BROOKINGS, S.D.—South Dakota captured 11 events and senior
Lara Boman broke her own school record in the weight throw on Saturday at the Jim Emmerich Alumni Invitational.
Boman launched the weight throw 67 feet, 2 inches, to improve her own program record by eight inches. She took third in a competitive field as the second collegian. Her mark ranks 19th in the NCAA this season.
Junior
Chris Nilsen vaulted to the top spot in the NCAA this weekend after clearing 18-6 ¾. Nilsen leads the country by more than three inches with the jump, while eight men have cleared 18-1 so far this season. The Coyotes swept the top-four spots in the men's pole vault. Junior
Nick Johnson finished runner-up in 16-6 ¾ while junior
Ethan Bray, who's redshirting, placed third and freshman
Sean McClellan took fourth.
The Coyotes also swept the top-four spots in the women's pole vault, highlighted by junior
Helen Falda's winning height of 13-9 ¼. Falda moves to 12th in the NCAA with the mark. Senior
Kimmy Peterson matched her mark from last weekend (12-11 ½) to finish runner-up, while sophomore
Landon Kemp and freshman
Deidra Marrison took third and fourth, respectively.
Senior
Ben Hammer joins an elite crew with a shot put throw past 60 feet for the first time in his career. He won the event in 60-3 ¼ for the third-best mark in school history, joining alums Kyle McKelvey and Cody Snyder. He ranks 24th in the nation with the throw.
Clearing seven feet for the third time this season, junior
Zack Anderson jumped 7-1 to win the high jump. Sophomore teammate
Travis Larson finished runner-up in 6-8 ¾.
Senior
Megan Billington split the 3,000 meters and the one mile run with SDSU's Rachel King as both races came down to the wire. Billington outlasted King in the 3,000 meters for first in 9:59.31. King then edged out Billington in the mile by .01 seconds. Billington finished runner-up in 4:55.62.
On the men's side,
Eldon Warner captured the mile for the second-straight week with a winning time of 4:12.25. Warner added a runner-up performance in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:23.89.
Redshirt-senior
Ethan Fenchel won the weight throw with a toss of 66-5 ¾. He was a foot shy of his own school record set last weekend at Iowa.
Junior
Britny Kerr leaped 39-5 ¼ for a new indoor personal best in the triple jump. The mark moves her to sixth on the Coyote top-10 list. Kerr also clocked 8.86 seconds in the 60 hurdles for third place.
South Dakota swept the short sprints with junior
Tasheka Gordon taking gold in the 60 meters and senior
Karina Dufoe capturing the 200 meters. Gordon clocked 7.65 seconds to win, just .03 away from tying her personal best. Dufoe finished in 25.21 seconds with teammate
Samara Spencer placing third in the race in 25.57.
The Coyotes swept the top-three spots in the women's shot put, led by sophomore
Callie Henrich's winning throw of 46-0 ¾. Senior
Mary Wester took second while freshman
Josephine Starner placed third.
Sophomore
Macy Heinz clocked an indoor best of 2:13.23 for second place in the 800 meters. The time ranks seventh in school history. Senior
Mallory Fine finished just behind in 2:14.00 for third.
Sophomore
Danielle Thompson placed third in the 400 meters behind a collegiate-best performance of 57.68 seconds.
In the 600 meters, sophomore
Holly Gerberding placed third with a time of 1:37.52.
The Coyotes return to action next weekend at the Jack Johnson Classic in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
