The men and women’s track teams won a team title this weekend at the Jim Duncan Invite in Des Moines, Iowa. This was the first of two meets that the Jackrabbits will compete in at Drake Stadium this year.

The men’s field team had a successful weekend with multiple top-five finishes to help the Jacks place first.

Junior Kyle Anderson took first place in shot put with a distance of 50-4.50 and freshman Greg Granter came in third with a distance of 49-3.75.

Freshman Colton Bender threw 179-10 for second place in the hammer throw, while seniors Cullen Mack and Austin Benson placed third and fourth in with distances of 176-9 and 175-10.

“We’ve got some potential to do some nice things in that event (hammer throw),” said Head Coach Rod DeHaven. “Hopefully this weekend translates into the discuss and we can chip away, point-wise from the teams above us. “

Junior Nate Schaefer and senior Ryan Schaefer both jumped 15-3 in pole vault on Saturday. Nate finished in first and Ryan finished in second because of misses on two jumps.  

Junior Jeremiah Ary finished fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 45-7.25 and sophomore Zach Koosman also received fourth place with a 6-6 high jump.

The 4×400-meter relay team of freshman Dru Kenny, Sam Johnson, Marc Husman and sophomore Marc Husman won with a time of 3:15.99.

For the women, junior Amy Leiferman broke a 16-year-old school pole vault record with a vault of 12-9.50. Sophomore Courtney Trapp finished second behind Leiferman with a mark of 10-11.75.  

“I think there’s a definite chance she can get to the NCAAs,” DeHaven said. “Other than maybe one or two vaulters at USD, she has a great chance to be all-conference too.”

Junior Jazzelena Black broke her own school record in the triple jump again with a 41-08.75 mark. Black also received second place in the long jump with a distance of 19-0.75.

Junior Carly Carper continued her dominance in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.17 and has now won three meets straight.

The 4×400-meter relay team of junior Lori Foltz, sophomore Jacleen Patterson, freshman Sandra Gramer and junior Gina Fritz ran a 3:48.70 and tied the second-fastest in school history.

The 4×100-meter relay team that consisted of senior Ashley Odegaard, Black, Junior Gina Fritz and Carper won their second straight race and finished with a 46.52 time. That time also puts them fourth-fastest in school history in front of last weeks 4×100-meter relay team.

“We expect big things out of this group,” DeHaven said. “The remarkable thing about that time is that the 4×1 was run at like 10 A.M. when it was 45 degree… We expect by the end of the year to be low 45 seconds and we think that it could happen this weekend.”

Fritz also received second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.81 and freshman Ranae Dykstra also placed second in the 800-meter run with a 2.16.03 time.

Sophomore Silvia Zanini won first place in the discus with a throw of 146-8 inches and she placed second in the hammer throw with a 174-7 distance, which puts her seventh all-time in school history.  

Senior Trisha Sumption won the hammer throw with a distance of 181-11 and has moved from fifth all-time to third all-time in school history.

The Jim Duncan Invitational was just the third meet of the year and DeHaven thought that it went very well, despite the level of lower competition.

“When you look at the number of top ten marks, school records and just overall performance, I thought it was a definite step in the right direction,” DeHaven said.

The Jackrabbits will compete again this weekend at three meets in California. Athletes will compete either at the Mt. SAC Relays, the Bryan Clay Invitational or the Beach Invitational April 16-18.