Both the track and field teams as well as the swimming and diving teams competed in conference tournaments over the weekend.
For track and field, the teams headed up to Fargo, North Dakota while the swimming and divers went to Minneapolis, Minnesota for their conference championships.
Track and field
The SDSU track and field teams competed in the Summit League Track and Field Championships over the weekend with the men taking third and the women taking fourth.
Overall, the Jacks had 11 medals with two of them being golds. The men’s team finished with 135.5 points while the women finished with 78 points.
For the men, Tristin Hanna earned gold in the triple jump with a mark of 48-11.75 which now sits at fifth all-time at SDSU.
South Dakota State saw three top-six finishes in the men’s 5000-meter with Carson Noecker (14:16.83) who took second, Cody Larson 14:26.43 in fourth and sixth was Josh Becker (14:31.70). Similar to Hanna, Noecker’s time is now the fifth fastest in school history.
A time of 49.03 earned Thailan Hallman second place in the 400-meter while Brandon Kampsen had a similar result in the mile, taking second (4:10.13).
Jake Werner rounded out the track event medal winners with a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash at 21.78.
Caiden Fredrick’s new personal record of 53-09.75 put him in third place for the shot put.
For the women, Claire Beckman took first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.89. In her last conference championship, Leah Hisken clocked in at 16:56.02 in the 5,000-meter to earn her silver.
A PR from Brielle Dixon of 8.30 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles gave the Jackrabbits another second-place finish while teammate Savannah Risseeuw took sixth place at 8.52 seconds.
A mark of 5-08.50 gave Madison Kizer a boost to third place in the high jump while the women’s 4×400 relay team consisting of Jessica Boekelheide, Erika Kuntz, Maggie Madsen and Emily Rystrom finished in third place with a time of 3:49.53.
Senior thrower Hunter Wallster was awarded the Men’s Scholar of the Championship by JLG Architects. Throughout college, the mechanical engineering major has maintained a 4.0 grade point average.
Swimming and diving
SDSU traveled to Minneapolis for the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships where the men took fourth with 427 points and the women finished in fifth with 331 points.
Denilson Cyprianos competed in the 200-yard backstroke where he finished at 1:45.64 and took silver in the event.
Sophomore Jack Ellison took bronze in the 1,650 freestyle at 15:37.84, but it wasn’t his biggest feat. Ellison’s time beat the previous school record which was set in 2016 by 12.93 seconds.
The 200 butterfly also saw a Jackrabbit near the top with Braxton McGrath finishing in fourth place at 1:48.20 and snagging a PR.
Rafael Negri, Cyprianos, Aiden Carstensen and Eric Anderson competed in the 400 freestyle relay where they clocked in at 2:58.33, a mark good for fourth in the event and first in the South Dakota State history books.
Anderson placed fourth in the 100 freestyle as well, finishing at a time of 44.41 seconds.
The women’s finals had three Jackrabbits competing. Kelsey Kocon and Sianne Downes took back-to-back finishes in the 200-yard backstroke. Kocon took fifth with a time of 2:01.55 while Downes followed closely at 2:02.10 for sixth.
Senior Emma Walz in the consolation final of the 200-yard backstroke, taking 14th at 2:05.28.
Emma Bachelder, Jenna Currier, Kocon and Gigi Hioki took fifth place in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:26.35.
