INDIANAPOLIS—South Dakota alumna Emily Grove has been selected to Team USA for The Match – a dual meet showdown between the USA and Europe scheduled for Sept. 9-10 in Minsk, Belarus.
 
A return to the famous intercontinental duels of the 1960s and 1970s, the best of Europe's athletes will take on Team USATF in the last major athletics competition before this year's IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
 
"Any opportunity you have to represent Team USA and wear the uniform is pretty exciting," said Grove. "The intensity is always a little bit higher in that instance, and you want to perform well. So that's always a good thing."
 
Grove is scheduled to jump in the women's pole vault competition at 7 p.m. local time (or 11 a.m. CT) on Sept. 9. The two-day meet will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network and NBC Sports Gold from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT.
 
As the fourth-place finisher at the U.S. Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this summer, Grove is also the alternate for Team USA for the IAAF World Championships slated for the end of September. If one of the U.S. women were to win the Diamond League final on Sept. 6 in Brussels, the United States would be granted a fourth entry to the IAAF World Championships that Grove would fill. Grove previously competed for Team USA at the 2017 IAAF World Championships.