EUGENE, Ore.–South Dakota seniors Danielle Waldner and Emily Grove picked up second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday night at Historic Hayward Field.
 
Waldner became the first Coyote to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the shot put and earned her first second-team All-America honors with a 14th-place finish. Waldner launched the shot put 54 feet, ½ inches, on her second throw of the competition. She was a foot off making the nine-woman final. Kent State's Danniel Thomas took home her first NCAA title after launching a personal best 62-10.
 
Grove tied for 15th in the pole vault for the second consecutive season to garner second-team All-America honors. She cleared 13-1 ½ with ease before missing all three attempts at 13-7 ¼. Olivia Gruver of Kentucky grabbed her first NCAA title with a height of 14-9. Grove picked up her sixth career All-America award, the most by a Coyote at the NCAA Division I level. She holds a top finish of second place at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships and owns four of USD's 13 outdoor All-America awards.
 
Grove and Waldner both concluded their decorated Coyote careers Thursday evening.
 
The senior duo are both four-time Summit League champions in their respective events and hold Summit League Championship outdoor meet records. Grove vaulted 15-1 in April to become the NCAA's ninth collegiate vaulter to clear the 15-foot barrier. Waldner launched the shot put 56-11 ½ at the Summit League Championships in May, nearly seven feet further than any other Coyote in history.
 
In South Dakota's first seven years of NCAA Division I eligibility in outdoor track & field, the Coyotes have tallied one national champion, garnered 13 All-America honors and boasted 18 qualifiers to the NCAA Championships.