Recap of Last Chance Weekend

Mary Wirth jumped 5'8" in another consistent performance. Mary finished 4th in this meet. It is not a qualifying jump but will lead well into the outdoor season.

Jared Vlastuin jumped 24'2" in the Long Jump.  Another consistent performace

Go Jacks Article- There is less there than here as usual.

Mike Krsnak ran 8:16 to take 8th in a deep 3000m field at Notre Dame.  Mike may have had tired legs after last weekend's Summit League Championships where he raced 4 times.

Jake Schneller won his heat at Notre Dame and set a new PR and School record of 1:49.82!  Congrats Jake.  That time would be a regional qualifier for outdoors.  Schneller sat in the pack through 400 in 53.8 then moved soon after.  He took the lead with around 200 to go and ran strong through the finish.  Jake is ranked just outside the top-50 nationally.

Jake after his previous indoor school record, courtesy of his father

Live Results for Jacks This Weekend

Arkansas Live Results

Mary competed well and jumped a consistent 5-8 in the High Jump.  Jared jumps soon.

Notre Dame Live Results

Mike runs at 11:45 Eastern Time tomorrow in the 3000 and Jake runs at 1:05 Eastern Time.

Live Video for ND

Jacks Seeking National Qualifiers

Mike Krsnak and Jake Schneller will be racing this Saturday at Notre Dame seeking fast times in order to break school records and possibly qualify for the NCAA Track meet which is just a few weeks away.  Jake Schneller currently sits in the 101st spot in the NCAA Division 1 800.  His time of 1:51.14 is less than 4 seconds away from the automatic qualifier for NCAAs.  Only 4 athletes have qualified so far and I expect the line to be drawn at about 1:48.0.  Other than qualifying for NCAAs, Jake is looking to better his own school record set earlier in the year.  Coach Rod DeHaven's record had stood for 26 years but I don't expect Schneller's record to last long unless he sets the bar even higher.  The level of competition at SDSU has risen since entering the DI era.

Mike Krsnak sits in nearly the same spot as Schneller in the national rankings at 95th.  Krsnak is second all time and will also be seeking the school record held by Brad Lowery of 8:05.04.  The NCAA automatic qualifies is 7:52.30 and it will certainly take that time to get in as 15 men already have it.  Cam Levins of Southern Utah has qualified for the Mile, 3000 and 5000.

Jumpers Jared Vlastuin and Mary Wirth will also be traveling, this time to Arkansas.  They too seek the NCAA qualifying marks.

Jared is the school record holder in the Long Jump, High Jump, and is ranked 4th all time after last weekend's triple jump performance.  Vlastuin seeks qualifiers in the High Jump and Long Jump.  He is tied for 32nd in the national rankings in the High Jump with his 7'1" performance at conference.  The automatic qualifier is 7'4.25".  Vlastuin is ranked 34th in the Long Jump with his school record of 24'9".  The auto qualifier is 8.00m or about 26'3".  Jared would have to jump about 25'5" to make it to nationals.  The Arkansas runway is said to be among the fastest in the nation and many of the top jumps this year are from that facility including the #2 jump by Texan Marquis Goodwin.  Clive Chafausipo of Oral Roberts is ranked 7th nationally in this event.

Vlastuin Over 7'1" at Summit Leagues- Photo By: Rod Schneller

Mary Wirth is ranked 34th nationally in the High Jump with her school record performance of 5'9.75".  The Auto qualifier is over 6' and Mary would need to clear that height to secure a place at nationals.  Mary finished 13th at last spring's NCAA West Region when a top-12 placing was needed to secure a bid.

Best of luck to all Jackrabbits in their bids to set school records and possibly qualify for NCAA Nationals.

Summit League Day 2 Recap

Typing this from the bus!  Day 2 of the Summit League Indoor Track and Field Meet was full of surprises, both good and bad, for the Jackrabbits.  Here is a recap and some thoughts on the meet.

Jared Vlastuin continued his success from the previous day with wins in the High Jump and Triple Jump.  Yes, that is the triple jump and this is the first time this year that Jared has competed in that event.  I think he even surprised himself with his jump of 48 feet 2 and 3/4 inches.  The high jump was full of drama as Jamario Taylor of Western Illinois brushed the bar on his final attempt at 6-11 and it fell of as he was exiting the pit.  Jared made sure the win was legitimate while clearing 7 foot 1 inches, a new school and conference record!  These acheivements garnered him the Summit League Male Field Athlete of the Year.  Interview Here

Lora Shearer earned the same award on the women's side after her performances on the weekend.  After an exciting and tiring day winning the heptathlon, Lora came back the second day to place 4th in the 60m hurdles, 6th in the triple jump, and a tie for third in the high jump.  She had finished 2nd place in the hurdles before the race had to be redone because of a timing system failure.  Interview Here

The Men's Multi-Event athletes finished up action with the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m.  Freshman Bennett Mercil fell in the hurdles, effectively ending his multi-event.  Mike Bredeson made a strong push on day 2 and finished 7th overall.

The men's 60m hurdles saw heavy favorite Matt Tetzlaff of NDSU, a Pierre High School grad, fall and get disqualified.  Jacks Brandon Priebe and Matt Dunbar collected 4th and 6th places respectively.

Although no Jackrabbits were involved, I thought the women's 800 was of note.  It was a huge battle between Emma Ladwig of USD and Brittany Schandore of NDSU with the former coming out on top.  Both women were under the 14 year old conference record.

The Men's 800m saw the Jacks pick up 10 points with 4th, 6th, and 7th place finishes.  Lars Mattison again set a personal best by 1 second after setting one in the prelims by an even larger margin.  It looks like the Jacks may have found their 5th man for the Drake Relays 4x800.

Freshman Jessica McDonald placed 8th in the 400m to earn a point for the Jacks.  Jared Foote gained a 5th place finish in the same event, placing behind 4 Oral Roberts athletes.

In perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, Freshman McKenzie Johnson threw a personal best by over 3 feet to take second place in the shot put.  She had been seeded eighth coming into the event.

The women's high jump was the highlight of the day for the Jacks with Mary Wirth taking down her longtime rival, Toni Tollefson of NDSU, to win the event.  Lora Shearer and Kali Olson tied for third place to give the Jacks 20 points in the event.

Tera Potts had a similar race to the 3000m in the Mile on day 2.  She had a strong finishing kick to place 5th with a time just over 5 minutes.  In the Men's race, a tired Mike Krsnak kicked his way into 7th.  He competed in the 3000 and DMR the night before and had aspirations of placing in the 5000 later in the day.

The women's 4x4 relay ran well to capture the slow heat in a season best time of 3:56.49.  The men's 4x4 relay was eventful with heavy favorite Oral Roberts being tripped by the Bison.  NDSU would finish third but ended up being disqualified for the incident.  USD went on the win the event by one second over the Jackrabbits.  Jared Foote ran a strong anchor leg and cut the distance to the 'Yotes.

The team scores were a disappointment overall.  The women were hoping for third and were edged by Southern Utah by 4 points.  The men were hoping for second and finished 5th.  The men's team scores were a surprise with Southern Utah coming out on top.  The T-Birds were extremely strong in the distance races and their leader, Cam Levins, won all four of his races.  The favorites, NDSU, finished third.

Results Here

GoJacks Write Up

Brief Recap of Day 1 at Summit League

Hello All,

I have to get to bed so I can run well tomorrow so the Recap will be brief tonight... hopefully.

The day started off with a dramatic conclusion to the Pentathlon.  Lora Shearer PR'd in 4 of 5 events to win by 2 points over Carmilla Pirelli of Oral Roberts.  Lora took the overall lead after a nice Long Jump of 18-05. It then came down to the 800m and Lora finished within the required .6 seconds to retain the lead.  Lora's mark is also a school record!

Mike Bredeson and Bennett Mercil capped off a successful first day of the heptathlon with 5th and 10th place finishes.  They will complete the event with the 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1000m run tomorrow.

Brooke Garner started the field events well with a throw of 61 feet 3.5 inches in the weight throw.  That throw was good enough for first place and a school record!  McKenzie Johnson and Amy Paulzine added points to the Jack total with 7th and 8th place finishes.  Jake Brinkmann placed 7th in the weight throw as well.

Ashley Odegaard continued the field event success with an 8th place finish.  Lora Shearer began to fatigue after the multi event.  Her multi jump would have placed her 5th in the open long jump.  The men's long jump was full of drama as Clive Chaufasipo of Oral Roberts defeated our Jared Vlastuin by 1 cm.  Vlastuin barely scratched his last three jumps as he attempted to beat Clive.

Calvin Cammack continued his successful season with a vault of 15-06.25 for 6th place.

Lora Shearer made the finals in the 60m hurdles and will be in the fast heat after a 4th place finish.  Brandon Priebe and Matt Dunbar qualified third and fourth for the men.

All three Jackrabbit men qualified for the 9 man final tomorrow.  Lars Mattison had a monster PR to capture the 9th spot.

Freshman Jessica McDonald qualified in the 400m with a clocking of 57.72.  With a conversion from the 200m flat track this is a PR.  Jared Foote qualified second in the 400 behind Jeffrey Gibson.  Oral Roberts snagged 6 of 8 finals spots.

Tera Potts had a strong kick in the 3000m to place 6th, passing two bison in the last stretch.  Mike Krsnak fought hard in the men's 3000 and earned an all-conference honorable mention with a third place finish.

The women's 200m runners ran well but failed to qualify for the finals.  Megan Bren, Ashley Odegaard, and Gina Fritz all finished between 25.78 and 25.82.  Chris Curry also missed qualifying, by only one hundreth of a second.

The women's distance medley ran within 7 seconds of the Summit League record and still finished 5th.  The team of Krista Creager, Jessica McDonald, Laura Lawton, and Danielle McCann ran very well.  The men ran even better and destroyed the field and the Summit League record of 10:03 set by Southern Utah in 2001.  Dom Thielen (3:01.8), Jared Foote (49.0), Jake Schneller (1:52.1), and Mike Krsnak (4:12.9) lapped most of the field and beat USD by 3 seconds.

The women are in second place after day 1 and the men are tied with Oral Roberts for 3rd place.  North Dakota State leads both.

Day 1 Results

Go Jacks with interviews

Men's Summit League Predictions Revisited

Heat Sheets!

When I last did Summit League Predictions they were based on last year's championships and the few meets that had happened.  I am not going to do a full prediction like last time but am just going to predict team places and some keys for the Jackrabbits.

1. NDSU- The Bison have proven to be strong in the Field Events and Multi Events like always and have a few big scorers on the track including Travis Fitzke and Donte Smart.
2. SDSU- The Jacks look to be peaking at the right time and have had good performances and workouts leading up to this meet.  See keys for the Jacks below.
3. Oral Roberts- The Golden Eagles were ranked higher in the preseason predictions but their depth has been a weakness this year.  They will be strong in the 200, 400 and 4x4 on the track and in the Long Jump and Vault in the field.  In previous years they had more strength in the field and the 60m.
4. Southern Utah- Southern Utah will score big points in the distance races and will pick up points here and there in the field.  Cam Levins will most likely win the Mile, 3000 and 5000 and be named Track MVP.
5. South Dakota- The Yotes are well rounded and will pick up points in most disciplines.  Their stars include distance runner Jeff Mettler, throwers Kyle McKelvey and Cody Snyder, sprinter Michael Burrus, and Vaulter Kyle Ballew.
6. UMKC- The 'Roos are quickly improving, look for them to be in the mix next year with the loss of ORU and SUU.  They are led by distance runner Cosmas Ayabei and jumper DC Okonta.
7. Western Illinois- The Leathernecks will score most of their points in the high jump and throws.
8. Oakland- The Grizzlies will be lucky to score any points that aren't from the DMR and 4x4.

*IUPUI will begin track competition in the Summit League this outdoor season.

**It will be a battle for spots 2-6 so don't be surprised if this gets switched around.

Keys for the Jackrabbits-
1. Jared Vlastuin- Vlastuin has the ability to win two events.  He is ranked 1st in the High Jump and 2nd in the Long Jump.  He has defeated Clive from Oral Roberts in head to head competitions in the past.
2. 400 and 4x4- Jared Foote and Brandon Priebe are ranked in the top 8 in the 400 and make up half of the 4x4 team that may challenge for the win.  ORU is the favorite but you never know what will happen in the last event of the meet.
3. 800- Jake Schneller looks to cap his indoor career with an 800 meter title.  He is seeded 3rd but has defeated Shade head to head and Cam Levins will be tired.  Dom Thielen has been improving rapidly this year and I wouldn't be surprised if there were 2 Jacks challenging for the win here.
4. 3000 and 5000- The whole conference is especially strong in these events.  The Jacks need Mike Krsnak, Greg Vollmer, and Trent Lusignan to score in both events.  I hope to do the same.
5. 60 Hurdles- Only 10 men are entered and the Jacks expect to have 2 in the top 8.  Watch out for an upset of Pierre alum Matt Tetzlaff by Brandon Priebe of SDSU.  Priebe has risen to the occasion in previous years.
6. Throws- The Jacks throwers haven't had the greatest season until last week but they are usually ready to go at conference.  Don't forget that Jake Brinkman is a conference champ in the weight throw.

Jacks Gain Momentum Towards Conference

The Jacks competed well at the Nebraska Tune-Up and USD's John Dalton Invitational.  Here are some highlights:

1. Gina Fritz runs her first open 400 in 58.12.  Teammate, Jessica McDonald was right behind in her second best time of 58.22.  The Jacks look to have a strong 4x4 for the Summit Leagues.  Fritz also came back strong in the 200m with a time of 25.66, her 2nd best of the season.

2. Krista Creager ran an all-time PR in the 800 with a 2:16.06 clocking.  She moves into 12th in the Summit League.

3. Tera Potts broke 5 minutes for the first time and did it in style with a 4:56!  Volunteer assistant coach and SDSU alum, Dani Burke, ran a PR of 4:54.  Also in the Mile was Brooke Peterson, she ran a PR and came back strong to place 3rd in the 1000m.

4. The Women's 3k saw 3 for 3 on PRs as Danielle McCann, Leah Bolon and Alex Suhr all ran well.

5. Katie Boote and Josie Oakland both ran under the 19 minute barrier for the first time with big PRs.

6. Jared Foote nearly broke the school record in the 600m run with a clocking of 1:21.10. Everett Gebhart holds the record at 1:21.07.

7. Dom Thielen continues to improve his 800m time.  After running 1:52.30 last weekend he runs 1:52.23 this weekend.  Along with Jake Schneller, who took the weekend off, the Jacks should score big points in the 800m at Summit League.

8. The Men's 3k saw Greg Beesley win his heat with a strong finish.  Andrew Thies also ran well with a 9:05 clocking.  Andrew also PR'd in the Mile earlier in the day.  He shows promise for the next couple years.

9. Jared Vlastuin won the High Jump at USD.  He looks to be the biggest point scorer for the Jacks.

10. Calvin Cammack sets a season best and indoor PR in the Pole Vault with a vault of 15'11".  Calvin ranks 6th in the conference.  Freshman Cody Fossum keeps improving in the vault as well with a 13'11" vault.

11. The throwers are ready for conference!  After a big opener at Mankato in December the throwers had cooled off but coach Tyg Long has them ready when it counts.  Brooke Garner looks to bring home a few titles and don't forget about Jake Brinkmann who has a Weight Throw title under his belt from two years ago.

Jacks at Jack!

The Jackrabbit Track and Field team competed fiercely at the Jack Johnson Invite hosted by the U of Minnesota on Saturday, January 21st.  Solid performances came from all events.

The Men's sprinters ran well with Chris Curry making the finals in the 60m with a PR of 7.17.  Curry and Foote both scored in the 200 with 22.89 and 23.01 respectively.  Foote also ran strong in his heat of the 400, winning with a time of 49.69.

The Mid-D crew brought the heat as usual.  Jake Schneller ran a strong opener with a 1:53.53 opener in the 800.  Mike Krsnak also came back in the 800 with a 1:57.28.  The fast heat of the men's Mile might have been the race of the day.  Krsnak JV kicked his way into second place with a 4:09.03, .13 seconds behind NDSU's Travis Fitzke.  In the second heat of the Mile both Dom Thielen and Drew Kraft ran PRs of 4:18.70 and 4:25.40.  Freshmen Andrew Thies improved by 4 seconds and looks to continue to cut time.   Big T Lusignan comes up big again in the 3000 with an 8:34 beating all of Minnesota's Freshmen.  Out of the second heat, I ran well and Brian Brochman had a great first race in a Jackrabbit uniform.  Most importantly, Brian beat his rival, Marty Joyce of NDSU.

Brandon Priebe in the 60m hurdles and the 4x4 remained consistent in their second meet of the year.

In the men's field Jared Vlastuin finished second in the High Jump tying his PR of 2.10 meters.  The Men's Pole Vault, Calvin Cammack and Ryan Schaefer placed with vaults of 4.75 and 4.60 meters.  Vlastuin also won the Long Jump with a Jump of 7.26 meters.  Bennett Mercil PR'd by 500 points in the Heptathlon with a score of 4097.  In the throwing arena, Jake Brinkmann placed 7th in the Weight Throw.

On the Women's side the sprinters represented well.  3 women, Ashley Odegaard, Megan Bren, and Gina Fritz , qualified for finals in the 60m.  Bren also placed in the 200 with a timing of 25.99.

Krista Creager started off the distance crew with an ever consistant 2:19.  Laura Lawton took 5 seconds off last week and Brooke Peterson ran well doubling back from the mile.  In the Mile run, Tera Potts runs a near PR 5:09, Danielle McCann runs a 10 second PR of 5:15, and Brooke Peterson runs nearly 10 seconds faster than last week.  Erin Hargens ran 10:03 in the 3k.  She now ranks 2nd in the Summit League in that event.  Courtney Neubert had a nice 3k debut at 10:38 and ran a very smart race.

In the Women's field, Ashley Odegaard captured a 3rd place finish with a near PR of 5.27 meters.  Mary Wirth, Lora Shearer, and Kali Olson all placed for the Jackrabbits in the high jump. Wirth also placed 4th in the Triple Jump.  Brooke Garner led the throwers with a 4th place finish in the Weight Throw.  In the Pentathlon, Lora Shearer improves her Summit League leading score with a 3597.

Overall, it was a great day to be a Jackrabbit!

Now for the important part; the selection of the Athlete of the meet.  It was especially hard this meet as there were many great performances but none that stood out far above the rest.

This week's winner is one who will always be in consideration because he is always jumping high and far and is near the top of the competition.  Jared Vlastuin jumped to second in the Summit High Jump Standings and further secured his second place in the Long Jump Standings.



Honorable Mention #1 is the Milers- Big PRs for Dom and Danielle and small PRs for Drew and Krsnak.  Krsnak also almost won.



Honorable Mention #2 is Erin Hargens.  Erin ran the second fastest time in The Summit League in the 3000 in her Jackrabbit debut at the distance.  I may have to change my picks for the conference meet now!



Honorable Mention #3 are the Multi-event stars Bennett and Lora.  Bennett PR'd by 500 points and Lora extended her Summit League lead in the event while winning the event.