South Dakota State track and field hosted the SDSU Open Meet, a two-day event. On Saturday night, 13 Jackrabbits had historic performances at the meet.
Friday
Caiden Fredrick and Ethan Fischer started the night with a solid result for the Jacks, finishing second and third, respectively. Frederick finished with a mark of 53.74m while Fischer ended with a score of 52.98m.
In the hurdles, Jerimiah Donahue posted a personal best in the 300- hurdles with a time of 38.66 which was good enough to take first in the event and is the second fastest time in school history.
Junior thrower Milee Young took home a first-place finish in the discus with a mark of 46.30m. Another pair of Jackrabbits throwers took home top-ten spots. Lydia Hill placed eighth with a mark of 38.83 and Kaitlynn Bot took home a ninth-place finish with a 38.36m mark.
Another Jackrabbit hurdler took first place on the night, with Jenna Johnson posting a program record time of 43.74 in 300 hurdles to take gold in the event.
“She [Jenna Johnson] started a transition to being a long hurdler during her freshman year, then last year, due to some illness, the year was really amiss,” said SDSU head coach Rod DeHaven. “Then Friday night goes out and runs 43 seconds and breaks Lori Foltz’s school record in that.”
Junior Laura Bogue provided another solid performance for the Jacks in her pentathlon debut. Bogue finished first in the 800 meters and finished fifth overall in the pentathlon with a total score of 2835.
Saturday
Two SDSU jumpers took home top five positions in the long jump, Hudson Schroeder and Isaac Flanegan finished third and fourth, respectively. Schroeder notched a mark of 6.98m, with Flanegan following closely behind with a distance of 6.86.
SDSU showed out in the high jump as the Jacks dominated the leaderboard, holding down the first and second spots. Grayson Ring took gold jumping 2.00m and Brooks Holen leaped 1.95m to take home silver.
Sam Castle ran a time of 1:20.04 in the 600-meter race, which was good enough for a third-place finish and the third-best time in SDSU history.
Joe Dustin showed good speed as he finished the 800-meter race with a third-place finish and Jackson Dutcher won the 1000-meter with a time of 2:26.04 which is good enough to become the third fastest time in SDSU history.
In the mile race, SDSU took home all three podium positions with Carson Noecker, Cashton Johnson and Dale Johnson finishing first, second and third, respectively. Noecker set a new personal best time with 4:10.77.
Brielle Dixon took home gold in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.31. Later Dixon took home another first place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.56.
Jaiden Boomsma finished second to Dixon in the 60-meter dash but then redeemed herself with a win in the long jump after taking a 5.85m leap.
Lindsey Rotz, Claire Beckman, Reese Luze and Hannah Spoden finished first, second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 500-meter race. Rotz took home the victory with a time of 1:16.01, which is the second-fastest time in program history. Beckman’s time got her the third-best time in program history, Luze’s performance notched her the fourth spot on the all-time list and Spoden is now slotted in seventh all-time.
In the 1000-meter race, Grace Waage clocked a time of 2:50.30 to take gold in the event and set a new record for the fastest time in program history. Kayla Christopherson took home bronze in the 1000-meter and climbed to fourth on the all-time leaderboard with a time of 2:54.72.
Up Next
The Jackrabbit’s next track meet is the Bison Open in North Dakota this Friday and Saturday. And the ISU classic in Iowa this Saturday.
“It is kind of go time,” said DeHaven. “We need to put some marks together to make sure that we’re into the meet, taking people that can score and understand the importance,” said DeHaven.
The next home meet for the Jacks will be the SDSU Indoor Classic on Feb. 14.
