SIOUX FALLS – As the University of Sioux Falls Men's and Women's Track and Field Team's season winds toward the NSIC Indoor Championships Feb. 26-27, the Cougars will try and qualify individuals and relays at two last chance meets this weekend on opposite sides of South Dakota.

About a dozen USF Men's and Women's distance runners will go to the Stinger Open at Black Hills State on Feb. 19-20 while the rest of the squad heads north to the South Dakota State Last Chance Meet on Feb.20. As USF has negotiated through the CoVID-19 pandemic, they have put together several standout performances already. They will look to continue to strive to record times in the top-16 to qualify for the NSIC Championship.

At the Stinger Open, competition begins at 4:30 pm on Friday, Feb. 19 at the Donald E. Young Center Fieldhouse. On Friday, the distance medley and 5,000 meter runs will be held. Running events on Saturday start at 1 pm with a rolling schedule. Click here for live video and live results.

At the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex at SDSU, the Cougars will compete in field events and running events both set to start at 1 pm on Saturday. Click here for live video and live results.
Already USF has competed at meets at Wayne State, University of South Dakota, Northwest Missouri State, Minnesota State and South Dakota State. 


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.

Minnesota State Quad – Feb. 12 --  USF's Emma Hertz  continued her record-breaking season by cracking two school marks and meeting NCAA DII standards in the process at the Minnesota State Triangular. 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. Also for USF in the shot put Bailey Rudebusch was sixth (38-08.25), Kourtney Rozeboom, 7^th (38-06.75) and Kayla Andersen 8^th (37-09.25). Andersen was fifth in the weight throw at 54-11.50. The performance by Hertz was among several stellar efforts by USF, who had 10 top three finishes with three titles in the women's competition. USF's men's team had nine top three performances with Steven Miner winning a title in the high jump. On Saturday, USF will look to continue their early season success at the SDSU Classic at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex. 

Natalie Meyers picked up a win in the long jump by going 18-02.25 while Cassidy Noeldner was fifth at 17-03.25 and Emily Olson, sixth, 16-04.25. Noeldner won a title in the triple jump by going 36-00 while Clara Leverich was third at 29-11.25. Taylor Stoltz finished second in the triple jump at 5-03.75 with her performance fourth best all-time at USF but a little shy of her best mark of 5-4.50 in 2020. In the high jump, Emily Swanson was fourth (5-00.50). Carolyn Bradley was third at 10-06.75 with Swanson, 6^th (9-07) in the pole vault. Zoe Cigard finished second in the 600 meters by clocking 1:40.32 with Cassidy O'Meara, fourth (1:41.6`1) and Tianna Wald, fifth (1:42.17). In the 60-meter hurdles, Jailah Brice-Moore was fourth in 9.29 with Olson in fifth at 9.31. KaNya Henderson had a 7.86 in the 60-meter dash as she was third and just off her season best of 7.83. Emma Kenkel took third in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.75 while USF's 4x400 meter relay was third in 4:15.99. 

As for the men's team, Logan Hansen took second in the 800-meter run in 1:58.67 while Zach Matzner was third in 2:01.92. In the one mile run, Christian Lietz took second in 4:37.51 with Justin Steffensmeier, third, 4:39.12 and Chase Lather, fifth, 4:52.02. Ben Mandel took fourth in the 60-mter hurdles in 8.74. Nate Andrusick was fourth in the 60-meter dash in 7.10 and also finished sixth in the 200 meters in 23.09. In the 1,000-meter run, Wil Modjeski took second in 2:40.41. Isiah Dancy had a solid day in the jumps by claiming third in the triple jump at 41-10.50 while his was fifth in the long jump at 19-11. In the pole vault, Jake Person was third at 13-09 with Ethan Holm, fourth, at 11-03.50. Patrick Hagan had a fourth place finish at 56-07.25 in the weight throw, which was the second best toss of his career. Dawson Davito as sixth in the shot put at 46-11.75.

SDSU Classic - Feb. 13: 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. 
In total, USF had eight top-six finishes with a pair of individual championships at the DI meet at SDSU. Hertz continued to impress with another strong showing. At SDSU, 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. During the 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.

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.  Hertz, who was named NSIC Field Athlete of the Week on Jan. 25, 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.