Black Hills State track and field opened outdoor competition this weekend hosting the Yellow Jacket Spring Open at Lyle Hare Stadium in Spearfish, S.D.
 
It was a successful outing for the Yellow Jackets despite unfavorable weather conditions Saturday afternoon which caused the men's hammer throw to take place on Sunday morning.
 
The weekend was highlighted by two Yellow Jackets earning provisional marks for the NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Hannah Hendrick recorded a provisional mark in the Pole Vault completing a jump of 3.90m (12' 9.5") and Kyla Sawvell earned a provisional mark in the women's shot-put recording a throw of 14.89m (48' 10.25").
 
Sprints
Breanne Fuller kept her success going from the indoor season recording two first place finishes at the Yellow Jacket Spring Open in the 100m (12.02) and the 200m (25.08) dashes. In the 400m dash two Yellow Jackets finished top five with Mikayla Tracy crossing the finish line in fourth place finishing in 1:00.23 and Erica Dykstra not far behind finishing in fifth with a time of 1:00.98.
 
Hurdles
Seth Hills recorded two fourth place finishes on the day in both the 110m hurdles (15.54) and the 400m hurdles (58.49).
 
Relays
The women's 4x400m relay found success finishing the race in 4:03.36 and coming across the finish line first. Running the women's 4x400 for BHSU was Samantha Bates, Erica Dykstra, Taylor Lundquist, and Mikayla Tracy. For the men, the 4x400 was run by Frank Becker, Landon Nicholson, Ryan Rafferty, and Keith Osowski. The men finished in third place with a time of 3:32.19.

Decathlon
Connor McGraw and Shane McGraw competed in the decathlon this weekend earning third and fourth place, respectively. Connor tallied 4980 points while Shane recorded 4536 points.
 
Distance
Xiomara Robinson was the leader for the women in distance events recording two first place finishes one in the 800m (2:20.27) and the other in the 1500m (4:40.92). She was followed in both races by the green and gold with Taylor Lundquist coming in second in the 800m with a time of 2:22.91 and Ruby Lindquist not far behind her finishing in third with a time of 2:24.39. Lindquist also completed a second-place finish in the 1500m run finishing in 4:42.43. In the 5000m run BHSU took three of the top five slots with Sylvia Brown taking first finishing in 19:02.77. Not far behind her was Kelsey Van Den Hemel who finished in second with a time of 19:33.48. Morgan Wald took fourth with a time of 19:52.44. The men saw equal success in the distance races with Matthew Parker recording a first-place finish in the 5000m run with a time of 15:29.27 and three top five finishes in the 800m and steeplechase. Keith Osowski found himself in first place at the end of the steeplechase finishing the race in 9:35.45. Tim Brown finished in third with a time of 9:59.84 with Collin Brauer not far behind finishing in fifth with a time of 10:47.03. Osowski recorded a second-place finish in the 800m run with a time of 2:01.18. Brown found himself in fourth place with a time of 2:04.97 with Landon Nicholson not far behind in fifth with a time of 2:06.00.
 
Throws
Outside of her provisional mark in the shot-put Kyla Sawvell also found herself in first place at the end of the discus competition. Sawvell recorded a throw of 44.45m (145' 10") in the discus. Sawvell also recorded a second-place finish in the Hammer Throw with a throw of 48.56m (159' 4"). Following Sawvell in the hammer throw were two more Yellow Jackets in the top five. Jessica Malm threw 46.17m (151' 6") which was good enough to land her in fourth while Maddi Fiddler threw 45.32m (148' 8") earning herself a fifth-place finish. Hoyt Nicholas threw 43.31m (142' 1") in the discus which earned him a first-place finish while freshman Anothony Rosenstrauch threw 41.43m (135"11) to earn himself a third-place finish. Nicholas also earned a second-place finish in the shot-put with a throw of 14.60m (47'11").
 
Jumps/Vault
Hannah Hendrick not only earned a provisional mark in the pole vault with her vault of 3.90m, but she also earned first-place. Samantha Bates jumped 11.05m (36' 3") in the triple jump to earn fifth for the Yellow Jackets on the women's side. For the men Drazen Moratzka found himself in second place in the high jump after completing a jump of 1.95m (6' 4.75"). Ryan Foy finished pole vault in third for the men after his vault of 4.45m (14' 7.25") and rounding out the Yellow Jackets top five finishers was Reece Ullery who jumped 13.67m (44' 10.25") in the triple jump finishing in fourth.
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets hit the road to compete at the UNK Loper Open in Kearney, Nebraska on April 3rd.