The Meet

South Dakota track and field hosts the Dakota Realty Invitational this Saturday at Mildred J. Hillenbrand Memorial Track inside the DakotaDome. Combined and field events are slated to begin at 10 a.m. with the first running event at 12:10 p.m. Joining the Coyotes in the meet field are Oral Roberts, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Wayne. A free live stream of the meet will be available on GoYotes.com.
 

The Coyotes

South Dakota's squad competes on back-to-back weekends inside the DakotaDome for the first time since 2013, when the Coyotes hosted a tune-up meet the week before the Summit League Championships. This year's Coyotes are coming off winning team performances at the USD Invitational.
 
South Dakota has five athletes ranked in the nation's top-10 after two meets. Four of those individuals compete in either the pole vault or high jump with the Coyotes' excelling year-over-year in the vertical jumps. The Coyotes also snagged three of the four Summit League Track and Field Athlete of the Week awards following stellar performances at the USD Invitational. Sophomore hurdler Hugo Morvan and freshman sprinter Sara Reifenrath swept the track awards, while sophomore pole vaulter Gen Hirata took home the field honor.
 

The Competition

Joining the Coyotes in Vermillion are a pair of Summit squads and a pair of nearby NSIC foes. This will be the indoor debut for Oral Roberts, with both its men's and women's squads picked to finish fourth in the Summit's preseason poll. Notably returning for the Golden Eagles is senior Sasha Wells, voted the 2020 Women's Most Outstanding Performer of the Championships. She won both the 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles a year ago, in addition to a runner-up finish in the 200 meters and 4x400-meter relay to score 30 points. Athletes to watch on the men's side are Joshua Tabla and Devin Simon, reigning Summit champions in the triple jump and 400 meters, respectively. Omaha's women return to the DakotaDome for the second-straight week after a fourth-place showing at the USD Invitational. Both Wayne State and Sioux Falls are coming off last week's season opener at Wayne. The squads will bring some of the top throwers in NCAA Division II – USF's Emma Hertz ranks second in the shot put and seventh in the weight throw, while Wayne's Cade Kalkowski (fifth) and Jadin Wagner (eighth) rank in the men's and women's weight throws, respectively.
 

The League Leaders

The Coyotes currently lead the Summit League in 11 of 32 events this season, the second-most by a league institution.
 
Men's 60-meter hurdles: Brithton Senior, 7.95 seconds
Women's 200 meters: Sara Reifenrath, 24.48 seconds
Women's 400 meters: Sara Reifenrath, 55.90* seconds (*adjusted from 56.64 for track size)
Men's High Jump: Jack Durst, 7-0 ¼
Women's High Jump: Carly Haring, 5-10 ¾
Men's Pole Vault: Ethan Bray, 18-1
Women's Pole Vault: Gen Hirata, 13-8 ½
Men's Triple Jump: Jacob Jenkins, 48-0 ½
Women's Pentathlon: Holly Gerberding, 3,518 points
Men's Distance Medley: Brendan Scott, Lionel McPhaull Jr., Dylan Blake, Braden Peters, 10:42.09* (*adjusted from 10:50.81 for track size)
Women's Distance Medley: Kelsi Kearney, Haley Arens, Brigit Blote, McKenna Herrmann, 12:29.60* (*adjusted from 12:37.63 for track size)
 

One Last Thing

This weekend will serve as the last home indoor track and field meet of the season with the Coyotes hitting the road for a series of meets in February.