SIOUX FALLS—In their first competition following the Christmas break, the University of Sioux Falls Men's and Women's Track and Field team will travel to Mankato, Minn., on Friday, Jan. 11 to compete in the Minnesota State University Chuck Peterson Open and Multi Invitational.
 
Keeping up with the Cougars
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USF heads into new-year with high expectations
USF Track Teams have a lot of momentum heading into post-Christmas campaign following strong showings at the SDSU Holiday Invite, NWMSU Open and the Men's Cross Country Team's fifth place finish at the NCAA National Championships.  Earlier in the NSIC Coaches Preseason Indoor Track and Field Poll, the USF Men's Track & Field team was picked to finish third out of 11 programs in the NSIC. Minnesota State was tabbed the unanimous favorite with an even 100 points from 10 first-place votes while the Cougars received 81 vote points.

In the Women's Preseason Coaches Poll, USF was selected to finish sixth out of the 15 programs as they received 132 points in the poll. U-Mary was picked to win the NSIC as they garnered 10 first place votes and 192 points. The Marauders edged out MSU, who was last year's pick to win the NSIC, by five points as the Mavericks polled 187 points with the other five first place votes.
 
Following the MSU meet, the Cougars will travel to Brookings, S.D., to compete in the SDSU Invite on Friday, Jan. 18. USF will then travel back to Mankato, Minn., on Friday, Jan. 25 for the MSU Mark Schuck Multi and Open Invitational.
 
Phillips and Lundberg break 5k Record at NWMSU Open
The USF Track Team put together one of the great distance performances in school history on Dec. 7 at the Mel Tjeerdsma Open at Northwest Missouri State. Highlighted by a third-place finish by junior All-American Mason Phillips, who registered a school record 5,000-meter run time of 14:17.2, four USF runners finished in the top-10 in the 5k event. Three runners produced provisional national qualifying times and Phillips and junior Zach Lundberg posted a time which would have set a school record.
 
Lundberg also finished in the top-five with the fourth overall time of 14:18.9. Lundberg, who also posted a time that would have passed the previous USF 5,000-meter run time of 14:33.37 held by Bobby Brockmueller, now sits second overall in the record books behind Phillips. Lundberg and Phillips both recorded national qualifying times.
 
Senior Steven Brown finished sixth overall with a time of 14:38.1, which also was a provisional qualifier for nationals. Brown now moves to fourth all time at USF in the 5,000-meter dash. Jase Kraft rounded out the foursome with a seventh place finish of 14:54.4. Kraft clocking placed him sixth all-time in the event at USF.
 
Last time out
USF had several outstanding performances in their last open meet at the SDSU Holiday Invitational (Dec. 1-2) highlighted by Sarah Troescher, Chloe Peterson and Trey Furgeson's strong opening day showings.
 
Women's Team highlights at SDSU Holiday Invite
Junior Sarah Troescher posted an eighth-place finish in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.78. Troescher just edged out sophomore Chloe Peterson who posted a 7.86 time and finished with the ninth overall time. In the finals of the 60 meter dash on the day, Troescher improved on her prelim time and finished with a 7.77 and a seventh place finish.
 
Peterson highlighted the field portion of the USF Women's team when she posted a fifth-place finish in the long jump at 5.57 meters.  
 
In the triple jump, sophomore Allison Laibach led recorded a top-10 finish after jumping 10.83 meters which was good for a tie for eighth place with SDSU's Addison Eisenbeisz.
Freshman Brynley Bower led USF in the high jump portion of the meet, jumping 1.53 meters, which placed her in a five-way tie for seventh place.
 
Sophomore Emily Olson posted a strong showing in the shot put as she recorded a 9.64 meter throw, which placed her eighth.  
 
Men's team highlights at SDSU Holiday Open
For the men's team, fifth-year senior Trey Furgeson highlighted USF's speed on the track with a fourth place finish in the 400 meter dash. Furgeson recorded a solid time of 49.27, which also gained the sole point of the day for either team in the overall standings.
 
Junior Jacob Morse finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles with a finals time of 8.58. However, he had a better clocking in the prelims of 8.49, which advanced him into the finals. 
 
Senior pole vaulter Connor DeJong recorded a top-10 finish of his own after vaulting 4.45 meters, which placed him ninth. Freshman Casey Hackett had a solid showing in the long jump by placing eighth by going 6.46 meters.
 
Cooper Wood rounded out USF's top-10 finishers with a seventh place (13.18 meters) result in the triple jump.   
 
Furgeson earns NSIC Track Athlete of the Week honor
Following the opening meet of the indoor season at the SDSU Holiday Invitational, Trey Furgeson was named Men's Track Athlete of the Week by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference on Dec. 4.
 
A fifth-year senior from Tea, S.D., Furgeson recorded a standout time in the men's 400-meter dash recording a personal-best time of 49.27 seconds. He finished fourth overall in this event as the top Division II runner and moved up to No. 2 in USF's all-time top 10 list. Furgeson's time ranked as the 14th best in NCAA Division II this season, as well as the best overall time in the NSIC.
 
NSIC Honors - USF Athletes to Watch
For the second straight year, Phillips was selected the NSIC Men's Preseason Indoor Athlete of the Year when the NSIC Coaches Poll was released earlier. Phillips finished seventh and earned his second All-American honor as he led USF to a program-best fifth place team finish at the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships. In the preseason indoor announcements by the league, Phillips and freshman Casey Hackett were named USF's preseason men's athletes to watch while sophomore Taryn Ceglowski and sophomore Chloe Peterson earned the preseason women's athletes to watch for the USF program.
 
Ceglowski was named the second-ever USF female NSIC Indoor Track and Field Newcomer of the Year. She posted two top-three finishes last season to earn All-NSIC honors in the mile and the 1,500-meter run events in which she was also named All-Region. Ceglowski has set six women's school track and field records. She finished third in the 800 meters at the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships a year ago and qualified for the DII Championships. Ceglowski qualified for nationals in three different events last year in the 800-meter run, 1,500-meter run, and the mile run. She was USF's first NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship qualifier in the women's 800-meter run where she set a school record with a clocking of 2:10.62. In the 2019 Cross Country season, she had a school record fifth place finish at the NSIC Championships as she helped USF to a program-best fourth-place finish.
 
After a solid freshman season, sophomore Chloe Peterson USF's women's field athlete to watch distinction. In her freshman indoor season, Peterson had a 5.47-meter (17-11.50) jump to take sixth at the NSIC Indoor Championships. A narrow leaderboard only separated Peterson from third place by seven centimeters, less than three inches. Her mark vaulted her into a tie for third on USF's all-time top 10 list. She also excels in the short sprints as she just missed the conference finals with a personal record of 7.85 in the 60-meter dash, which place her 10th.  At the NSIC Outdoor Championships last spring, Peterson had a standout meet and she finished fourth in the long jump with a PR of 18'7.25. She also ran on USF's 4x400 meter relay squad and competed in the 100-meters
 
Phillips was the NSIC Indoor Most Valuable Performer a year ago when he set five indoor track records (800, 1,000, mile, 3K, DMR) and won both mile and 3K at the NSIC Championships. Phillips, who has earned five combined All-American honors in cross country and track and field, has a combined eight NSIC Weekly Athlete of the Week honors in track and field and cross country.  In 2018, he earned All-American honors in the mile and as a member of the Distance Medley Relay.  He set five indoor track records (800, 1,000, mile, 3K, DMR). In his career at USF, he has 16 titles with 15 coming by individual performance in track and field or cross-country. Last spring, he was named USF's Male Athlete of the Year.
 
Just a freshman, USF men's field athlete to watch, Casey Hackett was a standout in the jumps in Minnesota. He was a three-time all-state performer as he placed at the state meet three times in the triple jump and twice in the long jump.
 
Leading the Pride
Doug Petersen is in his second season (fifth overall at USF) as Director of the University of Sioux Falls Track and Field/Cross Country Program. 
 
Peterson brings a strong pedigree to the director's position as he has had success with the USF Men's and Women's Cross Country Team over the past three years, serving as head coach of the cross country program beginning in February of 2016 and assisted with the distance student-athletes in track and field since 2014-15. Before coming to USF, he had a Hall of Fame coaching career with Adrian High School in Minnesota. This fall, he became the first USF Men's cross country head coach to be named the NSIC Men's Coach of the Year.
 
Beginning May 22, Petersen took over a track and field/cross country program that has had significant success in its five-year period in NCAA DII. Most recently, the USF Men's Track and Field team recorded program-best second place finishes at the NSIC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 2017. The men's team had a program-best ninth place finish at the 2017 NCAA DII Championships. In NCAA DII, USF Track and Field/Cross Country has had four national individual champions, including three since 2015, at the NCAA DII level along with 36 All-Americans, 33 NSIC individual champions, three Elite 90 Award recipients, more than 100 All-NSIC honorees, and 239 Academic All-NSIC selections.