Zach Anderson

The SDSU women’s track and field team earned a second-place finish at the Indoor Summit League Championships on Feb. 27 to 28. The Jackrabbits had a lot of success gaining four individual titles.

SDSU just edged out Oral Roberts for second, with 126.5 points to 112 points. NDSU pulled away for first with a score of 220.5 points.

Heather Wollman won individual titles for the Jacks in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 24.68 seconds, and in the 400-meter dash, with a time of 55.63.

“Winning the 200 and the 400 was the icing on a cake. I have been training for six months for just this one meet, and it’s a great achievement to accomplish,” Wollman said.

“Heather had a great meet; she ran really fast on a very slow track,” SDSU head coach Rod DeHaven said. “She has really shown a great deal of maturity this year, and that has translated into some terrific performances.”

Senior Jackrabbit Sara Ackman from Grove City, Minn., saw success on both days, as she captured the weight throw title on Feb. 27 with a distance of 18.53m. Ackman also won the shot put on Feb. 28 with a toss of 47 feet, 10.5 inches.

“Sara had a huge throw in the 20-pound weight throw to smash her school record from the previous week. She had to come from behind in the shot after the preliminary round throws were a little rough,” DeHaven said.

SDSU’s Brittany Garner earned fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.84.

In the 1600 meter relay, the SDSU team of Garner, Wollman, Christi Rosenbrook and Stacy Huss ran the sixth best time in SDSU history, while gathering a second-place finish in 3:53.74.

The Jackrabbit team of Ashley Storm, Megan Lauseng, Stacy Huss and Danielle Burke earned a second-place finish in the distance medley in a time of 12:11.99.

SDSU ended the first day of competition sitting in third place and were not sure they would be able to get second.

“As a team, we wanted to get second, and obviously we got second,” Wollman said. “As the first day of competition went by, we thought that we did not have a chance to get second and that we would have to fight to get third, but the next day, that turned around. If it wasn’t for the support from our coaches, teammates and parents, we might not have done as well as we did.”

The biggest surprise of the meet may have been Lora Shearer.

“Like the men, we got contributions from everyone, but the biggest surprise was Lora Shearer’s high jump performance,” DeHaven said. “We decided at the last minute to put her in the high jump, hoping to pick up a point or maybe two. Lora came through with a personal best of 5’4.25″ and finished fourth, but went the same height as the second and third place finishers.”

The Jackrabbits outdoor season will start March 27 at the Missouri Relays in Columbia, Mo.

“Looking ahead to the outdoor season, we hope that we can close the gap on NDSU, as we will add some throwers that redshirted during the indoor season that will do well during the outdoor season,” DeHaven said.