By Luke Schweitzer Assistant Sports Information Director
Sioux Center, IA - - The South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's indoor track and field teams competed in the Dordt College Invitational over the weekend. The Hardrockers finished the meet with two first-place finishes and five fifth place or better finishes while recording 16 new personal-records.
"We really competed well this weekend," said Hardrocker track head coach Jerry Schafer. "I was especially pleased with our team as a group. We saw much more competitive intensity and focus out of our athletes."
Haley Dunn (Meridian, Ida.) and McKenzie Butcher (Sheridan, Wyo.) continue to battle back and forth from meet to meet. Last weekend at the Chadron meet, Butcher claimed the school record in the weight throw previously held by Dunn. This weekend Dunn reclaimed her school record in the weight throw with a distance of 46-feet-3.5-inches. Dunn's distance broke Butcher's school record by over a foot.
The Hardrockers continued to experience success in the men's weight throw. Brian Freed (Staunton, Va.) chalked up another first-place finish, indoor personal-record, and NCAA DII provisional qualifying mark of 57-feet-9.75-inches. Freed also had a strong showing in the men's shot put throwing a distance of 48-11 for fifth place and a new indoor personal-record.
Hardrocker Miguel Flores (Harvard, IL), performed well in the weight throw, marking a new indoor personal-record with a distance of 50-8.75.
On the women's side, Hardrocker Lillian Temple competed in the women's triple jump and high jump. She took fifth place in both events. Temple marked a distance of 34-1.25 in the triple jump and a height of 5-0.5 in the high jump.
On the track, Travis Buse (Lennox, S.D.) displayed his abilities to run mid distance events as he ran a solid mile to earn a first place finish and new indoor personal-record with a time of 4 minutes 26.30 seconds, beating the next closest runner by over five seconds.
In the men's 600 Run, Garrett Shaal (Gordon, Neb.) recorded a fourth-place finish and new indoor personal-record with a time of 1:24.14.
More athletes who ran for personal-records on the men's side were: Nick Alberts (Langford, S.D.) 200 Dash time of 23.77l Joshua Clemens (Northville, S.D.) 200 Dash time of 24.53; Jonah Beacom (Sioux Falls, S.D.) 400 Dash time of 53.86; Tyler Nack (Sioux Falls, S.D.) 3,000 Run time of 9:00.50; Brett Bilitz (Fon du Lac, Wis.) 3,000 Run time of 9:20.33; Cole Jolovich (Dayton, Wyo.) 3,000 Run time of 9:23.72; Erich Hahn (West Fargo, N.D.) 3,000 Run time of 9:25.07l; and Charles Biberg (Tenstrike, Minn.) 3,000 Run time of 10:03.88.
On the women's side, personal-records were set by: Lindsay Kirby (Broomfield, Colo.) 1,000 Run time of 4:08.41and Kaelyn Kenner (Rapid City, S.D.) 800 Run time of 2:43.39.
The Hardrockers will resume action Saturday at the Black Hills State University Rock and Jock Invite in Spearfish, S.D.