BROOKINGS – Coby Hilton had a big meet as the South Dakota State men took second and the women were third in the Summit League Indoor Track & Field Championships, contested over the weekend at the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.
North Dakota State topped the men’s standings with 200 points. The Jackrabbits were second at 164.5 and South Dakota (148) finished third.
In the women’s division, the Bison had 225 points on top. The Coyotes (146) and Jacks (127.5) were second and third, respectively.
Hilton was named the most valuable track athlete totaling 20 points throughout the championship. During the first day of competition, Hilton turned in two career-best marks in the 60m and the 200m prelims. He finished first in both the events clocking a 6.75 in the 60m and turning in a 21.05 in the 200m to set the new league record. During finals, Hilton took home his first gold medal of the day clocking a 6.76 in the 60m to claim the event. He then turned around and bested his record from prelims clocking a blistering 20.93 to take home the 200m crown to also earn the school and facility record and Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.
Thomas Breuckman claimed his second gold medal of the championships in Sunday’s mile race. Breuckman, who won the 3,000m yesterday, opened the day’s running events with a championship performance of 4:07.85. SDSU picked up a silver and a bronze medal in the women’s section of the mile when Ellie Friesen ran a 4:54.01 for second and Cailee Peterson chipped away at her personal-best mile time with a 45:4.34.
Rich-Ann Archer clocked a 7.54 to take gold in the women’s 60m dash. Behind Archer, freshman Jaiden Boomsma ran a 7.63 for bronze. Nick Wessels finished third in the 60m hurdles with an 8.19.
Oksana Covey earned runner-up honors in the women’s 800 with a 2:11.45 clocking.
In the 400, Reid Pierzinski (47.80) took bronze for the men, while Hannah Whitbread (56.15) did the same for the women. Both marks would go down as personal bests and place No. 3 all-time at SDSU.
Top-seeded Joseph Minor-Williams won the men’s 5K in a time of 14:30.8, while Leah Hansen took second in the women’s section with a mark of 16:32.35, a time that would come as a personal best and a faster mark than the previous meet record. Anna Donnay would take home bronze with a 17:11.78.
Trevor Begeman stole his own program record for the fourth time this season and took home a fourth-place finish in the men’s shot put with a hurl of 60-06.75. Josh Donahoe turned in a career-high 4498 points to take fifth in the men’s heptathlon and Faith Leiseth threw a career-best shot put mark of 47-11.2 for a fourth-place finish and is now tied for sixth at State.
SDSU’s 4x400 (Manny Phoulom-Smith, Pierre Lear, Jake Werner, Reid Pierzinski) clocked a 3:16.00, good enough for fourth place and the No. 4 time in program history.
