Chris Mangan

The Jackrabbit men and women’s indoor track teams are looking to improve on last year’s strong finishes and prove they are a force to be reckoned with.

Both men and women’s track teams are coming off a top-five finish at last year’s Summit League meet and are looking for a better finish at this year’s indoor meet.

The men finished fifth at both the indoor and outdoor meets but were three points away from finishing third at the indoor meet. Several freshmen recruits and the transfer of Cole Tucker from Colorado State should put the Jacks in a spot to challenge North Dakota State.

“The quality of the Summit League continues to improve,” head coach Rod DeHaven said. “We hope that we can move past a couple of teams to move up the ladder, but so much of what happens will depend on injuries and what team can perform the best during the championship weekend. It will probably be the best men’s team that SDSU has had since the early ’90s.”

The women finished with a strong second, 13 points ahead of Oral Roberts, but were 50 points behind conference champion, North Dakota State. The women are looking to ride the success of the cross country team and its strong distance runners to move closer to NDSU.

“NDSU’s women will be very strong; they really didn’t lose anyone to graduation and picked up two of the better recruits in the entire country,” DeHaven said. “But again, injuries will play a role, and if we have everyone healthy and focused, we can be a contender in the league. We will be in for a real battle with NDSU and Oral Roberts, and even Southern Utah could be a surprise.”

Both teams will have to overtake a strong NDSU team to win the Summit League title, but DeHaven will enjoy the challenge, as will both teams.

“NDSU will be very strong,” DeHaven said. “They have quality returners, a solid tradition and always seem to get up for the conference meet. I am excited about both the men’s and women’s team chances at the Summit League Championships, but it will take a perfect scenario for us to upend the Bison. We are excited about the opportunity and the chance to win, which was unthinkable a couple of years ago.”