BROOKINGS, S.D. – The University of Sioux Falls Track and Field Team concluded a busy weekend with another stellar performance at the South Dakota State Classic on Saturday. 
"It was a very good weekend for us," said USF Director of Track and Field Doug Petersen.

"As we look to the NSIC Championships in two weeks, we needed this to set ourselves up to qualify or prepare to do so next weekend. With the top-16 only qualifying against top-30 in past years, it is a special challenge. But this team stepped up and I believe accomplished what they needed to do.  They responded well to quality of competition – DI and so I am happy for our student-athletes," he said.
 
In total, USF had eight top-six finishes with a pair of individual championships at the DI meet at SDSU.
 
Emma Hertz continued to impress with another strong showing. On Friday at Minnesota State, Hertz, who had set a shot put record earlier this year, had an NCAA DII automatic qualifying mark in winning the shot put with a throw of 52-02 or 15.90 meters (15.58 NCAA auto mark) while setting a school record and the top mark in the NSIC and second best in DII this year. Hertz's shot put broke her own mark by over two feet. She also set a school record with a second place finish in the weight throw as she had an NCAA DII provisional mark of 61-11.00 or 18.87 meters. Then today, she won the shot put again with a toss of 47-11.25 (14.61m) and then finished second in the weight throw at 59-02.25 (18.04m), which is a provisional mark for NCAA DII. So this weekend, the former O'Gorman standout had two titles and two second place finishes with three different NCAA DII mark. Also for USF senior Kayla Anderson was sixth at 54-10.25 (16.72m).
 
Also for the USF Women's Team, junior KaNya Henderson finished third in the 60-meter dash with a season-best 7.82. Junior Tianna Wald finished third in the 1,000 meter run.
 
While they didn't place in the top-10, three USF Women's runners in the 3,000 meters registered personal-bests. Freshman Grace Beck was 13^th in 10:34.47 while sophomore Lauren Wells was 15^th, 10:42.27 while Karlee Simmons was 24^th, 10:59.59.
 
Junior Carolyn Bradley had another solid day in the pole vault by placing fifth at 10-02 (3.10m) while freshman Emily Swanson at 9-08 (2.95m).
 
 On the men's side, Logan Hansen won the 1,000-meter run at 2:34.37. He also ran on USF's seventh place 4z400 meter relay in 3:36.39. He was part of a relay with Zach Matzner, Will Modjeski and Diego James, who was seventh in the 1,000-meter of 2:07.33.
 
In the pole vault, USF's Jake Person was sixth in 12-11.50 (3.95m). Patrick Hagan was seventh in the weight throw at 55-03.75 (16.86m).  
 
In the 5,000 meters, five USF student-athletes registered personal-bests. Junior David Ecker finished 10^th at 15:18.44 while Aaron Voigt was 13^th at 15:27.73 with a mark 25 seconds better than his previous mark. Also for USF, Seth Overholt was 14^th with a PR of 15:48.31 with Micade Shumway at 15:51.35 and Lucas Steiger, 16^th, at 17:33.63.

Next for USF will be the SDSU Last Change Meet on Saturday, Feb. 20 at the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings.