The Meet

South Dakota track and field plays host for the USD Invitational this Saturday at Mildred J. Hillenbrand Memorial Track inside the DakotaDome. Field events are slated to start at 11 a.m. with the first running events to being at 1 p.m. Joining the Coyotes in the meet field are South Dakota State, Drake and Omaha.
 

The Coyotes

The South Dakota women's and men's track and field teams were picked second and third, respectively, in the Summit League preseason poll. The Coyotes return four Summit League champions for the indoor season. Pole vaulter Ethan Bray returns for his senior season after qualifying for his first NCAA Championships in 2020 with an indoor-best vault of 18-1. Sophomore Brithton Senior owns the Summit record for the 60-meter hurdles (7.74), a mark that qualified him for last year's NCAA meet. Junior Landon Kemp won the pole vault at the Summit meet and senior Holly Gerberding captured the pentathlon. Individuals named to the league's athlete to watch list include senior thrower Callie Henrich, freshman sprinter Sara Reifenrath, freshman sprinter Demar Francis and freshman pole vaulter Eerik Haamer.
 

The Competition

South Dakota State flipped with South Dakota in the Summit League's preseason polls. The Jackrabbit men were picked second with one first-place vote, while the SDSU women were picked third. The Coyotes and the Jacks split accordingly in a dual meet in December. The 2020 Summit League Newcomer of the Championship Annie Wendt of SDSU joins the Jacks' middle-distance runner Oksana Ovey on the preseason Summit athletes to watch list. SDSU pole vaulter Trent Francom, the Summit bronze medalist a year ago, and sprinter Coby Hilton were named preseason athletes to watch for the men. Omaha's women were picked seventh in the Summit poll with sprinter Carrie Simonson named to the preseason athletes to watch list. Drake, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, was picked seventh in the men's preseason poll and eighth in the women's poll. This will be the season opener for both Omaha and Drake.
 

The National Leaders

 
Five early NCAA leaders will be at Saturday's meet – three Coyotes and a pair of Jackrabbits – with marks from the two schools' dual meet in December. USD has the nation's top-two marks in the women's pole vault, led by junior Deidra Marrison's nation-leading 13-5 ¼ with senior Makiah Hunt in second. Sophomore Carly Haring tops the women's high jump rankings with a height of 5-10 ¾. While there will not be a multi-event competition on Saturday, senior Holly Gerberding has the top pentathlon in the country with a score of 3,518 points. SDSU's leaders are Coby Hinton in the 200 meters (21.34) and Trent Francom in the pole vault (17-2 ¾).
 

One Last Thing

This marks the first home meet for the Coyotes in 11 months. Since the NCAA canceled the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships last March, competition has been on pause across the country. Only 12 Division I meets have taken place to date, a number which will be more than doubled this weekend as the USD Invitational is one of 21 Division I meets taking place nationwide.