By Brad Blume, Sports Information Director
SPEARFISH --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's track and field teams delivered another quality performance this past weekend during the Black Hills State Rock-n-Jock Indoor Track Meet in Spearfish, S.D., where one Hardrocker record fell another was close, but all times were competitive and The Hardrockers earned 11 personal-best records (PR's).
"We were very very pleased with our team's overall performance," said Hardrocker head track coach Jerry Schafer. "This was the last meet for a lot of our team so we approached it as if this was our conference meet. Our athletes responded well and really stepped it up."
SD Mines junior Garrett Shaal set a new school record in the men's 600-meter run after posting a time of 1 minute 23.17 seconds for a second-place finish. Sterling Zehnder held the old mark at 1:23.53.
"Garrett went into the race with the goal of capturing the school record," Schafer said. "He had a great start and got out very fast. He led for a majority of the race and really battled at the end. He was determined to post a competitive time --- which he did."
The men's 4x400 relay team, consisting of Nick Alberts, Joshua Clemens, Taylor Heaps and Shaal came very close to setting a new school record as well. The squad won the event Saturday in a time of 3:26.96 and missed out on the fastest SD Mines mark by .43 of a second. The old mark, set in 2004, stands at 3:26.53.
The Hardrockers also had several event titles Saturday, including: sophomore Brittanee Wood in the women's 3,000 Run (12:09.08); senior Alex Godeke in the women's 800 Run (2:26.87); junior Lillian Temple in the 60 Dash (8:56) which was a PR; sophomore Travis Buse in the men's mile (4:30.65); and senior Brian Freed in the men's weight throw (57-2).
Junior Seth Brotherton competed in a number of events Saturday. The Pierre native took fourth in the 200 Dash (23.54), third in the men's triple jump (40-5.50) fifth in the men's 60 HH (9.20) and had a time of 7.48 in the men's 60 Dash (7.48).
Temple also had a busy day. After winning the 60 Dash, she took second in the women's high jump (5-1.75) and also had a new PR in the women's 400 Dash clocking a time of 1:04.82
Other Hardrocker highlights include: senior Thomas Everett earned a PR in the men's 3,000, taking third with a time of 9:19.93; freshman Kayla Morisette had a PR in the women's mile run posting a time of 5:44.04; Alberts had a PR in the men's 400, taking third in the event after clocking a 52.16; sophomore Kaelyn Kenner got PR in the women's 400 posting a 1:06.81; freshman Emilee Basta took fourth in the women's 60 Dash and set a PR with a time of 9.22; Freed and junior Miguel Flores bettered their PR marks in the men's shot put. Freed's new mark is 49-10.5 and Flores best throw is now 43-7.75; and sophomore Cori Christensen set a new PR in the women's weight throw with a toss of 42-3.75.
"Everybody came through," Schafer said. "The sprinters ran well and our distance runners were just as --- or more --- competitive than they were a week ago. It really was an entire team effort."
Schafer plans to send a small group of Hardrocker thinclads to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State Last Chance Indoor Meet March 2 to close out the 2013 indoor track season.