JACKS TREND UPWARDS HEADING TOWARD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Friday, May 2

Irvine, Calif.

South Dakota State University

UC Irvine Invite

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/3/2025 8:00:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Irvine, Calif. - The South Dakota State Jackrabbits were on top of their game this weekend as they competed at the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine and the USD Tune Up Meet in Vermillion.

HEAD COACH ROD DEHAVEN

"It was a very productive weekend for the Jackrabbit track and field team. Many all-time top tens and heaps of personal bests. We are trending well as we head to the championship portion of the season."

Steve Scott Invitational - Irvine, Calif.
The Jackrabbits came away with 11 medals at the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine. The men took home seven medals while the women came away with four medals.

Josie Curry got the Jacks started on Friday, placing fifth in the Women's Hammer Throw with a throw of 179-04, the seventh longest in program history. Jaden Peters and Ryan Karajanis followed her effort by both placing top five in the men's pole vault, Peters finishing second and Karajanis fifth. Ryann Moline placed third in the javelin throw with a mark of 136'10".

Hunter Wallster took first in the men's hammer throw on Friday night with a mark of 196'6". His first-place mark was just under 12 feet in front of the runner-up in the competition.

Rylan McDowell finished Friday night off for the Jacks with a runner-up finish in the men's long jump, with a mark of 24'1.5". His jump placed him sixth on the program's top-10 all-time list.

Saturday's portion of the meet started with two top-five finishes for the 4x100m relay teams. The women's team, consisting of Brielle Dixon, Ellie Harris, Maggie Madsen and Sian O'Sullivan, finished fourth with a time of 45.84, and the men's team, consisting of Jared Wipf, Evan Henderson, Carter Toews and Drew Olson, finished second with a time of 40.62. Both times were top-10 all-time in SDSU program history in their respective events; the women's time was third in program history, and the men's time was seventh.

Brielle Dixon followed this up by placing second in the 100m hurdles and Pierre Lear took first in 110m hurdles with a time of 14.02.

In the 400m dash, Erika Kuntz moved up the program's top-10 list with a 3rd place finish and a time of 55.13. Thailan Hallman finished third in the 400m dash with a time of 47.94. Jared Wipf followed up by finishing fifth in the 100m with a time of 10.65.

Gunnar Gunderson put his name on the program's top-10 list with a 400m hurdles performance time of 52.97, good for sixth in program history and 3rd in the event.

Carter Toews finished off the day for the track athletes by posting the 10th-best 200m time in program history at 21.33 and finishing 5th in the event.

Madison Kizer started the field events off strong with a high jump performance of 5'8" and a third-place finish. Grayson Ring finished third in the men's high jump with a performance of 6'6".

Finally, Caiden Fredrick took home first in the men's discus with a throw of 186'0". Frederick was able to do this on his final throw, propelling himself from third to first in the discus.

USD Tune Up Meet
The USD Tune Up Meet was highlighted by three new additions to the SDSU top-10 all-time record list.

The men's 4x100 relay team of Nate McCormick, Hunter Schroeder, Blake Koenen and Landon Matkins posted a time of 41.21, finishing third in the event and 10th in program history.

Sam Castle improved his own PR in the 800m with a time of 1:50.70 to best his own mark on the top-10 list.

Finally, freshman Harley Johnson put up a huge PR in the javelin with a throw of 144-01, to finish third in the event and fifth in program history.

In other action, Briane Travis finished fifth in the women's 5000m and Cashton Johnson finished fifth in the men's 1500m.

Up Next
The Jacks are back in action next week as they head back to Vermillion to compete in the USD Last Chance Open.

-GoJacks.com-