USD competed in their first indoor track meet of the season at the SDSU Holiday Open inside the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex on Friday and Saturday, with the women placing first and the men taking third.
The performance was highlighted by the women’s pole vault team, which swept the top six spots in their event. Senior Helen Falda secured first place by clearing 12-11 ½, while junior Landon Kemp took second place at the same height. On the men’s side, senior Chris Nielsen claimed victory with a vault of 17-6 ¾.
The Coyotes took the top two spots in the men’s and women’s mile runs as well. Junior Kallo Arno placed first in the men’s mile at 4:30.64 while freshman Braden Peters crossed in 4:33.05 for silver. Sophomore Haley Arens won gold for the women in 5:14.72 with freshman Helen Gould trailing for second at 5:16.07. Junior Abby Ripperda also clocked a personal-best in the 3,000-meter, placing first with a time of 9:56.15.
Junior Kenneth McMahan headlined the second day of events with a victory in the heptathlon, tallying 5,181 points. McMahan won the shotput during the event with a throw of 41-3 ¼ and finished second in four other events; clocking 7.07 seconds in the 60-meter dash, clearing 6-8 ¾ in high jump, finishing the 60-meter hurdles in 8.49 seconds, and crossing the line in 2:51.96 in the 1,000-meter run. He finished within 200 points of the school record set by Corey Reid in 2017. Freshman Marshall Faurot totaled the third-best score in USD history with 4,869 points to take third.
Freshman Dylan Kautz stood victorious in his first college race, crossing the line in 6.83 seconds to capture the 60-meter. Freshman Brithton Senior also debuted for the Coyotes, clocking 8.12 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to take home second place.
Junior Callie Henrich finished second in the weight throw at 62-2, beating her personal best by four feet. Sophomore Jessie Sullivan was the second-place collegian and third overall in discuss, marking at 160-11. He finished behind USD alum Ben Hammer who won with a mark of 182-5 ¾. Freshman Lydia Knapp also took third in discuss, marking at 143-9 ¼.
The Coyotes took second and third place in both the men’s and women’s high jumps. Senior Zack Anderson finished runner-up for the men with a jump of 6-10 ¾ with sophomore Jack Durst taking bronze at the same height, while freshman Carly Haring took second for the women at 5-7 and senior Britny Kerr took third with the same height.
Junior Aleksi Rosler took second in the 200-meter in 22.36 seconds, improving his indoor personal best in the process. Junior Danielle Thompson finished runner-up in the 300-meter with a time of 41.70 seconds.
USD won’t see action again until 2020 as the pole vault team will compete in Reno Nevada at the National Pole Vault Summit on January 17-18, while the rest of the team will compete in Fargo, North Dakota at the Bison Team Camp on January 18.
