SIOUX FALLS – It has been a busy winter for the University of Sioux Falls Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams. They have already competed at meets at Wayne State, University of South Dakota and Northwest Missouri State. This weekend (Feb. 12-13), the squad, directed by Director of Track and Field Doug Petersen will compete at the Minnesota State Triangular on Feb. 12 at Myers Fieldhouse in Mankato, Minn.  Then on Feb. 13, they will compete at the South Dakota State Classic at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings.

At Minnesota State, USF will compete with the Mavericks along with Concordia St. Paul. Fans may watch the competition by clicking here. Competition is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.

At the SDSU Classic, field events will begin at 1 pm with running events also starting at 1 pm with the 5,000 meters followed by the 60 meter hurdles and dash. Check out the schedule here. Fans may follow the meet by clicking here.

USF Track and Field has opened with a flurry of outstanding efforts - Season Review
After more than 10 months away from competition, the Cougars have compete in three competitions. They started the season at the Wayne State Indoor Classic on Jan. 16 and then competed at Dakota Realty Invitational at the University of South Dakota before going to the Northwest Missouri State Invite.

Wayne State Invite Jan. 16 -- In total, the USF Women's squad picked up six titles and had 23 top-five finishes at the meet Wayne State Meet.. Several student-athletes won their first-ever title including freshman Emily Swanson in the pole vault, Natalie Meyers in the long jump, sophomore Annika Aho in the 1000 meters, and freshman Grace Beck in the one-mile run. All-American junior sprinter KaNya Henderson also won a title the 60 meters. In addition, Jailah Brice-Moore had a pair of second place finishes in 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash. 

USF Men's Team also had a solid day at the Wayne State meet with titles from a pair of freshman, Zachary Matzner in the 1000 meters and Benjamin Morrison in the 3000 meters at the Wayne State Indoor Classic. Senior throws standout Patrick Hagan also had a solid performance with third place in both the weight throw and shot put. Overall, USF had 18 top-three finishes.
Dakota Realty Invite at USD -- Jan. 23: The Cougars Women's squad placed second with 112 points and the USF Men's squad was also second with 96 points. In total, USF had 20 top-five finishes across the men's and women's events at USD.

Leading the women's squad was Emma Hertz, who has been named the NSIC Athlete of the Week, and won her second shot put title of the season. She had her second-best indoor throw (15.08 meters). She also placed third in the weight throw with a personal best of 59'05.75 (18.13M). That weight throw ranks second all-time at USF. At the Wayne State Meet, Hertz had a recording-setting performance in the shot put. Hertz, a senior from Sioux Falls, S.D., who has two indoor All-American honors, won both the weight throw and shot put and recorded NCAA DII provisional marks. The NSIC leader in both the shot put and weight throw. She broke her own record (49-9.25) with a toss of 15.20 meters or 49-10.50 with the nation's second best throw. She also registered a top-three weight throw at USF with a winning toss of 17.92 meters or 58'9.50.  

Also at the Dakota Realty Meet, Natalie Meyer was second in the long jump (17-03) while sophomore Taylor Stoltz was second in the high jump at 5-03.25 (1.61m), which is a mark that ranks fifth best all-time indoors at USF and was just short of her career-best of 5'4.50 in 2020 (third all-time). Cassidy Noeldner was second in the triple jump (34'08.75) while senior Emily Olson placed fifth in the indoor pentathlon at 3,015 points. Junior All-American KaNya Henderson was third in the 60-meters with a season-best 7.89 (5^th all-time at USF). USF also had a fifth place show in the 4x40 meter relay with Emma Kenkel, Holly Mayers, Myah Roggenbuck and Zoe Cigard. Both Annika Aho (2.23.75, 800-meters) and Grace Beck (10:56.12, 3,000-meters) placed fifth.

The Men's Team was paced by Patrick Hagan who had a top-10 mark in the weight throw (7^th all-time) at 53-05.75 (16.3m) for sixth place. Freshman Dawson Davito led three USF placers in the shot put with a third-place showing of 46-06. (14.17M). In the 3,000 meters, junior David Eckert was third (8:52.74) and Aaron Voigt, fourth (8:55.32). Sophomore Isiah Dancy placed fourth in the triple jump (41-08, 12-07m) while Christian Riley was second in the long jump (21-05.25, 6.53m). Also Ethan Holm was second in the men's pentathlon with 2,474 points.

Northwest Missouri State Bear Invite - Feb. 5-6: USF Men's and Women's Track and Field combined for 12 top-eight finishes, led by junior David Ecker's title in the 3,000 meters. Ecker clocked a season-best 8:41.96 to win the competition, a performance that places him sixth in the performance list in the NSIC. In the same race, Aaron Voigt was seventh in 8:53.27 and that mark also makes the top-10 in the NSIC. Additionally, freshman Ben Morrison was 10^th in 8:57.18 and Micade Shumway, 16^th, in 9:33.28. Also for the men's team, Isiah Dancy had a solid meet with two top-10 performances. Dancy was second in the triple jump, going 41-01.75 (12.54m), which ranks 15^th in the NSIC, and finished ninth in the long jump at 19'07 (5.97m). In the men's mile, Morrison was 10^th in 4:21.30 while Ecker was 12^th (4:22.47) and Voigt, 17^th (4:24.54). In the men's heptathlon, junior Ethan Holm was ninth with 3,593 points. It is a season-best mark for the junior, who now ranks sixth in the NSIC.

In the women's pentathlon, senior Emily Olson placed eighth with 2,987 points while freshman Emily Swanson was 17^th with 2,404 points. Olson earlier had a mark of 3,015 at the Dakota Realty Meet which ranks sixth in the NSIC but her total today would have placed her seventh if she didn't have the better mark already. In the women's throws, senior Emma Hertz had another solid day. She finished second in the shot put with a NCAA DII provisional mark of 45-10.75 (13.99m), but she already ranks number one in the NSIC with her throw of 49'10.5 at the Wayne State Wildcat Invite on Jan. 16. She also finished fourth in the weight throw at the Bearcat Invite with a throw of 54'08 (16.66m). It was a mark just behind teammate and senior Kayla Andersen, who was third at 54'09.5 (16.69m). Hertz already ranks sixth in the weight throw in the NSIC but her throw today would be ninth best in the NSIC. Andersen also ranks in the top seven of the NSIC with a better throw than she had today which would also be a top-eight performance.In the 60-meter dash, junior KaNya Henderson was fourth in 7.83, a mark that places her 11^th in the NSIC. In the 60-meter hurdles sophomore Jailah Brice-Moore was seventh in 9.18, which ranks 10^th in the NSIC. In women's long jump, sophomore Natalie Meyers was eighth at 17'02 (5.23m) and Cassidy Noeldner, ninth at 16'10 (5.13m). Meyers was just off her best performance of the year (17'3.25, 5.26m), which ranks 17^th in the league. Noeldner had her season-best mark and it ranks 20^th in the NSIC. Noeldner also placed fourth in the triple jump at 35'05.25 (10.8m), which was just off her best mark of the season (35'7.25, Wayne State Wildcat Invite). She currently ranks 11^th in the triple jump in the NSIC. Also for USF, freshman Grace Beck was sixth in the 3,000-meters with a season-best 10:45.41. With that clocking, she ranks 10^th in the NSIC. Also in that race today, Lauren Wells was 18^th in 11:15.96.