BROOKINGS, S.D. – South Dakota found the podium in five events on the opening day and had a school record fall in the preliminaries Friday afternoon at the Summit League Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the Sanford Jackrabbits Athletic Complex in Brookings.
 
The first medal for South Dakota came from Lydia Knapp in the weight throw. Knapp recorded a mark of 64-10 ¾ (19.78m) to place third, one spot ahead of teammate Delaney Smith, who recorded a throw of 64-8 ¾ (19.73m). The two accounted for 11 of USD's 22 points on the opening day.
 
On the men's side, South Dakota picked up a bulk of their team points in the pole vault. South Dakota placed second, third, fourth, sixth, and eighth in the event, highlighted by a season's best 17-3 (5.26m) for Tre Young who took second. Spencer Buley also cleared 17-3, taking third. Eerik Haamer placed fourth, with Beau Karst placing sixth and Wyatt Stewart eighth.
 
A personal best 8:11.16 for Caleb Rivera in the men's 3,000-meters earned him second place Friday night. His time is the third fastest in USD history. The USD distance medley relay team of Andrew Atwood, Caden Denker, Evan Janzen, and Natneal Kifle placed third to end the night on the track with a time of 10:02.05. That time ranks fifth in Coyote history.
 
The Coyote men also picked points in the weight throw and long jump. Wyatt Pruce took sixth (57-10 ½) and Quincy Warren seventh (57-2 ¼) in the weight throw. In the long jump, a personal record 23-4 ½ (7.12m) from Jayden Green placed him in a tie for sixth and Bennett Schwenn took eighth at 23-3 ¼ (7.09m).
 
For the Coyote women, the squad of Mariah Fenske, Averi Schmeichel, Alexis Pagel, and Jade Ecoffey took third in the distance medley at 11:54.18, the seventh-place time in Coyote history. Matayah YellowMule added a sixth-place finish in the long jump at 18-9 ¾ (5.73m).
 
In the pentathlon competition, Bre Dunn placed seventh with 3,277 points. Dunn's top event was the 800-meters, where she placed third in 2:29.13.
 
In men's heptathlon action, Derek Eidsness is currently fourth with 2,725 points, with teammates Noel Spence (2,694) and Townsend Barton (2,690) in sixth and seventh. Eidsness has placed between fourth and sixth in every event so far, taking fourth in the shot put at 40-6 ¾ (12.36m) to highlight his day. Spence took second in the high jump at 6-0 ¾ (1.85m). Barton had two third place finishes in the jumps, going 21-5 ¼ (6.53m) in the long jump and 6-0 ¾ (1.85m) in the high jump.
 
The Coyotes also had strong showings in the prelims, including Schmeichel resetting her school record in the 60-meter hurdles. Schmeichel set the school record in the event a week ago in the same building but lowered her school record to 8.28 seconds in the first heat of the event Friday. That time gave her the championship record in the event, until SDSU's Brielle Dixon set the record in the second heat.
 
Erin Kinney also had a strong day in the prelims, running season's bests in the 60-meters (7.27 seconds) and the 200-meters (24.01) to win the prelims in both events. Sara Reifenrath added the top time in the 400-meters to give the Coyotes the top time in the three shortest races.
 
Sophie Amin joins Schmeichel in the 60-meter hurdles after running a personal best 8.50 seconds in the prelims. In the women's 800-meters, three Coyotes made the final in the 800-meters, led by Berkeley Egnelland's 2:12.59. Sydney Stodden (2:12.66) and Ellie Thomas (2:13.07) also advanced to the finals.
 
In the men's prelims, Jaden Guthmiller advanced to the finals in the 60-meters and Jaden Damiano made the 60-meter hurdle finals. Guthmiller ran 6.86 seconds in the 60 and Damiano ran 7.99 seconds in the 60 hurdles. The other Coyote won made the finals in the 800 was Mason Sindelar, who ran 1:52.44 to advance.
 
Guthmiller had a season's best 21.93 in the 200-meters and Tommy Nikkel had a season's best 48.75 in the 400-meters but both missed out on the finals.

In the team standings after one day, South Dakota sits third in the men's competition with 45.5 points and fourth in the women's competition with 22 points.
 
The action gets started at 9:30 a.m. with the conclusion of the heptathlon. Field events start at 11:30 a.m. with the women's triple jump and track events start at 1 p.m. with the men's mile.