Rachel King Concludes Her Jackrabbit Career

Wednesday, June 5

Austin, Texas

TBA

South Dakota State University

NCAA DI Outdoor National Championships

Photo by: Kirby Lee

6/6/2019 8:40:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Live Results: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sr. Rachel King finishes 11th in the first heat of the 3,000m steeplechase semifinals at the NCAA Championships, 21st overall

AUSTIN, Texas - South Dakota State senior Rachel King concluded her historical Jackrabbit career at the NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the semifinals of the 3,000m steeplechase with a 21st-place finish (10:29.77).

The St. Michael, Minn. native competed in the first of two heats in the steeplechase and came across the finish line at No. 11, improving her overall place-finish from a year ago (23rd).

Of her many achievements throughout her career, her most notable may be that she was the first female Jackrabbit in SDSU's DI era to compete at the outdoor championship event on the track, accomplishing the feat last year.

This year, King continued to be the lone female track student-athlete representing the Yellow and Blue on the national stage while also being the first male or female SDSU student-athlete to qualify for the national championships in NCAA DI West Preliminary era (Sara Ackman also qualified in back-to-back seasons, but in the Midwest Regional in 2009 and West Regionals in 2010).

As soon as the championships conclude in Austin, the USTFCCCA will announce her as an All-America Honorable Mention, her second consecutive honor.

Throughout her SDSU career, she has claimed six school records, including six resets in the 3,000m steeplechase, while being named No. 2 all-time in two more events. Six school records held by an individual is second-most held by a Jackrabbit - male or female (Carly Carper).

King is also one of two student-athletes - male or female - to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminaries all four years of competition (Mary Wirth).

The fastest time out of the 3,000m steeplechase semifinals was Boise State's Allie Oustrander (9:44.32) while the last qualifying time was 10:00.39 by Providence's Brianna Ilarda.

4X100M RELAY HIGHLIGHTS - (Full Story & Video)
The South Dakota State men's 4x100m relay squad ended their 2019 campaign as the 19th-best team in the country, competing in the semifinals of the NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The squad of freshman Emmanual Phoulom-Smith, sophomores Coby Hilton and Daniel Clarke, and junior Sam Zenner (raced in that order) came into the semifinals as the 24th seed and finished 19th overall, sixth in the third and final heat of the round, with their third-fastest time of the season and in school history (40.17).

The four Jackrabbits will be announced as All-America Honorable Mentions by the USTFCCCA as soon as the track and field championships conclude.

The quartet earned a bid to Austin with the school's first sub-40-second performance at the NCAA DI West Preliminaries on May 23-25 in Sacramento, Calif. (39.99).

The road to the national championships began with a No. 2 all-time SDSU performance at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate (April 18, 40.55) and improved to the then-school record at the Drake Relays when pitted against a Houston squad (April 24-27, 40.12).

The team defended their Summit League Championship title at the beginning of May (8-10, 40.99) and reset the school record for the second time of season at the west prelims to score the last qualifying spot to Austin.

The Jackrabbit speedsters of Zenner, Hilton, and Clarke have been a member of four school-record resetting teams, including two from 2018, while true freshman Phoulom-Smith has been a part of two.

The four were the first Jackrabbit men's or women's relay squad to qualify for the NCAA DI West Preliminaries while Hilton was the first SDSU male to compete in the 200m and qualify for both the 100m and 200m at the preliminaries.

The squad accomplished many historical achievements for not only South Dakota State, but for The Summit League as well by becoming the first men's relay team - 4x400m or 4x100m - to qualify for the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships.

The last qualifying spot to compete for the national championship crown on Friday belongs North Carolina A&T with a time of 39.00 seconds while the fastest team out of the semifinals was Florida with a time of 38.35 seconds.

UP NEXT
This concludes the 2019 track and field campaign for the Jackrabbits. Senior Kyle Burdick is in contention for an Google Cloud Academic All-America honor presented by CoSIDA while the 2019 cross country season will begin around the start of the new academic year.

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

-GoJacks.com-