SIOUX FALLS—Following a strong showing a the Minnesota State Open Invitational, the University of Sioux Falls Indoor Track and Field team will look to continue their outstanding start to the season at the South Dakota State Invitational on Friday, Jan. 18 in Brookings.
 
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Last time out
Six track and field athletes hit their personal best mark as the USF Men's Team finished second and the Women's Team third at the Minnesota State University Invitational on Friday.
 
The Cougars Men's Team accumulated 102.50 total and finished behind the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason favorite MSU, who scored 271.50 points on the day. USF edged out Augustana who finished in third with 84 points. The USF Women's Team was third after amassing 93.50 points. MSU led the women's side with 257 points and was followed by Augustana with 104.50 points and USF.
 
Women's team highlights at the MSU Invite
In the women's 60-meter dash, senior sprinter Sarah Troescher led USF with a finals time of 7.85 which was good for a fifth place finish. Teammate Kanya Henderson took eighth with a finals time of 7.915.  Henderson also led three USF runners in the top-eight of the 200-meter dash. She continued her strong showing at the MSU Invite as she recorded a fourth-place finish in 26.46. Sophomore Chloe Peterson was sixth in 26.50 while sophomore Mercy Oyadare concluded the USF point scorers with a time of 27.71 and a seventh-place finish.
 
In the women's high jump, three USF athletes recorded top-eight finishes. Freshman Taylor Stoltz led USF with a fifth-place finishing jump of 1.52 meters. Olson finished in seventh with a 1.47 meters jump, and junior Miranda Phipps rounded out the point scorers with an eighth-place finish after jumping 1.42 meters.
 
The women's pole vault was all USF, as freshman Carolyn Groeger won the title by going 3.27 meters. USF senior Brenna Schmidt took third after clearing 2.97 meters and freshman Marya Schiltz finished fourth with a height of 2.82 meters.
 
Peterson led USF in the women's long jump with a second-place finals jump of 5.57 meters. Peterson edged out Augustana's Montez Brown, who posted a third-place finishing jump of 5.24 meters. Olson came in fifth with a personal best 5.13 meter jump, and junior Clara Paul finished in sixth with a jump of 5.06 meters.
 
Sophomore Allison Laibach led USF in the women's triple jump by going 10.70 meters and taking third-place. Paul finished just behind Laibach with a jump of 10.63 meters.
 
USF sophomore Emma Hertz captured second in the women's shot put with a finals throw of 13.36 meters, which was just behind Upper Iowa junior Brinn Grunder at 13.40 meters. Freshman Kourtney Rozenboom finished sixth for the Cougars with a personal record throw of 12.52 meters, and junior Haley Fockler finished ninth with a distance of 11.77 meters.
 
In the women's weight throw, senior Amber Cook led the USF throwers with a personal record throw of 15.39 meters, which was good for a sixth place finish. Kayla Anderson finished behind Cook with a seventh place throw of 15.16 meters, and Hertz finished eighth with a personal best distance of 15.08 meters. Junior Jaimie McNamee rounded out the top-10 with a 10th place throw of 14.70 meters.
 
Men's team highlights at the MSU Invite
USF senior Trey Furgeson, who earlier this season was the NSIC Men's Track Athlete of the Week, dominated the men's 600-meter run and won a title in 1:21.55. USF senior Salvador Jaimes finished in fifth with a finals time of 1:32.84.
 
USF freshman Nate Andrusick led the Cougars in the men's 60-meter dash with a personal record finals time of 7.13 and a fifth place finish, and sophomore Logan Hansen led USF in the men's 800-meter with a second-place time of 1:57.30. In the men's 3K run, freshman Wyatt Schlager finished third by clocking 9:26.47.
 
Junior Jacob Morse led USF in the men's 60-meter hurdles with a fourth place finish and a finals time of 8.48. Morse just finished behind MSU runner Ryan Kruse, who clocked an 8.42.
 
USF took the top two spots in the men's pole vault as junior Tristan Zawadzki won the competition by going 4.73 meters. Senior Connor DeJong finished second with a 4.58 meter vault. USF's Jake Person rounded out the point scorers with an eighth place vault of 3.83 meters.
 
USF preseason field athlete to watch, Casey Hackett, captured the long jump title by going 6.75 meters. He was joined in the top eight by USF senior Xavier Scarlett, who recorded a team point by going 6.17 meters. Sophomore Cooper Wood finished ninth with a 6.08 meter jump, and freshman Ethan Holm rounded out the top-10 with a jump of 5.73 meters. Wood and Hackett also placed fourth and fifth respectively in the men's triple jump. Wood recorded had a jump of 13.34 meters, while Hackett finished at 13.13 meters.
 
USF senior Chandler Nelson finished with a fourth place throw in the men's shot put as he recorded a finals throw of 14.27 meters. Sophomore Patrick Hagan gained a team point for the Cougars as he recorded an eighth place throw of 12.24 meters.
 
USF placed three in the top five of the weight throw, including Hagan who posted a personal-best of 16.11 meters which placed him third. Nelson finished behind Hagan in fourth place (15.80 meters), and senior Christian Gruschin finished fifth at 14.93 meters.
 
Furgeson earned NSIC Track Athlete of the Week honor earlier this season
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.
 
USF Men's team picked third and Women's sixth in NSIC Preseason poll
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.
 
NSIC Honors - USF Athletes to Watch
For the second straight year, Mason 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. At the MSU Invite, Peterson led USF in the women's long jump with a second-place finals jump of 5.57 meters where she edged out Augustana's Montez Brown, who posted a third-place finishing jump of 5.24 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. Most recently, Hackett captured the long jump title by going 6.75 meters at the MSU invite.

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.
 
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.