YANKTON, SD – The University of Sioux Falls Men's and Women's Track and Field Team registered 35 top-three finishes, including 14 titles, in a solid performance at the Mount Marty Opener on Saturday.

In USF's second meet of the season, the Cougars shined as the Women's Team won 10 events and the men's team took four. USF also had 15 second or third place finishes by the women's team while the men had six. USF was led by several student-athletes who had multiple wins including senior throwers Tyler Hiatt and Emma Hertz, who also had a pair of NCAA DII provisional marks and now has four on the team. KaNya Henderson dominated the sprints with wins in the 60 and 200 while David Ecker and Ben Mandel joined Hertz with top 10 program marks.

USF Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Doug Petersen was proud of his squad, which continued to shine as the season is just underway with its second competition.

"We had a lot of victories and place finishes today and you can take a lot of good things from what our student-athletes did today," said Petersen. "They have worked really hard so it is good to see them win events or place high. It was a good start to the year in 2022. We had a lot of intensity from all the athletes and that is exciting," he said.

Women's Breakdown
For the second straight competition this year, senior Emma Hertz registered a pair of wins in the throws and now has four on the season. Hertz, a four-time All-American, also had two more NCAA DII provisional marks and has totaled four so far in 2022. At the Mount Marty Opener, she captured the weight throw and led a USF contingent that placed five in the top six spots. Hertz had a toss of 18.76m – 61-06.75, which is an NCAA DII provisional mark but short of her season best of 19.26m (63-2.25). Hertz also won the shot put with a provisional DII mark of 14.01 meters – 45-11.75. Both of her throws rank in the top-10 all-time indoors at USF..

Also in the weight throw, junior Mackenzie Bengtson placed second at 14.65m – 48-00.75; while freshman Kamry Lindsey was third at 13.50m – 44-03.50; freshman Kayla Van Osdel, fifth, 12.72m – 41-08.75; and senior Ally Welch, sixth, 12.64m – 41-05.75. In the shot put, Lindsey was third with a throw of 11.86 meters – 38-11 while VanOsdel was fourth in 11.56 meters – 37-11.25.

USF placed two in the top three in the 800-meters including the first career track title for freshman Gracie Bucher, who clocked a 2:32.08 while Marcella Sierra was third in 2:43.72. USF also claimed the top three spots in the mile run as freshman Jessica Lutmer earned her first career win in 5:28.11 while Josie Boyd was second in 5:48.09 and Moriah Bullerman, third, 5:49.28.

In the long jump, USF had the top four marks at the competition and led by junior Natalie Meyers at 5.15m – 16-10.75. In the same event, sophomore Emily Swanson was second in 4.72 meters -15-06 while freshman Olivia Fox claimed third in 4.64 meters – 15-02.75 (personal-best) and in fourth place was freshman Makayla Keffeler in 4.49 meters – 14-08.75. Sophomore Avery Bartunek had a second place finish in the high jumper with a season best of 1.51 meters – 4-11.5.  Another sophomore Kenna Comstock was second with a jump of 2.97 meters – 9-09 with freshman Greta Snaza, 3^rd, 8-03.25. Also in the jumps, Bartunek was second in the triple jump at 10.21 meters – 33-06 with Keffeler, third in 9.95 –meters – 32-07.75 and Stanton fourth, 9.48 meters – 31-01.25.   
Swanson claimed a win in the 60-meter hurdles by going 9.42 with freshman Sierra Stanton, third in 10.20.

Junior KaNya Henderson had another strong outing in the sprints with a pair of event wins. She won the 60-meter dash with a clocking of 7.80 while freshman Olivia Baumberger was eighth in 8.28. In the 200-meter dash, Henderson claimed the title in 25.46 with Swanson, third in 27.74 and Myah Roggenbuck placing fifth in 28.09.

The 400-meter dash had two juniors from USF place in the top four including Emma Kenkel who clocked a 1:00.90 in placing second while Holly Mayers was fourth in 1:03.00.

Junior Cassidy O'Meara claimed the women's 1,000-meter title in 3:08.71 while junior Annika Aho had a 3:11.01 for second place. Freshman Kayleigh Whipps was second in the 3,000-meter run in 11:22.92 with her best career finish.

In the relays, USF dominated with three teams placing in the top six. The team of Swanson, Mayers, Baumberger and Kenkel won the event in 4:13.29. A team of Aho. O'Meara, Morgan Gehl and Bucher was third in 4:15.99 while the team of Lutmer, Boyd, Bullerman and Sierra placed sixth in 4:45.39.

Men's Review
Sophomore Tyler Hiatt led the USF Men's Team with a pair of wins in the throws. In the weight throw, he was just off the NCAA DII provisional mark with his throw of 17.81 meters – 58-05.25. He also won the shot put by going 16-09 meters – 52-09.50. In two meet, Hiatt already has three event wins and a second place finish.

In the weight throw, USF had five of the top eight places, including third from senior Patrick Hagan at 16.15m – 53-00; sophomore Jaymeson Wolkow, 5^th, 14.75m – 48-04; sophomore Marek Rex, 6^th, 13.47m – 44-02.5; and sophomore Dawson Davito, 8^th, 11.76m – 38-07. In the shot put, Hagan was fourth at 13.69 meters – 44-11.  Wolkow also placed fourth as he tied Hagan. Davito was seventh at 13-03 meters – 42-09.

Senior David Ecker also had a big run in the mile as he claimed a title with a winning clocking of 4:22.03 which ranks 10^th all-time at USF. He was part of a contingent in the mile that had five in the top seven. They included sophomore Zach Matzner, second, 4:32.15; freshman Caleb Rivera, third, 4:32.17; freshman Kade Bullion, sixth, 4:37.84; freshman Miles Olofson, seventh, 4:43.22; Ethan Kraft, 9^th, 4:52.07; sophomore Wil Modjeski, 11^th, 4:59.22; and freshman Ashton Schnaser, 13^th, 5:04.04.

In placing third in the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Ben Mandel clocked a 8.46 which ranks eighth all-time at USF. In the 60-meter dash, sophomore Joseph Donahue claimed sixth in 7.11 and he was eighth in the 200-meter dash in 23.21.  Also for USF, Xavier Blackwell placed 12^th in 23.62 and Mandel was 14^th in 23.82.

Junior Isiah Dancy was second with 5.75 meters – 18-10.50 while senior Steven Miner was fourth in 18-10.50 in the long jump.

Diego Jaimes finished fourth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:43.17.  Sophomore Christian Lietz won the 3,000-meter run in 9:01.03 while sophomore Justin Steffenmeier was second in 9:04.90 with Avery Sanford, eight, in 9:38.01.  In the 400-meter run, sophomore Denver Decker was seventh in 52.95 while senior Jayden Slaba finished 10^th in 54.18. USF also had a pair of placers in the 600-meter run as freshman Nicholas Muller was fifth in 1:29.98 while sophomore Aweys Maalim was sixth in 1:35.92.

USF also had a trio of teams place in the 4x400 meter relay with a team of Slaba, Muller, Landon Wenderski and Decker clocking a 3:38.70 for fifth. A team of Matzner, Rivera, Ecker and Modjeski was sixth in 3:40.86 while the team of Bullion, Kraft, Olofson and Schnaser was seventh in 3:48.06.