SDSU men show huge strides on track

Zach Anderson

Zach Anderson

The SDSU men’s track team competed in the Husker Invitational on Feb. 7. Greg Vollmer led the Jackrabbits with a first-place finish in the mile run and set a new personal season record, finishing in a time of 4 minutes, 11.95 seconds.

“(It was) a huge personal best for Vollmer; he just came off another personal best. He sat out cross country last fall, and for whatever reason, he has made huge strides this indoor season,” said Rod DeHaven, SDSU head coach. “The last two meets he hasn’t really been challenged. The meets coming up should get him some more competition.”

Teammate Todd Vlieger finished 16th in the mile run with a time of 4:27.76.

In the 800-meter run, Jake Schneller led the Jacks with the fastest time by any SDSU runner this season, finishing in 1:55.71, which was good for fourth place.

SDSU’s Anthony Bongard and Brad Anderson set season best marks in the 3000-meter run. Bongard earned a fourth-place finish in 8:42.96, followed by Anderson in ninth with a time of 8:48.10.

For the Jackrabbits, Nick Schanaman finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles consolation championship with a time of 8.43 seconds.

JaRon Harris and Ben Jasinski led the SDSU men’s track team at the Bill Hillenbrand Invitational in Vermillion on Feb. 7. Harris finished first in the 60-meter dash in a time of 6.94, beating his personal best.

In the heptathlon, Jasinski earned first place with a score of 5,198, breaking his old high score of 4,353 and the South Dakota Collegiate record of 5,141 set by Northern State’s Eric Longhenry in 2003. Jasinski beat Northwest Missouri’s Zane Myers by almost 800 points; Myers earned a score of 4,408.

Andrew Duitsman led the Jacks in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing fourth with a time of 8.37.

In the pole vault, SDSU’s Calvin Cammack earned third place with a jump of 15 feet, while teammates Troy Beekman finished ninth and Clint Schroeder finished 13th with jumps of 14 feet and 13 feet, 6 inches, respectively.

Jared Vlastuin placed first in the long jump with a distance of 22 feet, 11.75 inches and placed sixth in the high jump with a jump of 6 feet, 4 inches.

The SDSU men’s track team will compete next on Feb. 12 at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.