TOPEKA, Kan.—Strong showings in the field events paced the Coyotes in sweeping the men's and women's team races at the Division I Challenge held Friday at the Washburn Indoor Facility. The Coyotes captured seven men's and six women's events in the competition.
 
A school record was shattered by freshman Sara Reifenrath for the second-straight week, taking down a 20-year-old school record in the 400 meters on Friday morning. A figurative baton passed between the two speedy Sara's separated by 20 years and three-tenths of a second. Reifenrath clocked 54.33 seconds to win Friday's race and took down a school record held by Sara Deckert (54.65) that had stood since 2001. Deckert, a NCAA Division II Champion in the event, set the mark to win the national meet that year. Her record stood until today, when it was broken by a freshman who wasn't alive when it was set.
 
Reifenrath is just a week removed from breaking the school's indoor 200 meter record with a 24.07 clocking. She leads the Summit and ranks in the top-35 of the nation for both events. Reifenrath also anchored the Coyotes' winning 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:47.54.
 
Senior Ethan Bray vaulted a lifetime best in the pole vault, eclipsing 18-5 ¼ (5.62m). He remains ranked fourth in the NCAA, but the height is four inches higher than his previous indoor best mark. Without dual scoring this weekend, the Coyotes racked up 25 points in the event as freshman Eerik Haamer took second in 17-5 ½ (5.32m), senior Kaleb Ellis took fourth, sophomore Marshall Faurot finished fifth and freshman Tre Young was sixth.
 
In a hurdles race featuring three athletes ranked in the NCAA's top-25, it was Coyote sophomore standout Brithton Senior that came out on top. He notched a season-best time of 7.79 seconds to tie for sixth in the nation for the 60-meter hurdles. Classmate Hugo Morvan took fourth in 8.06 seconds, just one-hundredth off his personal best mark, and Young added a fifth-place hurdles finish.
 
Sophomore Dylan Kautz captured the 60 meters in 6.85 seconds to tie his season-best time. He doubled back with Morvan to clock a pair of personal bests in the 200 meters. Kautz took fourth in 22.05 seconds and Morvan finished fifth in 22.14 seconds.
 
A slip of the fingers in typing the results gave senior multi-event athlete Holly Gerberding a world record in the long jump for a few minutes on Friday morning. While she may not have won the long jump in a world record distance, she did record a personal best of 18-10 ½ (5.75m) that moved her to second in the Summit standings this season.
 
Freshman Jacob Jenkins leapt nearly a foot past his previous best to win the triple jump in 49-1 ½ (14.97m). The league-leading mark moves him to fifth in USD history. Jenkins also took fifth in the long jump competition.
 
The Coyotes took home 30 of the 31 available points in the women's pole vault. Senior Makiah Hunt won the competition with a vault of 13-2 ½ (4.03). Sophomore Gen Hirata and junior Deidra Marrison vaulted 12-8 ¾ (3.88m) to place second and third, respectively. True freshmen Jaidyn Garrett and Cassidy Mooneyhan rounded out the group in the fourth and fifth places.
 
Junior Merga Gemeda crossed the tape in 14:35.20 to win the 5,000 meters. The time is a personal best and ranks sixth in USD program history. Gemeda is coming off a personal best mile performance a week ago. Sophomore Clayton Whitehead finished fifth in the race. On the women's side, senior Jonna Bart and freshman Abrielle Jirele placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 5,000-meter field.
 
Senior Callie Henrich won the shot put and finished runner-up in the weight throw competition. She launched the shot put 48-11 ½ (14.92m) and the weight 61-2 ¾ (18.66m). Sophomore Lydia Knapp placed third in the weight throw with a personal best mark of 58-10 ¾ (17.95m). She ranks fifth in program history. Junior Josephine Starner took third in the shot put field with a throw of 46-7 ½ (14.21m).
 
It was junior Jessie Sullivan pacing the men's throwers. Sullivan won the shot put with a mark of 55-7 ¾ (16.96m) and placed third in the weight throw in 63-5 (19.33m). Senior Matt Slagus finished runner-up in the shot put with a mark of 51-5 ¾ (15.69m). Slagus took fourth in the weight throw and junior Kaden Elder was sixth.
 
Sophomore Carly Haring continued her undefeated season in the high jump with a winning height of 5-8 ¾ (1.75m). Freshman teammate Alayna Falak took fifth.
 
Junior Jack Durst captured the men's high jump with a mark of 6-8 ¾ (2.05m). Senior Travis Larson placed third in 6-6 ¾ (2.00m).
 
As mentioned, Reifenrath anchored the Coyotes' winning 4x400-meter relay to a season-best clocking of 3:47.54. Joining her on the league-leading relay was Gerberding, sophomore Madison Jochum and senior Alli Wroblewski.
 
Wroblewski took fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.14.
 
Gerberding added a fifth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles by clocking a season-best 8.93 seconds. Sophomore Kylie Larson took sixth.
 
Behind Reifenrath in the open 400 meters, Jochum took fifth and senior Danielle Thompson was sixth.
 
Freshman Erin Kinney clocked 7.79 seconds to place third in the 60 meters. She added a sixth-place finish in the 200 meters.
 
Junior Haley Arens and sophomore Helen Gould placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the women's mile with new personal best marks. Arens clocked 4:59.47 and Gould crossed the tape in 5:00.29.
 
The Coyote men scored 130 points to top the six-team field that consisted of the American's Wichita State (115), the Sun Belt's Arkansas State (71), Summit foe Oral Roberts (63), the American's Tulsa (36) and the ASUN's Central Arkansas (10). USD's women tallied 128.5 points, defeating Arkansas State (85), Wichita State (84.5), Tulsa (65) and Oral Roberts (56) in the team race.
 
Six athletes were scored per event using the following scoring system: 10-8-6-4-2-1.
 
The next two meets for the Coyotes will take place at the SJAC in Brookings, S.D. The Coyotes travel to the SDSU Tune-Up on Saturday, Feb. 20, with the Summit League Championships to be held in Brookings the following weekend, Feb. 27-28.