Zach Anderson

At the Summit League Indoor Championships in Sterling, Ill., the Jackrabbit men’s track and field team earned a third-place finish on Feb. 28. The Jacks finished behind North Dakota State University and Southern Utah thanks to two second-place finishes by Ben Jasinski.

Jasinski earned second-place finishes in both the triple jump with a distance of 48 feet, 4.5 inches, and in the high jump with a leap of 6-10.25.

“Ben Jasinski had a great meet considering that the meet didn’t start out the way he had hoped,” SDSU head coach Rod DeHaven said. “When he no-heighted in the heptathlon high jump, I thought that it might hurt him in the triple jump and high jump. Fortunately, he bounced right back to pick up big points for us.”

SDSU’s Brandon Priebe scored a 8.35 second time in the 60-meter hurdles, good for a third place.

Greg Vollmer, Jake Schneller, Todd Vlieger and Evan Bunkers teamed up for the Jacks in the medley relay to place third in 10:12.73, which was good for fourth all-time at SDSU.

SDSU’s Sean Burns had a season-best throw in the shot put when he threw for 47-7.25 to earn fourth place. Burns also collected a third-place finish in the weight throw when he threw for 17.91m to just edge out NDSU’s Scott Johnson who threw for 17.67m.

Senior JaRon Harris placed fourth in the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.06 seconds. Harris was edged out by Oral Roberts’ Kevin Cave, who finished in 7.03 for third. Fellow NDSU football player-turned-trackster Kevin Jackson earned second in a time of 6.85.

Jared Vlastuin, an SDSU freshman, continued to see success on the track, as he placed third in the long jump with a distance of 6.97m.

In the pole vault, sophomore Calvin Cammack led SDSU with a fifth-place finish with a jump of 4.60m, followed by senior Tyler Schiferl in sixth with a vault of 4.45m.

NDSU had 186 team points, Southern Utah scored 118.5 points and the Jacks had 107.5 points, which was good for third.

“Everyone contributed on the men’s side: jumpers, hurdlers, sprinters, throwers, vaulters and distance runners. I think that we might be a little stronger outdoors, but Southern Utah will be really tough to beat when they are competing at home,” DeHaven said.

Outdoor track season begins March 27 at the Missouri Relays in Columbia, Mo.