The cross country season for the SDSU men’s and women’s teams finished with middle of the pack performances at the NCAA Midwest Cross Country Regional in DeKalb, Ill.

The women’s team finished in 16th place behind a strong career-ending performance from Danielle Burke, who finished in 45th place out of 189 runners and ran a time of 22 minutes and 19.76 seconds. Burke was followed by Erin Hargens in 69th, Laura Wolles in 118th, Tera Potts in 122nd and Danielle McCann rounded out the pack in 127th place with a time of 23:26.85. Head cross country coach Rod DeHaven said this was a good ending of a good season for the Jacks.

“Overall, I think it was a pretty good performance. It was good to see Burke run a good race to end her cross country career,” DeHaven said.

The men’s team ended up in 17th place out of 25 total teams that competed. The men were once again led by Greg Vollmer, who finished out his cross country career with a 61st place performance and a time of 32:53.31. After Vollmer was Summit League Newcomer of the Year Trent Lusignan in 67th, Kyle Schmidt in 85th, Jared Ailts in 92nd and Drew Kraft finished in 144th place with a time of 35:09.76. DeHaven said that it was not the way he wished the season would have ended.

“The guys were running on fumes, unfortunately. We had a few guys get sick and a few guys get dinged up, and that really hurt us,” DeHaven said.

DeHaven said the Jackrabbits figure to lose Burke, Hargens, Vollmer, and Schmidt to graduation, but he’s confident that the depth of the program will keep the Jacks competitive.

“Other than those four, we’ll have everyone back that contributed for us. We have some people already in the program that should fill the holes left by graduation, and we’ll also be getting some people back that were deployed or just took a year off,” DeHaven said.

DeHaven also said that possible holes will look to be filled by recruiting, but the Jacks are only interested in a specific type of athlete.

“We have to look at times and see how the kids have progressed, and you have to make sure that interests line up academically, and we have to make sure that they are kids from this region. We don’t have the most pleasant climate, so you have to make sure that the kids are used to it or can easily adapt to it,” DeHaven said.

Even though the cross country season is now over, most of the runners only get a short break before preparations begin for the indoor track season.

“They only get two weeks off and then we start doing workouts and getting ready for indoor season, and we’ll start competing heavily right after Christmas break. Most of these kids run track too, so their season never really stops,” DeHaven said.

The Jackrabbit cross country teams turned in some of their best performances of the season in the final race of the regular season Oct. 14 at the Bradley University Cross Country Classic in Peoria, Ill.

SDSU’s Tera Potts (front) and Courtney Neubert compete at the SDSU Classic on Oct. 1 at Edgebrook Country Club.(Collegian photo by Corey Morrow)r best performances of the season in the final race of the regular season Oct. 14 at the Bradley University Cross Country Classic in Peoria, Ill.

The SDSU men turned in a respectable performance, finishing in third place as a team and placing three runners in the top 20. Senior Greg Vollmer set the pace for the Jacks with a time of 25 minutes and 3.5 seconds. Vollmer’s time was also good enough to place him fifth overall in the meet. Following Vollmer was Jared Ailts and Trent Lusignan who finished just two places apart at 17th and 19th, respectively. Kyle Schmidt crossed the finish line just 14 seconds behind Lusignan to take 26th, and Greg Beesley rounded out the effort for the Jacks by finishing 59th overall.
Head cross country coach Rod DeHaven said that the men entered the race with hopes of winning the meet, but fell just short due to a few unfortunate circumstances.

“[Vollmer] is still suffering a little from being sick, and [Ailts] ran really aggressively in the beginning of the race, and that probably cost him 5 or 10 places in the end. We also still have the problem of getting five good performances,” DeHaven said.
The women’s cross country team ran one of their best races of the season to claim 8th place in team competition. The Jacks women were led by Danielle Burke, who finished in 24th place with a time of 22 minutes and 9.47 seconds, followed by Erin Hargens, 27th, Courtney Neubert, 33rd, Tera Potts, 72nd, and rounded out by Danielle McCann, 73rd.

“That was one of our better performances in the last couple years. Even though that wasn’t the highest level of competition we’ve faced, I’m very pleased with the performance,” DeHaven said.

What impressed DeHaven the most was the attitude of the Jackrabbit women after the meet.

“Right after they were done, they all had this look like ‘Yeah, that’s good, now what do we have to do to get better?’ That’s the kind of attitude that you want to see as a coach.”

The trip to Peoria was the final meet for both the men and women before the Summit League Championship. DeHaven has high aspirations for the men’s and women’s teams and hopes to challenge for at least one title.

“NDSU and Southern Utah should battle it out for the women’s title. UMKC looks strong and USD looks good. I think if we run well, we could compete for third place.” DeHaven said of the Jackrabbit women.

On the men’s side, many see this as a two team race for the Summit League title between SDSU and Southern Utah. DeHaven emphasized that for the Jacks to have a chance, they will need a solid effort from top to bottom.

“If we run hard with our top five, I think we have a very good chance of winning (the Summit League Title). But even it we put our top five in front of [Southern Utah’s] top three, it will still be tough.” DeHaven said.

The Summit League Championship is Oct. 29 in Tulsa, Okla., hosted by Oral Roberts University.

Universities are always trying to build good relationships with alumni. The SDSU cross country program has a unique way of going about building alumni ties.
Every year at the SDSU Classic, the Jackrabbits’ home meet, a team of former SDSU runners comes together to compete and help build the program.
This year, the team had runners as young as 24 and three members over 40. But they all have a like-minded goal.
“It feels really good to be able to come back and support the (current) team and do what we can. I think we’re all out there to race and have fun, but at the same time we’re out there to help…it’s good camaraderie with the younger guys,” former SDSU runner and current Brookings High School head cross country coach Chris Gruenhagen said.
The alumni team first began racing at the SDSU Classic seven years ago, after the arrival of current head coach and SDSU alum Rod DeHaven. According to former head coach and SDSU runner Paul Danger, the hiring of DeHaven was a big advantage to the program.
Back when the alumni team first started to compete, Danger was looking for a way to bring alumni back to the home meet. He said alumni presence at the SDSU Classic had faded a bit after the program’s hay days back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
“In order to enhance (DeHaven’s hiring), especially with alums, I thought it’d be a good idea that we’d re-energize alumni distance running at the home meet, so we started up and we’ve been going seven years non-stop,” Danger said.
Danger went on to say that it’s good for the current runners to see the alumni being active long after their time at SDSU and only makes the program stronger.
The number of alumni that return has only grown since, and this year the team finished fifth out of 10 teams, with two runners in the top 20.
“It’s great to have those guys back. It’s not easy for anyone of an advanced age to go out and compete in any sport. But those guys go out there without too much reservation. I’m grateful that they do it because it’s good for our kids to see that these guys are still connected to the program and want to be a part of this,” DeHaven said.
After all was said and done, one thing was obvious: the alums were happy to be back and be able to give back to the program. Most of the alums had grins on their faces, even though their older muscles might be a bit sore later.
Gruenhagen admitted that the running hasn’t gotten any easier over the years, but the fun remains.
“As long as I can still run and as long as we have a team together every year, I’ll keep doing it,” Gruenhagen said.

Members of South Dakota State University’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams gave solid efforts against some of their stiffest competition of the season Sept. 24 at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn.

Under normal circumstances, the men finishing in 21st place out of 24 teams and the women finishing 25th out of 26 could be seen as a setback, but the top-flight competition faced by the Jackrabbit runners proved to be a worthy challenge. Going up against big name schools such as North Carolina State, California, and Arizona State would prove to be an uphill battle for SDSU, but head cross-country coach Rod DeHaven said that both teams rose to the occasion.

“Only two or three of those teams (at the Griak) were unranked regionally, so basically everyone you’re going up against is one of the top 140 teams in the country…and we had a lot of runners turn in personal bests,” Coach DeHaven said.

On the men’s side, Greg Vollmer turned in the best performance for the Jackrabbits, finishing in 65th place at a time of 25 minutes and 14 seconds, followed by Jared Ailts, Trent Lusignan, Kyle Schmidt, and Kenny Mayer finishing in 101st, 105th, 132nd, and 150th, respectively. As a team, they may have only placed ahead of three teams in the meet, but one team in particular that the Jackrabbits left in the dust may draw some attention among Summit League followers.

“It was really important for us to beat North Dakota State. They were the only other Summit League team there, and many see them as the second best team in the league. Maybe now they’ll see us that way instead,” DeHaven said.

For the SDSU women, only 24 seconds separated the top Jackrabbit runner, Tera Potts, and the fifth, Courtney Neubert. Potts finished 150th overall with a time of 23:18, followed 11 seconds later by Erin Hargens in 156th. Hargens was followed by the two Dannielle’s of SDSU women’s cross-country, Dannielle Burke and Danielle McCann, who separated themselves by only one second to finish in 162nd and 163rd, respectively. The Jackrabbit’s top five was rounded out by Neubert with a time of 23:42.

With the heavy competition and hilly course of the Griak Invitational behind them, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams look ahead to the SDSU Classic, being held Oct. 1 at the Edgebrook Golf Course in Brookings.

DeHaven said that he feels confident in where his teams are in their training and feels they have right mindset to run very competitively at the Summit League Championships.

“We’re traditionally a team that gets better as the leaves fall. This home meet has always been our catalyst to get us where we need to be for the Summit League meet…and Nebraska is ranked ahead of us regionally, so it would be nice to unseat them on our own course.”

The Jackrabbit women’s cross country team gained valuable experience as they brought home a second place finish at Dakota State University’s Herb Blakey Invitational on Sept. 17.

Junior Brooke Wyffels finished in fifth place in the 5K with a time of 19 minutes and 42 seconds and set a strong pace for the rest of the Jackrabbit women to follow. Four of the top eight times were turned in by SDSU runners, including three freshmen runners. Alex Suhr took sixth place at 19:57, Brooke Peterson was seventh at 20:01, Leah Bolon took eighth at 20:21, and Bobbie Sedlmajer rounded out the effort for SDSU taking eleventh with a time of 20:40. As a team, the Jackrabbits finished only six points behind the meet winner the University of Sioux Falls.

Head Coach Rod DeHaven attributed some of the success to the lower level of competition but said the women put forth a great effort. According to DeHaven, most of the women that ran on Saturday are either first or second year runners and are working hard at adjusting to collegiate level running.

“Something that was a long workout in high school is now a medium workout in college. They’re also adjusting to things like their classes and living in the dorms, so this was a great meet to build up their confidence, and most of these runners improved on their times from two weeks ago,” DeHaven said.

DeHaven also noted that running in confidence-building meets such as this was a great way to not only improve individual athletes, but improve the program as a whole. He noted that the program had slipped in recent years, but gave credit to upper-classmen for their effort to take Jackrabbit cross country to the level they have in mind.

Although the men did not compete as a team, two of their runners did compete Saturday.

Senior Dominic Thielen finished in fifth place in the 8K race with a time of 27:20, and sophomore Christian Karels finished just behind in sixth place at 27:28.

“(Thielen) is usually an 800 runner during track season, and mainly does cross country to stay in shape, but as thin as we are, he may become a contributor this year,” DeHaven said.

Karels competed unattached last year, and DeHaven said that his time on Saturday was almost thirty seconds better than last years’ times. DeHaven went on to say that such an improvement could be attributed to many things such as weather, level of competition, and layout of the course, but he also gave Karels credit for his hard work to improve himself.

“Christian is a guy that we’d cut in the past, so it’s nice to see him doing well this year,” DeHaven noted.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams will both travel to Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 24, for the Roy Griak Invitational.

The SDSU cross country team began their season on the right foot at the Rod Pynn Invitational Cross Country Meet hosted by the University of North Dakota.
The men’s team took the top three spots and four of the top five, while the women’s team took the top two spots and four of the top seven. The Jacks competed against runners from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Minot State University and host North Dakota.
The meet used a unique style of team scoring, matching each team against another. Both the men’s and women’s teams went 3-0 against opposing teams at the meet.
Senior Greg Vollmer took first place by 30 seconds in the 6K with a time of 25 minutes and 31.70 seconds. Freshman Trent Lusignan came in second place with a time of 26:03.42. Not far behind was junior Jared Ailts with a time of 26:07.55 and rounding out the top five was senior Kyle Schmidt with a time of 26:26.65.
“On the men’s side we tried to run five guys together until about half-way through, then it was kind of every man for himself. It was really nice to see freshman Trent Lusignan come in second place, however, the meet was not as long as one of our typical runs. It was only 6K instead of 8K,” head coach Rod DeHaven said.
In the women’s 5K run it was junior Erin Hargens who grabbed the top spot with a time of 18 minutes and 52.40 seconds. Junior Tera Potts locked up second place with a run of 18:56.18. Along with Hargens and Potts, Junior Danielle McCann and Freshman Courtney Neubert finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, with times of 19:33.12 for McCann and 19:37.86 for Neubert.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the women’s team. It was nice to see their times improve from this time last year, especially since the conditions were not as good for the women,” DeHaven said.
DeHaven also went on to say that he didn’t really place an emphasis on expectations, given that the team has only been practicing for one warm week. While only practicing one week may not have a big impact on the team, SDSU will be tested Sept. 9 at the OZ Memorial in Minneapolis.
“It was nice to run against a couple of schools that we wouldn’t normally run against…but we’ll probably get a better feel for where our team is at next weekend,” DeHaven said.

Others play by different rules.

For the SDSU golf, tennis, and cross country teams, the first day of practice coincides with the first day of classes.

“The biggest challenge (to starting late) is that everything is so hectic. They’re worried about class, meetings, practice…the kids get thrown into the fire. There isn’t much of an adjustment period,” new head tennis coach Michael Engdahl said.

With cross country and men’s golf events scheduled within the first week of classes, it’s somewhat surprising that the practices don’t start sooner. Luckily, we have head cross country coach Rod DeHaven to put things into perspective:

“I don’t know of a cross country team that’s running a cover-two zone right now, and because we’re not running a cover-two, that’s probably why we can get away with it”

Starting practices so close to the first match, meet, or game may seem like a stressful time, but the three head coaches who were interviewed didn’t seem too worried about how their athletes would handle getting back into the swing of things.

“It’s nothing to get all worked up about. If our kids do the work in the summer, we don’t need to bring them in…it’s all part of the learning process,” DeHaven said.

Head golf coach Jared Baszler said he actually prefers not starting practices  until classes begin, so his golfers can play in tournaments that run up until the time school starts. For example, Jackrabbits men’s golfer David Smith played in the USGA Amatuer Championship just last week in Erin Hills, Wis., among 312 of the best men’s amateur golfers in the world.

Baszler also pointed out the fact that golf and tennis have two seasons: one in the fall, one in the spring.

“It works fine for us. It just makes it a little hectic, this year especially because typically we have two full weeks of practice, but this year we’re in a new tournament,” Baszler said.

The men’s and women’s tennis teams are the late bloomers, as they don’t have events scheduled until Sept. 23 and 30, respectively. That doesn’t mean they won’t be stressing about the start of their season and school. Engdahl said on the men’s side, they have 12 possible players to fill nine spots, so the team will have a “tryout-type atmosphere” in the month leading up to their first match.

The cross country team begins the year at the North Dakota Double Dual in Grand Forks, N.D. on Sept. 3.

For golf, the first tournament for the men is Sept. 5-6 at the Battle in the Tetons in Victor, Idaho, while the women are set to compete at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, Sept 10-11.

“It’s nothing the kids can’t handle. I know they’ve been working hard all summer and we’re ready to get off to a running start,” Engdahl said.