SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams will open up the 2019 Outdoor season as they send split squads to the Yellow Jacket Spring Open and Multi hosted by Black Hills State on March 22-23, and the Wildcat Classic on Saturday, March 23 at Wayne State. 

Ethan Holm and Emily Olson will compete in the Yellow Jacket Open and Multi, while the rest of the USF team will travel to Wayne, Neb., to compete in the Wildcat Classic. 

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2019 Men's Preview-- 
The USF Men's Team will feature strength in the distance events and also be competitive in the throws, jumps and sprints. The distance contingent will be led by junior Mason Phillips of Bailey, Colo., who along with Steve Brown and Zach Lundberg all are members of the Men's Cross Country Team that competed in the DII Cross Country Championships (Dec. 1)., as well as the Men's DMR team that took received an All-American fourth place finish in the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year. 

Lundberg, a junior from Omaha, Neb., is a two-time All-NSIC finisher at NSIC Outdoor championships. Lundberg ranked third in the NSIC 1,500-meter run and second in the men's 5,000-meter run and is the USF men's 1,500-meter record-holder after breaking record twice in 2018 season. Lundberg earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the 1,500-meter run as one of the top-five runners in the Central Region and was also named NSIC Men's Newcomer of the Year in 2017 and All-NSIC second team honors cross country as a freshman. 

Phillips missed the 2018 outdoor season, but 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 four 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.

The Men's Team will have significant strength in the distance as Lundberg and Phillips will be joined by Brown, who is a two-time All-NSIC performer, placed second in the NSIC 10,000-meter run a year ago and won the men's 5,000-meter run as well. Brown, who was the individual champ at the 2018 NSIC Cross Country Championships, earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs as one of the top five runners in both events among Central Region runners in 2018. He also won the NSIC men's 10,000-meter run and placed second in the 5,000-meter run at the 2017 NSIC Outdoor Championships 

USF junior Christian Gruschin anchors the USF field events in the men's discus, hammer throw and shot put. A year ago at the NSIC Outdoor Championships, Gruschin took second in the men's discus, 20th in the hammer throw, and 23rd in the shot put. Gruschin also holds the USF record in the men's hammer throw.

2019 Women's Preview – 
The USF Women's Team will showcase strength in the throws, jumps, sprints and middle to long distance races.

A year ago, Emma Hertz earned All-NSIC honors with a second-place finish in the women's discus throw at the NSIC Outdoor Championships as well as USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the discus throw run as one of the top five performers this season in the Central Region. Hertz holds the USF discus throw record, and was ranked second in the outdoor shot put during the 2018 season. She's also the USF indoor record holder in the shot put, and was sixth in the hammer throw last season. Hertz was USF's first NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship qualifier in the women's discus throw and was USF's first women's thrower to qualify for the NCAA Championships a year ago. Jaimee McNamee holds the USF record in the women's discus and will look to build off her impressive 2018 outdoor campaign.

Leading the USF field events contingent will be sophomore Chloe Peterson, who had solid performances at both the NSIC Indoor and Outdoor Meets. At the outdoor meet, Peterson finished fourth in the long jump. Also in the jumps, USF will also look for contributions from junior Clara Paul as well as multi-event performers redshirt freshman Bryn Bower and sophomore Emily Olson. Along with Peterson, junior Sarah Troescher will give USF a solid 1-2 combo as they look to make an impact in the short sprints. 

In the distance events, USF will look for contributions from both senior Rebecca Goertzen and sophomore Taryn Ceglowski. A year ago, Ceglowski was All-NSIC in women's 800-meter run after third-place finish at the NSIC Outdoor Championships. Ceglowski broke the USF 800-meter and 1,500-meter run records during the 2018 outdoor season and now owns six USF records. Those marks set by Ceglowski include the indoor 800-meter, 1,000-meter, mile and women's DMR records. She earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the 800-meter run as one of the top five runners in the Central Region and was named NSIC Women's Newcomer of the Year in 2018.    

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.