VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota senior
Ethan Bray climbed to second in the NCAA standings in the men's pole vault, clearing 18-1 at the USD Invitational on Hillenbrand Track on Saturday afternoon.
The Coyotes swept the team races on Saturday. USD's women scored 188.5 points, topping a field that consisted of South Dakota State (134), Drake (60) and Omaha (58.5). USD's men scored 136 points to best South Dakota State (80) and Drake (46). Each team scored a maximum of two athletes, or one relay, per event.
Bray tied his indoor best of 18-1 from a season ago. The same height qualified him for the NCAA Championships a season ago, vaulting the mark inside the DakotaDome on both occasions. Freshman
Eerik Haamer took third in the competition with a vault of 16-11 ¼.
On the women's side, sophomore
Gen Hirata vaulted a collegiate best 13-8 ½ to take first. The height ranks sixh in the NCAA this season. Juniors
Landon Kemp and
Deidra Marrison tied for second without a miss up to 13-2 ¾. Kemp moves to 10th in the NCAA, while Marrison's height from December ranks her eighth.
Junior
Jack Durst cleared 7-0 ½ to capture the men's high jump title. The height ties him for fourth in the nation this season. Redshirt-freshman
Ethan Heitman took second in 6-6 ¾.
Senior
Callie Henrich was a double-winner on Saturday, capturing both the weight throw and shot put. She launched the weight throw a season-best 61-2 ¼ and the shot put 47-1 ¾. She moves to 12th nationally in the weight throw. Sophomore
Lydia Knapp finished runner-up in the weight throw with a personal best of 57-10, moving to fifth in program history. Junior
Josephine Starner took second in the shot put.
Sophomore
Carly Haring captured her second high jump title of the season, clearing 5-9 ¾. She made 5-10 ¾ back in December, which remains third in the NCAA this season. Haring narrowly missed on her three attempts on 5-11 ¼ today.
Freshman standout
Sara Reifenrath clocked 56.64 to win the 400 meters. The time ranks ninth in USD program history and ranks 10th in the NCAA. Senior
Danielle Thompson finished runner-up in 59.96 seconds.
Making his season debut, sophomore
Hugo Morvan won the 60-meter hurdles in a collegiate best of 8.05 seconds. He ranks fourth in USD program history with the mark and moves to 17th in the NCAA. Freshman
Tre Young finished runner-up in 8.53 seconds.
Freshman
Jacob Jenkins leaped a winning triple jump mark of 48-0 ½. The distance ranks him 23rd in the NCAA this year. He also moves into USD's top-10 list for the triple jump, ranking ninth in program history. Jenkins is the first Coyote to make the men's triple jump list since 2011. He also finished runner-up in the long jump at the meet with a jump of 22-1 ¼.
Senior
Matt Slagus launched the weight throw a collegiate best 65-6 ¾ to take second in the competition. The mark ranks second in program history and 15th in the NCAA this season.
Freshman
Demar Francis clocked 50.30 seconds to win the men's 400 meters. Senior
Zach Renken took second in 52.96. Renken also anchored the Coyotes' winning 4x400-meter relay in 3:30.75.
Senior
Jonna Bart and freshman
Abrielle Jirele lapped the field to finish 1-2 in the women's 3,000 meters. Bart took home the win in 10:09.35 while Jirele clocked 10:13.44 in her first attempt at the distance.
The men's 60 meters was neck-and-neck between Coyote teammates
Ardell Inlay and
Dylan Kautz. Both clocked 6.89 seconds with Inlay winning on the lean.
Freshmen duo
Dylan Blake and
Luke Olson finished 1-2 in the men's 800 meters. Blake clocked 1:58.25 with Olson just behind in 1:58.83.
Although only two scored, the Coyotes swept the top-three spots in the women's mile run. Junior
Haley Arens won in 5:11.97, sophomore
Helen Gould took second in 5:12.75 and freshman
McKenna Herrmann placed third in 5:13.48.
Junior
Merga Gemeda claimed the men's 3,000 meters in 8:44.59, while sophomore teammate
Clayton Whitehead took third in 8:51.96.
Senior
Alli Wroblewski captured the 800 meters for the second time this season, winning this Saturday's meet in 2:19.03. Senior
Kelsi Kearney took second in 2:20.54.
Senior
Holly Gerberding won the 60-meter hurdles in 9.23 seconds and freshman
Laken Gardner took third in 9.32 seconds. Freshman
Erin Kinney finished runner-up in the 60 meters with a time of 7.73 seconds.
Freshman
Lauren Meyer placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 35-4.
The Coyotes also won five of six relays on the evening.
A handful of Coyotes were competing without indoor eligibility in preparation for the outdoor season. While they were not counted in the finishing rank for scoring, several Coyotes posted top marks.
Zack Anderson jumped 7-1 ¾ in the high jump, and
Kamberlyn Lamer clocked 9.01 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and leaped 36-8 ¼ in the triple jump.
Helen Falda would have tied for second in the women's pole vault at 13-2 ½ and
Blake Vande Hoef would have placed third in the high jump at 6-8 ¾.
South Dakota returns to action next Saturday with the Dakota Realty Invitational back in Vermillion at Hillenbrand Track inside the DakotaDome.
