A look back at the 2009 sports year

staff

Sell named Athletic Director

Justin Sell became the new athletic director on May 29. Before being named the AD at SDSU, Sell was the senior associate athletic director at Northern Iowa, where he was in charge of community relations. Before UNI, Sell worked as the director of ticket operations and assistant facility director and intramural director at Villanova.

Football team making the playoffs

The Jackrabbit football team made the playoffs for the first time in 30 years, their only previous appearance. The Jacks finished the regular season at 8-3, with wins over North Dakota State and Northern Iowa on back-to-back weekends. Running back Kyle Minett and a strong defense helped the Jacks take second place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. SDSU had a large lead on top-seeded Montana only to see it vanish and the Jacks suffer a 13-point loss.

Women’s basketball makes the NCAA tournament

In their first year of playoff eligibility, the Jackrabbit women’s basketball team took home the Summit League regular season and tournament titles. The Jacks were ranked for most of the second half of the season, reaching as high as No. 14. The Jacks were awarded a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament and routed Texas Christian in the first round before falling in a heartbreaker to Baylor in the second round.

Soccer team winning the regular season Summit League title

After two straight overtime losses at Fishback Soccer Park to Oakland and IPFW, the women’s soccer team won their last five games to earn the regular season Summit League title with a win over North Dakota State. The soccer team’s season would ultimately end in a 4-1 defeat to IUPUI in the Summit League Tournament at Fishback Soccer Park.

Jack Rabbit in the quarterfinals of the Capital One Mascot Challenge

After winning the write-in vote in the 2008 Capital One Mascot Challenge, the Jackrabbit returned as part of this year’s challenge. The Jackrabbit started out strong, winning its first three match-ups before dropping three. Fans rallied around the Jackrabbit as the mascot won the next three before finish dropping the final two but the Jackrabbit still made the quarterfinals. The postseason was short lived for the Jackrabbit as he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Bill from the Navy.

Men’s cross country won Summit League title

After being picked to finish fifth in the Summit League in a preseason poll, the men defeated host school Southern Utah to claim the Summit League title, which was the first Summit League title for a men’s program at SDSU. After having the men being picked fifth, head cross country coach Rod DeHaven said he would bet his own kids that his men’s team would do better than fifth: he was right.

Baseball team falls just short of making NCAA tournament

After a slow start to the season, the Jackrabbit baseball team turned it on come tournament time. SDSU won 10-of-12 to make the Summit League Tournament as the No. 3 seed. After falling to Southern Utah in the first round of the Summit League Tournament, the Jacks found their groove once again in downing Centenary and getting revenge against Southern Utah. The season would come to a close against Oral Roberts in a 6-2 defeat in the championship game.

Track team hosts first home meet in more than a decade

In the first meet in Brookings since the late 1990’s, SDSU Twilight saw several Jackrabbits earn first-place finishes at the Brookings Sports Complex. Nine women earned first-place finishes while the men had four.