University of South Dakota Athletics

Marci (Miller) Gassen is a six-time all-American pole vaulter who was named the NCAA Woman of the Year for South Dakota in 2005. She took bronze at the NCAA indoor national championship meet in 2004 and boasted six top-six finishes at nationals spanning four years of competition.
 
Gassen was the second Coyote to earn all-America honors in the women's pole vault. She graduated holding both the indoor record with a vault of 12-feet-6-inches and the outdoor record with a mark of 12-feet-8.5-inches. She won the 2004 NCC outdoor pole vault championship and took silver three times.
 
Gassen graduated in four years and with honors while double majoring in psychology and communication sciences and disorders. She was named a first-team academic all-American in 2005 and that same year was named USD's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She was one of 29 women across the country to earn a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship. In 2009, she earned a doctorate degree in audiology from USD.
 
Gassen married former USD standout linebacker Josh Gassen. The couple lives in Sioux Falls and are raising four boys that range in age from 5-13. Marci has practiced audiology at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Sioux Falls for the past 11 years.