VERMILLION, S.D.—The 2024 Dan Lennon Invitational gets underway this week on Mildred J. Hillenbrand Memorial Track inside the DakotaDome.
 
The Class A competition is set for Monday, March 18, with Class B to compete on Tuesday, March 19. The action kicks off with field events at 11:30 a.m. both days with running events to follow at noon.
 
The name Dan Lennon is synonymous with track and field in South Dakota collegiate circles. A longtime Coyote track and field coach, Lennon organized the first-ever USD Invitational in 1949. It was renamed the Dan Lennon Invitational in 1975 and has become one of the premier high school track and field meets in the state today. It moved into the DakotaDome for the first time in 1980.
 
Clarahan to receive Dan Lennon Award
Long-time Sioux City East coach Rick Clarahan has been selected to receive the 2024 Dan Lennon Award.
 
Clarahan is a 1976 graduate of Regina High School in Iowa City, Iowa, where he was an all-state football player and wrestling state place-winner. He went on to be a two-sport letterwinner in football and track & field at the University of Northern Iowa.
 
His coaching career began at Regina, where he spent eight years coaching football, wresting and track. Then in 1988, Clarahan took a coaching position at Morningside College in Sioux City. In 12 seasons as the Mustangs' head track and field coach, his athletes took home 52 All-America honors in NCAA Division II. He coached three national champions and three national runners-up among the group.
 
Clarahan returned to the high school level in 2000 when he took over as the football, cross country and track coach at Sioux City East High School. As a prep coach in Iowa, he's had more than 250 state qualifiers, more than 100 state place-winners, 27 state champions and 11 Drake Relays titles. He's also coached a pair of Olympians in his career – former USD throws coach A.G. Kruger in the hammer throw (Morningside) and distance runner Shelby Houlihan (East High).
 
Clarahan and his wife, Sarah, have a son, Jacob.