Equestrian
South Dakota State’s equestrian team lost to Delaware State and SMU in Texas over the weekend.
Against Delaware State, SDSU barely inched behind as the girls came short by a single point, ending the competition at an 8-7 loss.
Though leading with an advantage of a point, DSU came from behind and grabbed the last three points of the matchup.
Paige Wellendorf, a junior, had a narrow victory at 72.5-71.5 against Aniela Cortina in horsemanship. The junior from Missouri also won reigning with teammate Shelby Cochran at 73 and 72 respectively.
Julia Werkhoven (81) and Sophia Kregoski (78) gave South Dakota State a jump with a point in flats.
Cali Karbler won fencing by scoring 82 with junior Hannah Steele following close behind with a score of 80.
Against SMU, South Dakota State lost 17-1. Adding to their impressive week, SMU also took down Delaware State earlier that weekend 15-4.
Shelby Cochran lost to SMU’s Nya Kearns in horsemanship with a final of 77-75.5, which was the highest score for SDSU in that event.
The sole point scorer for the Jacks was Werkhoven, who edged out a Mustang rider in their head-to-head fences matchup winning 75-72.
Paige Butterfield got a draw against her opponent in reigning, while Cochran vs Taylor Zimmerman ended in the same fashion.
The equestrian team will be back home Feb. 10 against Minnesota Crookston.
Track and Field
Both SDSU track and field teams took home the gold as the men’s finished with 131 points and the women’s finished with 165.5 points.
Pierre Lear took first in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.98. Carter Johnson (8.44) and Gunnar Gunderson (8.72) finished in the top 10 with Lear, placing fifth and eighth respectively.
1:22.41 time earned Andrew Moeller the silver in the 600-meter over the weekend with freshman Sean Murphy taking ninth in his running debut.
Freshman Jackson Dutcher took first in the men’s 800-meter at 1:55.72.
Also taking first was Isaac Flanegan in the triple jump with a marked spot of 42-04.75. Rylan McDonnell snagged second in the long jump with a spot at 22-06.50, a personal best for the freshman.
Connor Powers sat second in the high jump at 6-01.00 with Matt Katz also taking second in the pole vault as he cleared 15-03.25.
For the women, Laci Leverty cleared 11-11.75 and all but four other women vaults in Jackrabbit history, earning her second in the meet.
Apryl Adderley also earned the silver but in the long jump, she snagged a new personal best marked at 17-10.25.
Similar to the men, SDSU’s women also won the 60-meter meter hurdles with Brielle Dixon crossing the finish line at 8.45.
In the 60-meter dash, Jackrabbit Jenna Johnson took second with a time of 7.88 with teammate Rich-Ann Archer behind her in third, finishing with a time of 7.89 seconds. Both girls finished in the same spots in the 200-meter dash with times of 25.51 and 25.82 respectively.
The Jackrabbits took two in the 400-meter dash thanks to a 58.95-second finish from Maggie Madsen.
Three Rabbit runners finished in the top 4 of the 600-meter, Claire Beckman in first (1:34.43), Harley Fischer in third (1:37.22) and Reese Luze in fourth (1:37.29).
The Jackrabbits will compete in their next meet in rival territory in Fargo, North Dakota for the Bison Open while also traveling to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State Classic this Friday and Saturday.
Assistant AD earns communications award
Assistant AD for Athletic Communications Jason Hove has received a professional award by the College Sports Communicators for his dedication to sports information for over 25 years.
Hove, an alumni of South Dakota State didn’t start his communication career through the athletic department. The Minnesota native served as a reporter, sports editor and then editor-in-chief of The Collegian during his time in Brookings.
The job of a SID, or sports information director is to provide stats, game and player notes, along with other information regarding the college sports teams to other members of media and the general public.
After graduating from SDSU, Hove interned at the Mitchell Daily Republic, the local newspaper in Mitchell, South Dakota for over two years before coming back to South Dakota State.
While still fresh on the scene in the athletic department, Hove witnessed the jump to the Division 1 level firsthand.
“I think a lot of us viewed it as a great opportunity. Twenty some years later now, it’s proven to be a great decision for our university and our athletics program,” Hove said in a press release on GoJacks.com.
South Dakota State successfully made their jump to Division I in the 2008-09 academic year after a five-year process.
Some requirements that needed to be met before the jump were meeting the minimum financial aid and contest scheduling limits, engaging in a rules compliance review and successfully completing the athletics certification process.
In his 25-plus years of service to the athletic department and South Dakota State as a whole, Hove has seen the campus grow to new heights with the addition of the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex, the Frank J. Kurtenbach Family Wrestling Center and the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
Currently, Hove works as the sports information director for Jackrabbit football, wrestling, baseball, equestrian and swimming and diving, while being the head of the athletic communications office.
