention honors.

Last year at the Stanford Invite, she recorded her then-PR in the steeplechase where she finished fifth overall in the invite section (10:01.14). Her steeple PR reset her school record, trimming off 9.57 seconds, was the best in the league by 28.25 seconds, and was fifth in the NCAA and 21st in the world (that weekend). She eventually posted another personal-best mark in the event at the NCAA West Prelims, finishing ninth overall to qualify for Eugene (9:57.75).

NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY LIST
South Dakota State's student-athletes aim to be in the West Region's top-48 so they can qualify for the NCAA's West Preliminaries on May 23-25 in Sacramento for a chance to go to the NCAA National Championships in Austin, Texas (June 5-8).

Last year, the Jackrabbit sent nine student-athletes to compete in 11 events at the NCAA West Prelims in Sacramento, with senior Rachel King being the lone qualifier to the NCAA Championships. SDSU has had an NCAA championship qualifier in the last three seasons, seven overall, since becoming DI.

Men:
200m: So. Coby Hilton - 20.92 (West: 23rd, NCAA: 66th)
1,500m: Sr. Kyle Burdick - 3:44.74 (West: 34th, NCAA: 44th)
Pole Vault: So. Trent Francom - 17-05.00 (West: 18th, NCAA: 26th, World: T-78th)
4x100m Relay*: Fr. Emmanual Phoulom-Smith, So. Coby Hilton, So. Daniel Clarke, Jr. Sam Zenner - 40.12 (West: 18th, NCAA: 38th)
Outside Top 48, inside top 100
100m: So. Coby Hilton - 10.50w (West: 67th, Top-48: 10.44)
800m: Sr. Cal Lawton - 1:50.62 (West: 58th, Top-48: 1:50.29)
800m: Fr. Riley Bauer - 1:51.50 (West: 85th, Top-48: 1:50.29)
800m: Jr. Wyatt Gatrost - 1:51.73 (West: 94th, Top-48: 1:50.29)
5,000m: Sr. Kyle Burdick - 14:03.76 (West: 51st, Top-48: 14:02.83)
10,000m: Fr. Joseph Minor-Williams - 30:18.34 (West: 91st, Top-48: 29:29.15)
400H: Fr. Reid Pierzinski - 53.43 (West: 79th, Top-48: 52.47)
3,000S: Jr. Micah Mather - 9:07.89 (West: 60th, Top-48: 9:04.36)
Long Jump: Fr. Tre Manning - 23-09.50 (West: 73rd, Top-48: 24-02.50)
Shot Put: So. Noah Huber - 56-08.75 (West: 58th, Top-48: 57-09.50)
Shot Put: R-Fr. Samuel Coil - 53-00.75 (West: 100th, Top-48: 57-09.50)
Discus Throw: So. Noah Huber - 166-07.00 (West: 89th, Top-48: 175-08.00)
Hammer Throw: Sr. Logan Ammons - 193-02.00 (West: 58th, Top-48: 196-05.00)
*Top-24 relay teams qualify for the NCAA West Prelims

Women:
800m: So. Oksana Covey - 2:06.09 (West: 19th, NCAA: 38th)
5,000m: Sr. Rachel King - 16:19.64 (West: 38th, NCAA: 80th)
3,000S: Sr. Rachel King - 9:54.44 (West: 1st, NCAA: 3rd, World: 11th)
High Jump: Fr. Addison Eisenbeisz - 5-08.75 (West: 28th, NCAA: 59th)
Outside Top 48, inside top 100
800m: Sr. Krista Steele - 2:09.69 (West: 77th, Top-48: 2:07.74)
1,500m: Sr. Rachel King - 4:25.12 (West: 65th, Top-48: 4:23.37)
10,000m: Sr. Emily Berzonsky - 36:33.86 (West: 93rd, Top-48: 34:57.20)
100H: Jr. Jaymie O'Connor - 13.74 (West: 59th, Top-48: 13.65)
100H: Jr. Haley Mottinger - 14.04w (West: 96th, Top-48: 13.65)
Discus Throw: Sr. Kasie Vollmer - 154-05.00 (West: 88th, Top-48: 164-04.00)

2018 Women: 3 Jackrabbits, 3 Events (event - last round, finish)
Sr. Rachel King (3,000S - Semifinal at NCAA's, 23rd ... Quarterfinal at West, ninth)
Sr. Krista Steele (800m - First Round, 31st)
Sr. Kasie Vollmer (Discus - First Round, 36th)

2018 Men: 6 Jackrabbits, 8 Events (event - last round, finish)
2018 Sr. Colton Bender (Hammer - First Round, 30th)
Sr. Kyle Burdick (1,500m - Quarterfinal, 18th) (5,000m - Semifinal, DNF)
So. Daniel Clarke (100m - First Round, 37th)
Jr. Bryant Courter (Long Jump - First Round, 34th) (Triple Jump - First Round, 36th)
So. Trent Francom (Pole Vault - First Round, 27th)
2018 Sr. Mason Leiseth (Shot Put - First Round, 41st)

SUMMIT LEAGUE PERFORMANCE LIST
With the final weekend approaching before The Summit League Outdoor Championships commence in Macomb, Ill., the Jackrabbits have 12 total event leaders, along with the men's 4x100m relay. A total of 26 Jackrabbits (17 men, nine women) fill 35 top-five individual spots on the league's performance list.

The men have the most event leaders in the league (8) while North Dakota State has six. Jackrabbits consume the 1-2-3-4-5 spots in the 800m while the 1-3-4-5 spots in the 5,000m while also adding the sixth, ninth, and 11th-best marks in the 5,000m. Jackrabbits are on pace to take at least a share of the men's and women's 800m titles for the second year, winning both the indoor titles this year.

Senior Kyle Burdick and Rachel King lead multiple events in the league, along with sophomore Coby Hilton, who are one of five total Summit League athletes leading mulitple events.

JACKRABBIT MEN IN TOP FIVE
100m
1. So. Coby Hilton (10.50w)
2. Jr. Sam Zenner (10.60)
5. So. Daniel Clarke (10.81)

200m
1. So. Coby Hilton (20.92)
5. Jr. Sam Zenner (21.66w)

800m
1. Sr. Cal Lawton (1:50.62)
2. Fr. Riley Bauer (1:51.50)
3. Jr. Wyatt Gatrost (1:51.73)
4. Sr. Kyle Burdick (1:52.58)
5. So. Derek Boekelheide (1:52.74)

1,500m
1. Sr. Kyle Burdick (3:44.74)

5,000m
1. Sr. Kyle Burdick (14:03.76)
3. Fr. Joseph Minor-Williams (14:36.80)
4. Jr. Micah Mather (14:43.76)
5. Jr. Lukas Nelson (14:50.82)

10,000m
1. Fr. Joseph Minor-Williams (30:18.34)
2. R-Fr. Alexander Auch (31:48.10)

110m Hurdles
2. Jr. Nick Wessels (14.69w)

400m Hurdles
1. Fr. Reid Pierzinski (53.43)

3,000m Steeplechase
1. Jr. Micah Mather (9:07.89)
4. So. Michael Schwinghamer (9:26.49)

Pole Vault
3. So. Trent Francom (17-05.00)

Long Jump
4. Fr. Tre Manning (23-09.50)

4x100m Relay
1. 40.12 (Fr. Emmanual Phoulom-Smith, So. Coby Hilton, So. Daniel Clarke, Jr. Sam Zenner)

4x400m Relay
4. 3:18.72 (Fr. Reid Pierzinski, Sr. Cal Lawton, Fr. Riley Bauer, Sr. Wyatt Gatrost)

JACKRABBIT WOMEN IN TOP FIVE
400m
4. So. Oksana Covey (56.34)

800m
1. So. Oksana Covey (2:06.09)
3. Sr. Krista Steele (2:09.69)

1,500m
1. Sr. Rachel King (4:25.12)

5,000m
2. Sr. Rachel King (16:19.64)

10,000m
5. Sr. Emily Berzonsky (36:33.86)

100m Hurdles
2. Jr. Jaymie O'Connor (13.74)
5. Jr. Haley Mottinger (14.04w)

3,000m Steeplechase
1. Sr. Rachel King (9:54.44)

High Jump
1. Fr. Addison Eisenbeisz (5-08.75)
5. Jr. Chloe Holtz (5-05.00)

Discus Throw
5. Sr. Kasie Vollmer (154-05.00)

LAST TIME OUT
A Few Jackrabbits competed on Wednesday at the Southwest Minnesota State Mustang Open (May 1), with sophomore Noah Huber scoring a personal-best mark in the discus throw, winning his third title of the season with the No. 10 all-time mark for SDSU (166-07.00).

Drake Relays & Kip Janvrin Open - Thursday Recap | Friday Recap | Saturday Recap (April 24-27)
Saturday - The South Dakota State track and field teams finished their last day in Iowa, scoring the No. 2 all-time mark in the women's distance medley relay.

The squad finished seventh overall (11:35.67) with two Iowa and two Minnesota natives in the relay, leading with freshman Ellie Friesen starting (1,200m, 3:38.01) and senior Krista Steele taking over in the second leg (400m: 58.11). The second half was started by sophomore Oksana Covey running the third leg (800m: 2:10.33) and senior Rachel King finishing things up (1,600m: 4:49.24).

King capped off another great weekend by anchoring the DMR squad with a 4:49.24 1,600m split. She is now a member of the top-two teams SDSU has had in the event, anchoring school-record team from the 2018 Drake Relays and the No. 2 all-time this year.

On Friday, the senior highlighted the individual tab of Jackrabbit action, posting her second consecutive personal-best reset in the 1,500m to remain No. 2 all-time for SDSU and hold onto the No. 1 spot on The Summit League's performance list. She led a majority of the race but finished runner-up (4:25.12) to come within 2.31 seconds from the school record held by Becka Manshiem (2007).

Sophomore Trent Francom was the lone Jackrabbit recording a mark in the field events, finishing fourth overall in the pole vault competition (16-02.75) with his fifth event of the season. Last year at Drake, he first reset the school record (17-02.75) and has since reset it to 17-05.00.

The men's distance medley finished eighth (10:00.97), consisting of sophomore Gabe Peters, junior Wyatt Gatrost, freshman Riley Bauer, and senior Kyle Burdick.

Friday - The Jacks posted a school-record mark in the 4x100m relay (40.12) on Friday at Drake alongside a Houston squad in the opening heat of the preliminaries. Overall, SDSU had the third-best mark out the round, second-best mark among "next-fastest" qualifying spots, to place fifth in the overall prelims. (Fr. Emmanual Phoulom-Smith, So. Coby Hilton, So. Daniel Clarke, Jr. Sam Zenner)

This is the second career 4x100m relay race that Phoulom-Smith has been a member of. The squad opened the season with the school's No. 2 all-time mark at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate last weekend (40.55).

A majority of the squad is the same from last year's two-time record setting team (Hilton, Jr. Landon Larson, Clarke, Zenner). Throughout the 2018 season, the men's 4x100m relay team added the second-best mark (40.94) all-time at Drake before resetting the school record at Nebraska (40.84) and ending with the Summit League Championship record and pushing the SDSU record for the second time (40.40).

With the time of 40.12 seconds, the Jackrabbits reset the state collegiate record by 0.01 seconds and are now ranked No. 17 in the NCAA West Preliminary performance list, with the top-24 competing in Sacramento, Calif. for a chance to earn a trip to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Championships.

Looking back, SDSU's mark would have qualified to the NCAA preliminaries each of the last five years and if it holds up, they will be the first relay team onto the NCAA DI regional preliminaries (worst seed times on the West Prelims start list: 2018 - 40.24, 2017 - 40.29, 2016 - 40.22, 2015 - 40.38, 2014 - 40.47).

The men's 4x800m relay squad reset both the school and South Dakota state collegiate records with a seventh-place finish at Drake Stadium on Friday evening (seventh, 7:27.27). The previous state record was 7:30 and the school record was previously 7:32 (Jr. Wyatt Gatrost, Sr. Cal Lawton, So. Derek Boekelheide, Fr. Riley Bauer).

Lawton ran the second leg with a split of 1:49.07 to move up seven places into third - a mark that would be the school's No. 2 all-time 800m mark - while Bauer closed the relay with a 1:51.46 split - a mark that would have been No. 8 all-time.

Junior Haley Mottinger was one of the first Jackrabbits to climb an all-time list on Friday, posting a 0.22-second personal-best reset, her second of the season, to climb from No. 6 all-time to No. 3 behind teammate Jaymie O'Connor and Jennifer Stovall (2002).

At the beginning of this year, she had a personal-best mark of 14.73w (2018 NSU Twilight) and has since cut 0.69 seconds.

She had done the same sort of thing during the 2019 indoor campaign, entering the 60m hurdles all-time list at the SDSU Holiday Invite at No. 6 all-time (8.81). Before the start of the indoor season, she had a PR of 8.97, her only mark sub-nine seconds.

Also on Friday at the Kip Janvrin Open, junior Micah Mather, along with eight other Jackrabbits, added personal-best marks at Simpson College.

Mather cut 4.39 seconds to reset his personal-best mark in the 3,000m steeplechase for his fourth career runner-up finish in the event (9:07.89). The junior is only 1.89 seconds from the school's top 10 list, a list that hasn't been touched since 2011.

The men's and women's 5,000m tallied five total personal-best marks for the Jacks as freshmen duo Thomas Breuckman (second, 14:51.10) and Lukas Pierson (18th, 15:28.73) were able cut 11.94 and 5.81 seconds, respectively.

Sophomore Cailee Peterson led the women (fifth, 17:56.68) while pairing with junior Emma Nelson (ninth, 18:17.04) to reset their personal-best marks for second time this season.

Freshman Blake Iverson scored a personal-best mark, resetting his best from the South Dakota Challenge by 0.59 seconds, while senior Rachel Propst added her fourth consecutive personal-best reset of the season by 0.98 seconds. In all, the senior has trimmed 7.26 seconds from her best prior to the season (2016 Jim Duncan Invite, 4:52.23).

Thursday - Senior Kyle Burdick attempted his first 5,000m race of the season, now sitting atop The Summit League outdoor performance list. The Rapid City, S.D. native scored the league's No. 1 mark of the season by 16.27 seconds, still 2.97 seconds from his personal-best and No. 3 all-time SDSU mark (his mark tonight would be No. 3 all-time as well), with a fifth-place overall finish (14:03.76) in the seeded race.

Burdick was the third-best college competitor in the race and helps the Jacks dominate the league's top-five 5,000m performers as four of the are in Yellow and Blue uniforms (1. Burdick, 3. Fr. Joseph Minor-Williams, 4. Jr. Micah Mather, 5. Jr. Lukas Nelson).

As of last night, the senior is also 49th in the NCAA West Preliminary performance list, one spot out of the top-48 that compete in Sacramento, Calif. in late May for a chance to the NCAA Track and Field Championships in June. He's qualified for the 5,000m race at the West Prelims since 2017.

For the women, the Jackrabbit duo in senior Emily Berzonsky (11th, 36:33.86) and sophomore Anna Donnay (14th, 36:58.24) ran personal-best marks in the open 10,000m at Iowa's capital. Both are within a minute of the school's all-time top-10 list (10th-best, 36:13.82), last entered in 2015 (Jenna Grossenburg).

Freshman Riley Bauer tallied the lone Jackrabbit win at the Distance Carnival in Des Moines, scoring his second career win in the unseeded 800m on Thursday night. Bauer scored the No. 10 all-time mark for SDSU to get the individual crown on the distance carnival night at the Blue Oval (won, 1:51.50). He bumped off teammate Wyatt Gatrost's personal-best mark off the list, which he added at the Mike Fanelli Classic to kick off the season.

Freshman Joseph Minor-Williams record his first 10,000m for the men at the distance carnival, 7.44 seconds from the school's top-10 all-time list (fifth, 30:18.34).

KING WINS JACKS' FIRST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HONOR IN TRACK & FIELD - Full Story (April 2)
South Dakota State senior Rachel King earned the Jackrabbits' first Summit League Athlete of the Week in track and field this year.

The Jackrabbit from St. Michael, Minn. reset the school's 3,000m steeplechase record for the fifth time as she finished runner-up (9:54.44) in the invite section at Stanford last Friday. She earned the league's No. 1 mark in the event, which is also second best in the NCAA to the winner on of the section (Brianna Ilarda, Providence) and No. 4 in the world as of April 2.

She trimmed 3.31 seconds off the school-record mark - a mark she ran at last year's NCAA West Preliminaries in Sacramento, Calif. to be the first female Jack to run on the track at the NCAA DI National Championships, eventually claiming an All-America Honorable Mention.

King has qualified for the NCAA West Prelims every year of track and field dating back to the 2016 season. She added the school's No. 2 all-time mark (10:25.75) behind Halie Mechels' ('18) reset the record just ahead of her at Mt. SAC Relays (10:25.39), finishing 38th in the West prelims (10:52.89).

She claimed the school record in 2017, first resetting it at the Stanford Invite on the final weekend in March (10:14.08) and then again at the Mt. SAC Relays (10:10.71) before finishing 38th at the NCAA West Prelims in Austin, Texas (11:03.25).

In 2018, King finally broke through the West prelims and arrived at the NCAA Championships, finishing 23rd in the prelims (10:27.92) after resetting her best and school-record mark twice in the season - once at Stanford (10:01.14) and again at the NCAA West Prelims (9:57.75, ninth).

She has also been ranked very high in the event among NCAA and world ranks, reaching fifth in the NCAA in 2017, fifth again in 2018 (21st in the world), and now second in the NCAA and No. 4 in the world this year.

Her No. 1 mark in the NCAA West Preliminary performance list, and best mark ever, should allow her to compete at the West prelims one last time in May (23-25) in Sacramento, as she looks to be the second-ever Jackrabbit to go to the NCAA DI Championships in back-to-back years (Sara Ackman, 2009-2010).

She wins her second career outdoor track and field weekly honor (won April 3, 2018 - Stanford Invite - 3,000m steeplechase performance) and her fifth all-time weekly accolade (three in cross country).

SUMMIT OTF PRESEASON POLL - Full Story (March 8)
The Summit League has announced the preseason outdoor track and field rankings with the South Dakota State men three points behind the league favorite and the women sitting fourth. The men's team gathered 20 points and two first-place votes, three points and one first-place vote behind North Dakota State (23 points, three first-place). The women tallied 33 points and are behind North Dakota State (47 - five first-place votes), South Dakota (44 points - two first-place votes), and Oral Roberts (38 points).

Individually, seniors Kyle Burdick, Rachel King, and Kasie Vollmer, along with sophomore Trent Francom, were nominated as SDSU's preseason athletes to watch.

It's just the second time since the outdoor preseason poll began that the Jackrabbit men are tabbed as runner-up favorites entering the outdoor season (last time in 2017, tied for second) - their best outdoor preseason ranking. They picked up their most first-place votes ever and one more point than they did in 2017.

The Jacks have never finished the outdoor season worse than they were projected, including four times where they finished better than projected. The squad is aiming for its third consecutive, fourth overall, runner-up or better finish in the championships on May 10-12 in Macomb, Ill.

The women are projected fourth for the first time since 2014, fourth time ever in the league. Prior to this preseason, the women had a four-year streak where they were projected third - finishing in that spot three of the four years (2018 was fourth place).

The last time the women were projected fourth (2014), they finished runner-up with 193 points behind NDSU (246) and ahead of South Dakota (169). They have also finished fourth (2013) and fifth another time (2012). SDSU has finished where they were preseason polled, or better, in all but three rankings (2010, 2012, 2018) with two times finishing better (2011, 2014).

Kyle Burdick | Senior | Distance | Rapid City, S.D.

Summit League's Indoor Track MVP (2019)
Scored 30 points in the 2019 indoor championships - winning three events (mile, 3,000m, 5,000m)
Won the 1,500m, finished second in the 10,000m and third in the 800m at the 2018 league outdoor championships
Two-time Outdoor Championship MVP (2017, 2018)
2017 league's Track Athlete of the Year
10-time All-League (XC 2016 1st-Team, 2017 1st-Team, 2018 1st-Team, ITF 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, OTF 2016, 2017, 2018)
Has seven personal-best marks in the school's top 10 (IN: 1,000m (1st, 2019), Mile (2nd, 2019), 3,000m (2nd, 2018), 5,000m (4th, 2019), OUT: 800m (T-8th, 2017), 1,500m (3rd, 2017), 5,000m (3rd, 2017))
NCAA All-American in the 1,500m in 2017 (second-team)
Five-time Preseason Athlete to Watch (XC 2018, ITF 2018, 2019, OTF 2018, 2019)

Trent Francom | Sophomore | Pole Vault | Huron, S.D.

Finished runner-up in the 2019 indoor championships
Third in his first outdoor championships (2018)
Only Jackrabbit to breach the 17-foot mark, reaching it twice in 2018 outdoors and once in 2019 indoors
The first male Jack to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims (only Amy Leiferman in 2015 made pole vault in the West Prelims, Tyler Schiferl made Midwest Regionals in 2009)
All-League (ITF 2018, OTF 2018)
Holds both the indoor and outdoor school records in the pole vault

Rachel King | Senior | Distance | St. Michael, Minn.

First Jackrabbit female at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships in the track events (3,000S) - finished with NCAA All-American Honorable Mention
Won two events in the 2019 indoor championships (3,000m and 5,000m) - resetting her school record in the 3,000m
Posted five individual school-record marks (IN: Mile, 3,000m, 5,000m, OUT: 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m), moved to second all-time in the 1,500m, and was a part of the DMR school record in her career
Won the 3,000m steeplechase and took second in the 1,5000m at the 2018 league outdoor championships
Has been named indoor Track Championship MVP (2018) and Track Athlete of the Year (2017) each once ... no female outdoor post-season or yearly awards have been received by Jackrabbits yet
10-time All-League (XC 2015 1st-Team, 2016 1st-Team, 2017 1st-Team, 2018 1st-Team, ITF 2017, 2018, 2019, OTF 2014, 2016, 2018)
Six-time Preseason Athlete to Watch (XC 2016, 2018 ITF 2018, 2019, OTF 2018, 2019)

Kasie Vollmer | Senior | Throws | Savage, Minn.

Did not compete in 2019 indoors
Won the outdoor Summit League discus (2018), runner-up in 2017
Two-time All-League (OTF 2017, 2018)
Two-time qualifier for the NCAA West Prelims in the discus (2017, 2018)
Holds school record in the outdoor discus (2017) while being No. 8 all-time in the indoor shot put (2018)

2019 SUMMIT LEAGUE MEN'S OUTDOOR PRESEASON POLL

	Team	Score (First-place votes)
1.	North Dakota State	23 (3)
2.	South Dakota State	20 (2)
T3.	South Dakota	19
T3.	Oral Roberts	19
5.	North Dakota	11
6.	Western Illinois	8

2019 SUMMIT LEAGUE WOMEN'S OUTDOOR PRESEASON POLL

	Team	Score (First-place votes)
1.	North Dakota State	47 (5)
2.	South Dakota	44 (2)
3.	Oral Roberts	38
4.	South Dakota State	33
5.	North Dakota	32
6.	Omaha	20
7.	Western Illinois	18
8.	Purdue Fort Wayne	13

KING RECEIVED NCAA POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP - Full Story
Senior Rachel King received a postgraduate scholarship from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The St. Michael, Minn. native has held a cumulative grade-point average of 3.871 to this point of her career while majoring in community and public health with a Spanish minor and a pre-occupational therapy specialization.

She has competed in cross country and track and field for the Jackrabbits while making the dean's list all seven semesters thus far and being in the top 10 percent of her graduating class. She is also a member of the Sigma Delta Pi (a Spanish honors society) while being named to The Summit League's All-Academic team a total of six times across the three seasons she competes in (XC: 2016, 2017, 2018, ITF: 2017, 2018, OTF: 2018).

King has also been honored by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) Division I All-Academic five times (XC: 2017, 2018, TF: 2016, 2017, 2018).

After her career as a student at SDSU, King is expecting to go to University of Mary in Bismark, N.D. for graduate school.

She was the first Jackrabbit to qualify and compete on the track in the NCAA Outdoor Division I Championships - earning NCAA All-American honorable mention status. King is also the second Jack to earn NCAA All-Regional honors in cross country, first to win multiple.

In Summit League awards, she is the lone Jackrabbit to win track post-season awards (Track Athlete of the Year in 2017 and Track Championship MVP in 2018) while moving into a tie for fifth all-time in the league for most indoor championship wins (six).

For records, King holds individual records on the track to this point of her career (IN: Mile, 3,000m, 5,000m, OUT: 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m) and moved to second all-time in the 1,500m, and was a part of the DMR school record. In cross country, she holds the third-fastest winning time for the league championship 6k (fastest for SDSU) and fifth overall fastest.

The distance runner from St. Michael, Minn. is the first Jackrabbit from the women's track and field team to be honored with the postgraduate scholarship since jumper Mary Wirth did in 2014. The last Jackrabbit overall to earn the scholarship was Jordan Dykstra (2016-17 Winter). Football's senior linebacker Dalton Cox has also received the scholarship this year.

About the Program
The NCAA awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually. The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.

The one-time non-renewable scholarships of $10,000 are awarded three times a year corresponding to each sport season (fall, winter and spring). Each sports season there are 21 scholarships available for men and 21 scholarships available for women for use in an accredited graduate program.

All former student-athletes who earned an undergraduate degree from an NCAA member school are eligible to be nominated by that school for an NCAA graduate degree scholarship, regardless of when they received their undergraduate degree.

JACKRABBITS 2019-20 SIGNEES - Full Story
The South Dakota State University track & field teams have signed seven high school student-athletes to National Letters of Intent, head coach Rod DeHaven announced on Dec. 3.

MEN:
Pierre Lear | Watertown High School | Watertown, S.D.
Named the 2018 State Champion in the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles while being runner-up in the high jump at the South Dakota Class AA State Track and Field Championships ... placed fifth in the 110m hurdles and third in the 300m hurdles in the 2017 State Championships ... has personal-best marks in the 110m hurdles (14.87), 300m hurdles (39.21), and high jump (6-06.00).

WOMEN:
Leah Hansen | Willmar High School | Willmar, Minn.
Finished 31st at the Minnesota Class AA State Cross Country meet ... has personal-best marks in the 1,600m (5:23), 3,200m (11:31), and 5k XC (18:25).

Bridget Henne | Ronald N. Davies High School | Fargo, N.D.
Finished 11th overall at the North Dakota Class A State Cross Country meet ... placed sixth overall in the 3,200m at the Class A track and field meet last spring ... has personal-best marks in the 1,600m (5:18), 3,200m (11:16), and 5k XC (18:44).

Micheala Kelley | Burwell High School | Burwell, Neb.
Has personal-best marks in the 1,600m (5:39), 3,200m (11:42), and 5k XC (19:43).

Emilee Nickel | Central High School | Rapid City, S.D.
Was named the 2017 State Champion in 100m hurdles at the South Dakota Class AA Track and Field Championships ... finished fifth overall in both 2016 and 2018 ... has a personal-best in the 100m hurdles of 14.74 seconds.

Kaley Waldemar | Irondale High School | New Brighton, Minn.
Was the Minnesota Class AA runner-up in the discus in 2018 ... has personal-best marks in the shot put (40-09.50) and discus (133-06.00).

Annie Wendt | Mayo High School | Rochester, Minn.
Placed sixth in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump at the 2018 Minnesota Class AA State Track and Field Championships ... has personal-best marks in the long jump (18-00.00) and triple Jump (37-01.50).

A YEAR AGO
Nebraska Invitational (Saturday, May 5) - The South Dakota State track and field team added a few more event winners and personal-best marks on the last weekend before The Summit League Outdoor Championships, including the school record in the men's 4x100m relay.

The relay team traveled down to the Nebraska Invitational today in hopes of getting the 2015 record set by Bo Arnold, LeAndre Kennedy, Zach Schroeder, and Adam Belhaj.

The team (1. So. Coby Hilton, 2. Jr. Landon Larson, 3. So. Daniel Clarke, 4. Jr. Sam Zenner) finally broke the school record in their third attempt of the season, winning (40.84) the Nebraska Invitational.

The first two attempts were in the prelims and finals at Drake, with the latter just 0.03 seconds from the school record.

Also, Clarke tallied his first career win in the 100m with a personal-best mark and the school's fourth-best time. Sophomre Coby Hilton added a PR in the 100m as well, just missing the newly established 10th-best mark by 0.02 seconds.

Howard Wood Dakota Relays (Saturday through Friday, May 4-5) - Even though the Howard Wood Dakota Relays had to be cut short due to weather (the Jackrabbits were not able to finish the 4x400m relay for both men and women), the State runners recorded two more event winners to total four for the weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Junior Kendra Dykstra notched her second win of the weekend, this time in the 1,500m where gathered her first win in the event and second top-three finish. Last night, Dykstra tallied a personal-best mark in the 800m, which is enough to break into the school's top 10 at fourth. She beat her previous-best by 3.55 seconds and scored her third career win.

Senior Krista Steele was right behind Dykstra in the 1,500m this afternoon and scored herself a personal-best that is ninth on the school's top 10 list.

On Friday, senior Kyle Burdick ran his first 800m of the 2018 outdoor campaign, winning the race and posting a personal-best mark to move him up to seventh on the school's all-time outdoor list.

Senior Kasie Vollmer added the second win of the afternoon for the Jackrabbits, which is her third win of the season and seventh of her career. She also tallied her second win at the Howard for her career, also winning the 2017 Dakota Relays.

Howard Wood Dakota Relays - Gold Medal Scholarship Athletes
Freshmen Jackrabbits Daniel Burkhalter (Una.) and Tori Glazier won the Gold Medal Scholarship provided by Dakota Relays. Burkhalter competed in the 800m and three relay events. His team won the 4x800m relay with a time of 9:53.48 and placed eighth in the 800m with a time of 2:04.60. Glazier finished fifth in the 1,600m run with a time of 5:12.26.

HEAD COACH DEHAVEN FOR THE TRIPLE CROWN
Head Coach Rod DeHaven has claimed two Summit League Coach of the Year honors so far, aiming to be the fourth men's coach in league history to claim all three Coach of the Year honors in a single academic year (cross country, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field).

He earned his seventh men's cross country yearly accolade on Nov. 29 after the men's team won their third consecutive league title with their lowest point total ever that resulted in six Jacks in the top 10. Then he claimed his second men's indoor honor when he orchestrated the first men's championship team since 1991, first in The Summit League, on March 20.

Overall, he has 10 yearly crowns, seven from men's cross country (second-most ever since the honor was introduced in 1982, claimed seven out of the last 12 years SDSU has been in the league), one from women's cross country (2008) and two from men's indoor track and field (2017, 2019). He has yet to garner an outdoor coach of the year nod from the league and is one of four coaches ever to claim cross country and indoor during the same academic year (has happened seven times, twice from Coach DeHaven).

INDOOR MOMENTUM - SEASON RECAP
Summit League Championships (Feb. 22-23) - The Jackrabbit men are coming off their first-ever Summit League track and field championship victory from Feb. 22-23 in the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex while the women finished fourth out of eight teams. The men scored 220 points thanks to large scoring numbers from the 800m and 5,000m (29 points each) and from the 60m and 200m (24 and 26 points). The women scored 76 points, just three points behind third-place Oral Roberts.

Senior Kyle Burdick scored 30 points individually to earn his first career Summit League Championship Track MVP accolade. He is the second-ever SDSU student-athlete named to the honor (Joel Reichow, 2017) while posting three event-wins that included two meet records (mile and 5,000m) and a personal-best (5,000m - No. 4 all-time for SDSU).

Junior Sam Zenner earned the league's second-ever Most Outstanding Performer honor (Burdick won the inaugural honor in 2018) thanks to his first two career wins in the indoor championships - the 60m (6.80) and 200m (21.07). He was within 0.10 seconds of the meet record in the 60m (6.70), but was able to reset recently published 200m meet record with ease (was 21.33).

Senior Rachel King came away with two wins (3,000m and 5,000m) while fellow senior Krista Steele is entering her outdoor campaign as the league's defending outdoor 800m champ (2018) and two-time defending indoor 800m champion (2018, 2019).

The Jackrabbits took eight wins on the men's side and four more on the women's out of 17 scored events while finishing with 25 total Jackrabbits qualifying for All-League recognition (16 from the men, nine from the women).

Seniors Kyle Burdick and Rachel King each have six career wins in The Summit League Indoor Track and Field Championships. Burdick is now tied for fourth all-time for most career indoor championship wins, two short of the most, and King is tied for fifth all-time, four short of the all-time mark. With Burdick winning three events this year, he is one of only three athletes in the league to ever win three or more. The last one to do it was Cameron Levins (2012, four - 800m, mile, 3,000m, 5,000m) of Southern Utah while Nevin Govan (1992 - LJ, TJ, HJ) did it for Eastern Illinois.

Academic All-League Success (March 13) - South Dakota State had five Jackrabbits named to The Summit League's Indoor Track and Field Academic All-League teams. For the men, three honored this year was the second-most in the league and SDSU was one of three schools represented on the list (North Dakota State - five, South Dakota - two). The Jacks have had at least three academic all-leaguers for four consecutive years (2016 - four, 2017 - three, 2018 - three).

For the women, two accolade-winners is tied for the second-most in the league and one of only three teams with multiple student-athletes represented on the list of 14. The Jackrabbits have held multiple spots on the list in five out of the six years the academic all-league existed (2013 - two, 2014 - two, 2015 - two, 2016 - two, 2017 - two, 2018 - one).

Leading the Jackrabbits during the indoor season were senior Kyle Burdick and Rachel King. Burdick, earning his second indoor all-league honor (2017) and sixth overall (2017, 2018 cross country, 2017, 2018 outdoor), lead the Jackrabbits in the indoor championships by scoring 30 individual points from three event-wins en route to his first career indoor track championship MVP.

King, a recent NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient (first woman to receive the scholarship since 2014) and three-time indoor academic all-league honoree (2017, 2018), earned her seventh overall academic team accolade (2016, 2017, 2018 cross country, 2017, 2018 indoor, 2018 outdoor). She scored 20 points from two event-wins in the 2019 indoor championships.

Senior Rachel Propst, along with junior duo Sam Zenner and Wyatt Gatrost, were named to their first academic all-league teams. Propst has maintained a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average throughout her Jackrabbit career. In the indoor championships, she was a member of the come-from-behind win in the distance medley for the Jacks, winning the team's third-ever medley and first since 2016.

Zenner is coming off his best indoor championship performance of his career and for a SDSU student-athlete in the sprints. With him winning the 60m and 200m, he was the first Jackrabbit to win either one of those events - adding a championship record in the 200m and earning the championship most outstanding performer.

Gatrost won his first indoor 800m and helped secure the team's first victory in the indoor championships. It was his second overall championship winning the event, tying for the victory in the outdoor 800m, and gathered his second indoor all-league accolade.

Summit League Indoor Yearly Accolades (March 20) - South Dakota State's head coach Rod DeHaven and senior distance runner Kyle Burdick were named as The Summit League's men's coach and track athlete of the year on Wednesday morning.

Helping score 30 points in the indoor league championships was Burdick, winning the mile, 3,000m, and 5,000m en route to the school's second-ever track championships MVP. He had two record-breaking performances - in the mile (4:06.06), he reset the 32-year old league championship record while in the 5,000m he reset Joel Reichow's ('17) 2017 meet-record performance (14:21.45).

Burdick finished the indoor campaign by leading the league in all three events and winning seven of the eight competitions throughout the season. The Rapid City, S.D. native noted an undefeated indoor 3,000m career, including three league crowns, and back-to-back championships in the mile.

His championship 5,000m performance proved to be the school's No. 4 all-time mark while setting the No. 2 all-time mark in the mile earlier in the season, behind Coach DeHaven.

Burdick will be the second SDSU runner to claim the indoor track athlete of the year accolade behind Reichow, who also won both the championship MVP and yearly honor in 2017. However, throughout his career, Burdick has claimed two more outdoor championship MVP's (2017, 2018) and another track athlete of the year crown outdoors (2017) while hoisting the first most outstanding performer last year indoors (2018).

Jackrabbit Indoor Record Summary
The 2019 indoor season was one for the record books, literally, as the men reset 35 marks in the school's top 10 and five school records while the women entered 21 marks into the all-time top-10 and three fresh school records.

The men's 60m and 200m top-10 lists were constantly be re-written as the five-some of Sam Zenner, Coby Hilton, Landon Larson, Daniel Clarke, and Emmanual Phoulom-Smith jostled throughout the lists, even exchanging records from week to week.

Kyle Burdick is now towards the top of nearly every distance event for both the school and The Summit League as his indoor career closes, resetting two of his PR's this season and running the 1,000m school-record mark for the first time in his career.

Like Burdick, Rachel King claims nearly every distance record for SDSU (mile, 3,000m, 5,000m), including a reset in the 3,000m this season.

The emergence of Caleb Bray and Mitchel Acker in the 400m at the league championships broke into the event's top 10 list for the first time since 2017 and the top-three since 2011.

Oksana Covey returned after redshirting a year and moved into two top-10 lists (400m and 600m), while holding onto the No. 2 all-time 800m from her freshman campaign.

Nick Wessels, and Jaymie O'Connor on the women's side, burst through their personal-best marks in the 60m hurdles with Wessels inching toward the 2004 school record and O'Connor resetting her personal-best school-record mark three times this season after first clinching it in 2017.

Freshman standout Ellie Friesen penciled in her name onto two lists - the 1,000m and mile - while Addison Eisenbeisz claimed a high jump mark that entered the list for the first time since 2017. Chloe Holtz joined her in the high jump list after two PR resets this season and a top-10 mark in the triple jump for the first time since 2016.

Miatta Flemister-Smith chased down Jackrabbit legend Carly Carper's records in the 60m and 200m, finishing No. 2 in the 60m and No. 6 in the 200m.

On top of that, the competition South Dakota State brought into the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex was fierce, resetting 24 men's meet records (five were Jacks), including nine in The Summit League Championships (three were Jacks), and 13 SJAC facility records (Burdick reset the 1,000m). For the women, 17 meet records were re-established (Flemister-Smith in the SDSU Holiday 60m and Covey in the SDSU DII 600m were Jacks), including three Summit League Championship resets, and 13 SJAC facility records (King reset the 3,000m at the league championships).

Record Breakdown - Total (Jackrabbits)
Men's Meet Records: 24 (5) /// Summit League Championship Records: 9 (3)
Men's Facility Records: 13 (1)
Men's School Records: 5
Men's Top-10 Entries: 35
Women's Meet Records: 17 (2) /// Summit League Championship Records: 3 (0)
Women's Facility Records: 13 (1)
Women's School Records: 3
Women's Top-10 Entries: 21

XC YEAR-END RECAP
Summit League Men (Oct. 28) - The men's cross country team returned to Brookings after the league championships as the three-time defending Summit League Champions, winning their latest championship by 37 points and notching the school's lowest point-score since 2007 (23 points).

The 23-point score was two points under SDSU's 2016 winning score (25) that started the championship run. The 2016 crew had six guys in the top-10, three in the top-five, while the 2018 squad had seven Jackrabbits in the top 10 and eight total winning All-League recognition. Summit League rivals South Dakota and North Dakota State were held to a combined three top-10 finishers.

Five First-Team All-Summit League honorees for SDSU is now the most-ever First-Team All-League honors for SDSU - beating the previous-best set in 2016 (four - won the championship). Three Second-Team All-League members is now tied for the most from South Dakota State (tying the 2014, 2013, 2009 teams). Eight total All-League honors is now the most-ever for South Dakota State in The Summit League era (beating the 2016 championship team's six All-League).

The 37-point margin of victory was the largest-ever by SDSU, beating the previous-best - a 27-point victory over South Dakota in 2012. As far as The Summit League's margin-of-victory records go, it was the second-largest win since South Dakota State joined in 2007 - just five points behind Southern Utah's 42-point win over Oakland in 2007. Southern Utah also holds the all-time record for margin-of-victory, beating Oakland by 60 points in 2006 when they had a perfect score (15).

As for average team times, the Jacks had a pace of 25:23.45 as a team - a time that beats the next-best average by 45.45 seconds from North Dakota State. All Jacks finished in the top-20 with SDSU's Michael Schwinghamer (eighth Jack) earning the last Second-Team All-League honor (14th overall). Schwinghamer, along with Evan Fick (ninth Jack, 17th overall), outpaced two other school's first-scored runner and four other school's second-scored runner. Schwinghamer nearly beat NDSU's and Purdue-Fort Wayne's No. 1 runners (they finished 12th and 13th with Schwinghamer in 14th).

Summit League Women (Oct. 28) - The women's team scored 61 points in a close team-finish behind South Dakota (won, 51 points) and North Dakota State (second, 52 points). It was the second-closest finish among the top-three schools in the league championships (10-point difference between the winners and third place).

The closest was in 2007 when Purdue-Fort Wayne and Southern Utah tied for first (67 points each) and South Dakota State recorded third (68 points). The next closest finish among the top-three schools was in 2016 when South Dakota won (43 points), North Dakota State finished second (48) and South Dakota State placed third (55) - a 12-point difference.

For the Jackrabbit team, it was the fifth-lowest overall team score in The Summit League Championships and the second-lowest team score when they've placed third in the league (2016's team finished third, scored 55 points).

South Dakota State added two First-Team All-Summit League honorees (Rachel King, Emily Donnay), and nearly a Second-Team All-Summit League award-winner (Anna Donnay - missed by 0.05 seconds), to help keep the point-total low. The Jacks have had multiple First-Team All-League performers only three times, with the most being three in 2016 (other times: 2015 - two, 2013 - two).

Jackrabbit Newcomers Take League by Storm (Oct. 28) - Both freshman Joseph Minor-Williams and Thomas Breuckman could have taken home The Summit League's Newcomer of the Championship for the men, as they finished 0.6 seconds from each other in the league's top-10 individual finish. However, Minor-Williams (eighth, 25:38.6) edged out Breuckman (ninth, 25:39.2) for the honor.

Minor-Williams helped SDSU complete the sweep of The Summit League's Newcomer of the Championship awards, as fellow freshman on the women's side - Ellie Friesen (18th, 22:12.3) - won the Newcomer of the Championship on the women's side. Friesen was the second-ever Jackrabbit on the women's side to win the honor - since senior Rachel King was honored as a freshman 2015.

Since the award was changed to Newcomer of the Championship in 2008, only two other schools have claimed both newcomer awards in the same season (2010 - NDSU, 2012 - USD). South Dakota State and North Dakota State are tied for the most Newcomer of the Championship award recipients with six each (Bison: two men, four women; Jackrabbits: four men, two women).

Jacks Pace Summit League at NCAA Regionals (Nov. 9) - The South Dakota State men's and women's cross country teams finished their 2018 campaigns in Peoria, Ill. at the NCAA Midwest Regionals with the men finishing 10th (288 points) and the women tying their best-ever place-finish and scoring their lowest point-total, 13th (369 points).

It was the fifth time the men's team has finished in the top 10 of the Midwest Regionals, while no other active Summit League school has finished in the top 10 of their respective region. The women were the second-best Summit League team in the Midwest Region, knocking off the league championship runner-up NDSU.

The Jackrabbits were led by a couple of seniors on both sides who earned NCAA All-Region honors - the only Summit League school to have a multiple All-Region honorees.

Rachel King led the women, finishing 19th overall (21:01.9) to garner the award. She is the second-ever Jack on the women's team to earn NCAA All-Region accolades (started in 2010) and is the first to win multiple in her career - back-to-back. The women's team has now had three consecutive seasons with a top-25 finisher (Emily Donnay - 2016; King - 2017, 2018) and King is one of three Summit League women to earn All-Region multiple times.

Kyle Burdick led the men's team for the first time this season, en route to his best place-finish at the regional meet and earn All-Region honors, placing 15th (31:18.3). He helps the SDSU team earn the honor for the fourth year in a row, while gathering his second consecutive personally. Only four State runners have received the award, three of them have been honored multiple times (Michael Krsnak - 2010; Trent Lusignan - 2013, 2015; Joel Reichow - 2015, 2016; Burdick - 2017, 2018). In Summit League comparison, he is one of four individuals to achieve the status multiple times (three other individuals being from SDSU).

As for All-Regional honorees in The Summit League, South Dakota State has had the most All-Region individuals since the award was introduced in 2010 with six Jackrabbits winning 10 mentions. Other schools in the league, all together, have 12 mentions from 10 athletes - with the most any one school having is three honorees winning four mentions.

Academic All-Leaguers (Nov. 13) - The Summit League announced the cross country Academic All-League team that included three South Dakota State Jackrabbits - Kyle Burdick, Chase Cayo, and Rachel King. There were five All-League nominations for both men and women, with SDSU tied with North Dakota State for the most All-League nominations at three each.

For senior Kyle Burdick and junior Chase Cayo, they earned their second consecutive Academic All-League honor of their career in cross country - third overall for Cayo (2018 indoor) and fifth overall for Burdick (2017 indoor and outdoor, 2018 outdoor). Only two other SDSU student-athletes have won multiple Academic All-Leagues - Drew Kraft (2012, 2014) and Joel Reichow (2015, 2016).

As for senior Rachel King, she is garnered with her third career accolade in cross country and her sixth overall (2017 indoor, 2018 indoor and outdoor). She is the only Jackrabbit to win multiple Academic All-League honors in cross country - being only the third-ever to garner the accolade (Cheyanne Bowers - 2013, Courtney Neubert - 2014).

USTFCCCA All-Academic Teams & Individuals (Feb. 14) - The South Dakota State cross country teams were named All-Academic teams for the seventh consecutive time, 11th time overall, since becoming Division I according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association..

Seniors Kyle Burdick and Rachel King were also named to the All-Academic individual team for the second times in their respective careers. Burdick keeps the men's cross country streak of now four individuals honored consecutively (since 2015) and King is the all-time women's leader in cross country or track and field for most times named to the USTFCCCA honor list (5 times).

The women's team held the sixth-highest GPA (3.71) among the 232 NCAA DI schools represented on the list, the best mark among Summit League schools and second in the Midwest Region behind Iowa State (fifth, 3.75 GPA). The team's cumulative GPA this year is the second-highest highest behind 2007-08 squad. Last year, the team was tied for the what is now the fourth-highest GPA (3.68) with the 2008 season (3.72 GPA in 2007, 3.71 GPA in 2018, 3.69 GPA in 2016, 3.68 in 2017 and 2008).

The men's team posted the 20th-best GPA (3.51) out of 195 DI schools honored, the second-best mark in the league behind Purdue Fort Wayne (19th, 3.52 GPA) and fourth in the Midwest Region. It is their highest-ever team average, beating last year's average (3.41) and the 2014's GPA (3.49).

Burdick, majoring in natural resource law enforcement, was named to last year's team while also being an honoree for the track and field season along with 2018 graduate Colton Bender. Combining his track (2) and cross country all-academic teams (2), he's now been a part of four lists.

King, studying health education, was named to her first cross country list last year while adding her third consecutive individual honor in track last season. Sara Ackman (2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10) and Michelle Schuch (2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10) were each nominated three times for the second-most by an individual State student-athlete.

2018 OUTDOOR SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
TULSA, Okla. (May 10-12, 2018) - Back in the May of last year, the Jackrabbits traveled to Oral Roberts to compete in the league championships, finishing runner-up (215.50) on the men's side and fourth (111.0) on the women's side.

Junior Bryant Courter led the Jacks in capturing all of the men's awards by winning his second Field Championship MVP accolade. Scoring 23.50 points, he won both the long jump and triple jump for the second year in a row, adding PR's in both. His triple jump was a school record while his farthest long jump would have been the school championship record if it was not wind-aided. However, his second farthest jump 25-00.00 feet to push his name up to second all-time on the school's top 10.

Senior Kyle Burdick added his second straight Championship Track MVP by winning the 1,500m, finishing runner-up in the 10,000m, and grabbing the bronze in the 800m - totaling 24 points. It was his first attempt in the 800m at the championships, while he defended his title in the 1,500m.

Sophomore Daniel Clarke gathered 13 points individually, then helped the team add another 10 in the 4x100m relay to win the Jacks' second straight Newcomer of the Championship Award (Courter won it last year).

Clarke scored his points by adding PR's in three of the four events he competed in, including the school record in the 100m (set it in the prelims, and would have set it in the finals) and the 4x100m relay (team reset the school record, trimming off 0.44 seconds). His third personal-best mark came in the long jump where he scored the school's fourth-best jump.

Juniors Chase Cayo and Wyatt Gatrost joined Burdick and Courter as the SDSU event winners. Cayo competed on the first day, taking the victory in the 10,000m with teammates Burdick and 2018 graduate Trevor Capra rounding out the podium. Gatrost earned a photo-finish in the men's 800m, tying South Dakota's Eldon Warner, and leading five other Jackrabbits in the finals.

2018 graduate Mason Leiseth had one of the five school records set at the outdoor championships, setting the all-time mark in the shot put and increasing his PR by 7.50 inches.

Junior Evan Hieber broke the 1989 school record in the decathlon by 60 points, gathering nine personal-best marks out of the 10.

Sophomore Coby Hilton was one of five student-athletes to have multiple personal-best marks. He advanced to the finals of the 100m and 200m, finishing fifth and fourth. He jumped to the fourth-best mark in school history in the prelims of the 100m and (tied fourth-best) finals of the 200m.

Hilton would have had the third-best mark in the 200m if his preliminary time was not illegally wind-aided. The Marshall, Minn. native complimented his individual accolades with a team effort to reset the school record in the 4x100m relay once more along with Clarke. The team trimmed off another 0.44 seconds and won the league race, a championship record as well.

On the women's side, senior Rachel King finished with two top-three finishes, including her first league victory in the 3,000m steeplechase, 14th overall career win.

Seniors Krista Steele and Kasie Vollmer, along with 2018 graduate Vanessa Lane totaled up the last of the four Jackrabbit victories in Tulsa. Vollmer added another 2-11.00 feet to her season-best to win the discus throw while Steele posted her first outdoor 800m championship (she won both 2018 indoor/outdoor league 800m), her fifth career win in the event.

Lane ended her Jackrabbit career finally winning the heptathlon by posting two PR's and two event wins on the second and final days.

Junior Miatta Flemister-Smith represented two of the eight personal-best marks set at ONEOK Sports Complex, en route to a seventh-place finish in the 100m and a fifth-place finish in the 200m. Both her 100m (11.92) and 200m (24.39) are in the school's top 10 (100m -T-4th, 200m - T-7th).

SOCIAL MEDIA
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UP NEXT
Once the regular season is over, South Dakota State will pack up and head to Macomb, Ill. to compete in The Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships, looking to defend their 2019 indoor men's title.

Several Jackrabbits will continue their season beyond the league championships, with the NCAA West Preliminary round in Sacramento, Calif. on May 23-25 with hopes of finishing the season at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas on June 5-8.

-GoJacks.com-