BROOKINGS—Highlighted by strong performances in the distance events, the University of Sioux Falls Men's Indoor Track and Field team finished second and the women's team finished seventh at the South Dakota State DII Open Invitational on Friday evening.

The USF men's team racked up 74 total points in the meet, trailing only NSIC preseason favorite Minnesota State who accumulated 185 points. Northern State finished in third with 72.5 points followed by Morningside's 44 points. The USF women's team tallied 44 points, which was good for a seventh place finish. MSU finished in first place with 148.5 points, followed by Winona State (106), Augustana (84), and Northern State (55). St. Cloud State wrapped up the top- five with 51 points and SDSU just edged out USF for sixth with 47points.

Women's Team Breakdown –
USF women's preseason track athlete to watch sophomore Taryn Ceglowski highlighted the day for the Cougars as she finished first overall in the women's 3000-meter run with a time of 10:15.00. She beat the second place finisher, MSU runner Ivy Glade (11:09.25), by almost 55 seconds.

In the women's 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Emily Olson ended with a finals time of 9.43 and gained USF two points. Olson was just edged out by CSP's Christabelle Mulcahy who finished sixth with a time of 9.29.

Freshman jumper Taylor Stoltz was fifth in the women's high jump with a jump of 1.57 meters and a seed height of 1.52 meters. Augustana's Kendra Ludeman came just ahead of Stoltz in fourth place with the same finals jump of 1.57 meters, but a seed jump of 1.65 meters.
In women's pole vault, freshman Carolyn Groeger was tied for second place with a 3.27 meter jump. Groeger gained USF seven points with her impressive finish and trailed only Wayne State's Marvin Mikayla who finished in first with the same height of 3.27 meters. Freshman Marya Schiltz finished in sixth with a jump of 2.82 meters, while senior Brenna Schmidt followed in seventh after jumping J2.82 meters.

Sophomore Chloe Peterson led the Cougars in the long jump with a distance of 5.30 meters. She trailed Olivia Montez Brown who came in first with a jump of 5.49 meters and Callie DeWitt who followed Brown with a 5.33 meter finish.

Sophomore Allison Laibach recorded a third place finish in the women's triple jump with a 10.74 meter jump. She trailed a pair of St. Cloud State jumpers who posted first and second place jumps of 11.51 meters and 11.11 meters respectively.

Sophomore Emma Hertz recorded a sixth place finish in the women's shot put with a 13.14 meter throw. Hertz finished just behind Wayne State's Tia Jones who posted a final throw of 13.16 meters.

Sophomore Kayla Anderson gained a point for the Cougars in the women's weight throw with a finals throw of 16.09 meters
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Men's Team Breakdown –

The men's track and field team was highlighted by the 3000 meter run where junior Zach Lundberg (8:23.45), senior Mason Phillips (8:34.90) and Senior Jase Kraft (8:40.08) finished in the top-three spots in the event.  Freshman Aaron Voigt came in seventh for the Cougars with a time of 9:11.44, and freshman Shodo Mahamed rounded out the point scorers with an eighth place run of 9:11.76.

Senior Billy Beseman posted a third place finish in the men's one mile run with a time of 4:14.02. Beseman ended just behind CSP runner Allen Benjamin who posted a time of 4:13.94. USF senior Steven Brown recorded a fifth place finish after posting a time of 4:19.68.

Logan Hansen gained five points for the Cougars as he finished fourth in the men's 1000 meter run with a time of 2:32.51.
Junior Jacob Morse was in fifth place in the men's 60 meter hurdles with a finals time of 8.48. Morse was just edged out by fourth place finisher Jestus Adams from Northwestern (Iowa) who tallied a time of 8.45.

Senior Joseph Kirkebak scored two points for USF with a seventh place spot in the men's high jump. Kirkebak concluded with a finals height of 1.85 meters.

USF junior Tristan Zawadzki finished first in the men's pole vault for the second consecutive week with a jump of 4.58 meters. Senior Connor DeJong trailed just behind Zawadzki in second place with a finals jump of J4.58 meters.

Freshman Casey Hackett was seventh in the men's long jump with a jump of 6.38 meters. He ended just behind Northern State's Zachary Busch who finished with a distance of 6.40 meters.

Sophomore Cooper Wood was fifth in the men's triple jump with a finals jump of 13.37 meters. Northern State's Trey Tiefenthaler just came in ahead of Wood with a distance of 13.37 meters.

Sophomore Patrick Hagan gained two points for the Cougars in the men's weight throw with a seventh place posting of 16.03. MSU's Jayme LaPlante finished just above Hagan with a throw of 16.06 meters.

The USF Men and Women Indoor Track and Field teams will next travel to Mankato, Minn., to compete the MSU Mark Schuck multi and open invitational on Friday Jan. 25.