SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Men and Women's Indoor Track and Field team will look to continue and impressive start to the 2018-19 season as they travel to Mankato, Minn., to compete in the Minnesota State University Ted Nelson Meet on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 11 a.m.
 
USF has been ranked sixth by the USTFCCA in the most recent Central Region standings after their strong start to the indoor season. Minnesota State took the top overall spot in the poll. Also in the USTFCCA, the Cougars have also been nationally rated fourth fastest in the mile, third in the 3K, as well as third in the 5K in NCAA DII rankings.
 
Keeping up with the Cougars
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Last time out
In the MSU Mark Schuck Open and Multi last weekend, the USF men's team finished in ninth place with 41 total points at the meet. MSU claimed first place with 239 points, Concordia-St. Paul was second with 83 points and Wayne State came in third with 67 points. The USF Women's Team finished the weekend with 42 points, which was good for a seventh place finish.
 
At the Colorado Mines DII Invite on Jan. 25-26, USF was highlighted by two individual event winners, two NCAA provisional qualifying marks, a pair of personal records, and six top-eight finishes. The men's team concluded the meet in seventh place with 13 total points while the women's team finished eighth with 28 points.
 
Ceglowski shines - Earns NSIC Track Athlete of the Week honor
Sophomore distance runner Taryn Ceglowski posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 5:10.36 in the women's mile run at the Mines DII Invitational where she won the event by over three seconds. Ceglowski's converted time of 4:58.14 currently ranks 10th in NCAA DII and tops the NSIC this season. Following this standout performance, Ceglowski earned her third overall NSIC Women's Athlete of the Week honor after receiving two honors this fall in cross country.
 
Earlier this year, Ceglowski was named the USF preseason track "Athlete to Watch." A year ago, when 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.
 
Groerger raises the bar
Carolyn Groeger, a freshman, tied for the top overall jump in the women's pole vault with a final height of 3.27 meters (10' 8.75") at the MSU Mark Schuck Invite. So far this season, Groerger has produced an impressive start her indoor pole vault career by winning the MSU invite with a finals jump of 3.27 meters. She was also runner up at the SDSU DII Invite by going 3.27 meters. At the SDSU Holiday Invite, she vaulted 3.20 meters and finished 13^th.
 
Hertz hits NCAA provisional mark
Sophomore Emma Hertz has put together four straight solid performances in the shot put event as she logged a fourth place finish at the MSU Mark Schuck Invite with a NCAA provisional distance of 13.98 meters (45' 10.50"). This distance ranks 29^th in Division II and third in the NSIC. Hertz has also finished 12th at the SDSU Holiday Invite (12.93 meters, 42' 5.25"), second at the MSU Invite with a throw of 13.36 meters (43' 10"), and sixth at the SDSU DII Invite with a toss of 13.14 meters (43' 1.5") this season.
 
Women's top performances to date
After a solid freshman season, sophomore Chloe Peterson, who was named one of USF's "Athletes to Watch," took fifth at the Mines DII Invite in the 60 meter run (7.90). In her sophomore season, Peterson has logged a fifth place finish in the long jump at the SDSU Holiday Invite (5.57 meters, 18' 3.25"), second place in the long jump (5.57 meters, 18' 3.25"), and sixth place in the 200 meter dash (26.50) at the MSU Invite, and a third place in the long jump at the SDSU DII Invite (5.30 meters, 17' 4.75").
 
Senior sprinter Sarah Troescher has produced a trio of top-eight finishes in the 60-meter dash this season including third at the Mines DII Invite with a time of 7.86. Troescher has also recorded a fifth place result (7.85) at the MSU Invite, and a seventh place performance at the SDSU Holiday Invite (7.77).
 
USF Men's DMR holds fifth best time in NCAA DII
Senior All-American Mason Phillips, junior Zach Lundberg, senior Trey Furgeson, and senior Billy Beseman were the members of the men's 4,000 meter DMR team that produced a NCAA provisional time of 10:17.57. The qualifying time converts to 9:53.82 and ranks fifth in DII this year. The USF DMR finished third overall at the Mines Invite behind Colorado Mines (10:09.61) and CSU-Pueblo (10:11.50).
 
Phillips, who finished a program-best seventh in leading USF Cross Country to a team-program-best fifth place finish at the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships in December, was selected the NSIC Men's Preseason Indoor Athlete of the Year when the NSIC Coaches Poll was released earlier this fall.
 
Besides his performance in the DMR at Colorado Mines, Phillips captured the title in the one-mile run with a time of 4:24.14. Earlier this season, Phillips recorded a third-place finish with a school record 5,000-meter run time of 14:17.2 at the Mel Tjeerdsma Open hosted by Northwest Missouri State on Dec. 7. Phillips's time currently ranks 14^th in the NCAA DII standings. He also finished runner-up in the 3,000 meter run (8:34.90) behind teammate Zach Lundberg (8:23.45) at the SDSU DII Invite.
 
Aside from his first place finish at the SDSU DII Invite, junior distance runner Lundberg also finished in the top-five at the Mines Invite with a fourth place time of 4:28.58 in the mile. At the Mel Tjeerdsma Open, he was fourth overall in the 5,000 meters 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. In that 5K at the Mel Tjeerdsma Open, Lundberg and Phillips both recorded national qualifying times.
 
Zawadzki holds three titles this season
Junior pole vaulter Tristan Zawadzki has captured three individual pole vault crowns in his first four indoor meets. He won the vault at the MSU Mark Schuck Invite at 4.58 meters (15-0.25 feet). Zawadzki also took the top spot at the MSU Invite (4.73 meters – 15-6.25 feet), as well as the SDSU DII Invite (4.58 meters) where teammate Connor DeJong trailed just behind Zawadzki in second place with a finals jump of 4.58 meters. At the SDSU Holiday Invite, Zawadzki posted a jump of 4.60 meters (15-01 feet) which was good for an eighth-place finish while DeJong finished in ninth with a jump of 4.45 meters (14-7.25 feet).
 
Just a freshman, Casey Hackett, who was named an "Athlete to Watch" in the preseason, has had a solid start to the season. Hackett finished runner-up in the men's long jump at the Colorado Mines Invite with a final jump of 6.53 meters (21' 5.25"). He then claimed third in the triple jump at 13.43 meters (44' 0.75"). Hackett has also captured the long jump title by going 6.75 meters (22-1 ¾ feet) at the MSU invite, and was eighth at the SDSU Holiday Invite (6.46 meters – 22-1.50 fet) and seventh at the SDSU DII Invite (6.38 meters – 20-11.25 feet).
 
Junior hurdler Jacob Morse continues to produce strong results in the 60-meter hurdles early in the season. Morse was seventh (8.82) at the MSU Mark Schuck Invite, eighth (8.58) at the SDSU Holiday Invite, fourth at the MSU Invite (8.48), and fifth (8:48) at the SDSU DII Invite.
 
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. Following his athlete of the week honor, Furgeson claimed the 600 meter title with a time of 1:21.55 at the MSU Invite.
 
USF Men's team picked third and Women's sixth in NSIC Preseason poll
Earlier this year, 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.
 
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.