By Luke Schweitzer, Assistant Sports Information Director
SPEARFISH, S.D. -The South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's indoor track and field teams were in action this past weekend at the Black Hills State Dave Little Indoor Invitational in Spearfish where the Hardrocker Thinclads established 17 new indoor personal-best records, set two new SD Mines school records and finished the meet with four event titles and 13 Top 3 finishes.
"We set several personal-best indoor marks but we felt the team still did not compete as well as they could this weekend," said Hardrocker indoor track head coach Jerry Schafer. "We felt we had two weeks of good preparation but somehow we just didn't step up and compete as hard as we are capable of. Several athletes were running new events for the first time so there was a bit of a learning curve for them in how to pace themselves.
Lady Hardrocker senior Alexis Godeke, a Geology major from Antwerp, Ohio, ran a strong 1000-meter race where she earned second place and gave her a new indoor personal-best record as well as establishing a new indoor school record with her time of 3 minutes 19.21 seconds.
SD Mines junior Lillian Temple (Glendive, Mont.) once again out jumped her competition in the women's high jump after clearing 5-feet-3.75-inches. Temple continued to excel during the meet, establishing a new indoor personal-best record as well as a school record in the women's triple jump with a leap of 35-6.75. Her effort in the event earned her second place at the meet.
"We were pleased with the two new women's records from Lillian Temple and Alexis Godeke, as well as our women throwers in the weight throw and Anna Haneline's PR in the 60 dash, "Schafer said. "On the men's side, Brian Freed and Miguel Flores in the weight throw, Travis Buse in the mile and our men in the 3k race all ran really well."
SD Mines junior Anna Haneline (Plattesmouth, Neb.) continues her strong start to the season by once again setting a new indoor PR in the women's 60 dash and earning a first-place finish with a time of 8.19. Haneline competed in the woman's long jump taking fourth place with a distance of 16-5.25
SD Mines junior Danyka Deno, a Mining Engineering major from Soda Springs, Ida., also ran the 1,000, where she set a new indoor PR of 3:36.66 while earning third place.
In the mile, freshman Kayla Morisette, Chemistry major from Oakdale, Minn., earned a fourth-place finish with her PB of 5:53.50.
Lady Hardrocker sophomore McKenzie Butcher (Silesia, Mont.) contested in the woman's weight throw and shot put. Butcher threw a distance of 43-8.75 in the weight throw and established a new indoor personal-best mark. In the shot put, she had a throw of 34-4. Butcher finished both events in second place.
On the men's side, Taylor Heaps (Ranchester, WY) shined in the 1, 000 run, taking first place with a time of 2:43.60. His time also marks a new indoor personal-best mark. Heaps competed in the 4x400 relay running the first leg of the race. The group consisting of Heaps, Garrett Shaal (Gordon, Neb.), Seth Brotherton (Pierre, S.D.), and Joshua Clemens (Northville, S.D.) finished second with a time of 3:31.60.
Freed (Staunton, Va.) once again took first place in the men's weight throw with a distance of 55-5.75, establishing a new indoor personal-best mark. Freed was slotted to compete in the shot put as well but suffered from an injury during the weight throw.
Flores (Harvard, Ill.) also, competed in the men's weight throw and shot put. The Harvard Ill., native marked his indoor personal-best record in the weight throw with a distance of 47-5.25 for fourth place . In the shot put, Flores took third place with a toss of 43-5.
SD Mines sophomore Travis Buse (Lennox, S.D.) ran the mile in 4:32.24 for an indoor personal-best mark and finished the race in fourth place.
For the men, new indoor personal-best record were set by: freshman Nick Alberts (Langford, S.D.) in the 200 (24.04); sophomore Joshua Clemens in the 600 run (2:06.87) took fourth; senior Thomas Everett (Missoula, Mont.) in the 3K (9:20.66); sophomore Cole Jolovich in the 3K (9:35.23); and freshman Erich Hahn (West Fargo, N.D.) also in the 3K (9:56.21).
The SD Mines men's and women's teams will be back in action on Friday at the Chadron State Twilight Invite in Nebraska.