VERMILLION – The South Dakota State track and field team was able to compete outdoors on Wednesday afternoon in Vermillion.
It was the first opportunity since the last weekend in March, and it was a last-minute meet to fit between the weekend weather.
The Jackrabbits made the most of their opportunities with 14 total top-three individual finishers and five relay teams, including two individual event winners and one winning relay team.
Sophomores Sam Zenner and Micah Mather recorded their first career wins in their respective events.
Zenner notched his first 2018 200-meter dash time of 21.76 seconds, while Mather posted his personal-best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 9:20.84, beating his previous-best by 7.88 seconds.
The women’s 4x400m relay team of senior Savannah Dolezal, sophomore Allison Sebern, senior Vanessa Lane and junior Krista Steele recorded the lone relay win for the Jacks.
The team nearly cracked the school’s top 10 list with a time of 3:50.32, just missing by 1.53 seconds.
Many of the members of the throwing group had their first opportunities to compete outdoors, posting the first marks in the shot put, men’s discus and women’s javelin.
Highlighting the group was senior Colton Bender, who added on to his school record list. He reset the hammer throw school record with 204 foot, 3 inch throw, which is ranked 19th in the NCAA West performance list and 46th nationally.
Bender increased his personal-best mark by 4 feet, 9 inches and notched his 10th career top-three finish in the event.
In the discus throw, senior Mason Leiseth posted a personal-best mark of 167-1, which is good enough for ninth on the school’s all-time list.
His new PR is five feet better than his last and ranks 68th on the NCAA West performance list.
On the women’s side, junior Kasie Vollmer recorded a season-best toss of 162-10, which would be ranked fifth on the school’s top 10 list if she did not already have the school record.
Her mark is ranked 45th on the NCAA West performance list.
Junior Abby Sudbeck also notched a season-best mark of 180-10 in the hammer throw. Her toss is just 1 foot, 7 inches from her PR, which is sixth on the school’s all-time list. Sudbeck is tied for 47th on the NCAA Performance list.
Sophomore Evan Hieber posted two career-best marks at the Lillibridge Track Complex.
His mark of 21-7 1/4 in the long jump beat his outdoor mark by 2 feet, 1 3/4 inches and his indoor mark by 10 inches.
Then he threw a PR of 161-10 in the Javlein, beating his previous-best by 16 feet, 5 inches.
He also ran the third leg in the “B” team 4x400m relay that finished seventh in 3:30.14.
Freshman Trent Francom recorded a personal-best of 16 feet, 3/4 inch in the pole vault, cracking the school’s top 10 heights. He is tied for 10th with Terry Morrison (set in 2001).
Up Next
SDSU will travel back to California and compete in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate on April 19; the Bryan Clay Invite on April 19-20; and the Mt. SAC Relays on April 20-21.
Photo from www.gojacks.com.
