Spearfish, SD – The Black Hills State University track and field teams dueled with the Hardrockers today at the 2019 Yellow Jacket Holiday Classic. Both teams came out victorious. Kyla Sawvell had a huge season opener, provisionally qualifying for the national championships in both the shot put and weight throw. Hannah Hendricks also made the list for the national meet in the pole vault.

Sawvell's toss of 57 feet 9 inches in the weight throw moves her to number seven in the nation. It was also a huge personal best and moves her to third all time in school history. Her shot put of 45 feet and 9.25 inches makes her currently ninth best in the nation and bumps her up to fourth all time.

Hendricks vault of 11 feet 9.25 inches was just shy of her personal best and puts her at ninth in the nation.

"It was great to get in uniform and see what we had in the tank," said head coach Seth Mischke. "I saw a lot of solid performances capped by the three provo marks and new school record."

Action began Friday with the heptathlon and pentathlon. Dickinson State brought a small contingency of athletes to compete in the multi events; the brought the soul female pentathlete and their men took the top three spots in the heptathlon.

Day two of the Holiday Classic was a show down between the Yellow Jackets and the South Dakota School of Mines.  Of the thirteen events contested, the Yellow Jacket women took the top spot in eight of them to beat the Hardrockers 192-139.

The Green and Gold swept the top three spots in three events, the 60m dash, the 200m dash, and the 60m hurdles. Breanne Fuller took the win in both the 60m and the 200m. Her 60m time of 7.88 improved upon her personal best and is still second fastest in school history. Her 200m performance of 25.70 was fourth fastest in school history.

The men's squad won nine of 15 events contested to beat SD Mines 223-211. Seth Kovar broke his own school record in the 60m hurdles running 8.33 seconds. Cracking into the top ten in school history in his debut was Garza Dontae with his 44 foot 9.5 inch triple jump making him ninth all time. Hoyt Nicholas had big PR in the weight throw and moved up to seventh all time.

Jordan Theisen had a busy day on the track winning the 800m run, the mile, and the five thousand kilometer.

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Black Hills State is located in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota, sponsoring 13 NCAA sports with membership in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the NCAA emerging sport of women's triathlon and NIRA rodeo. For all information regarding Yellow Jacket Athletics, please visit BHSUAthletics.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @BHSUAthletics.
---BHSUAthletics.com---