Black Hills State track and field started out the outdoor season with a busy weekend at home competing in the Yellow Jacket Spring Open.
 
The Yellow Jackets have two provisional marks earned to open the outdoor season and 10 first place finishes highlighting the weekend of competition.
 
Competition began Friday with the multi events and the 10K. In the 10K the Yellow Jacket men had both a third and fifth place finisher with Lincoln Fleishman placing third with a time of 33:04.26 and Nolan Maher placing fifth with a time of 34:28.22. Running unattached for the females was Xiomara Robinson who earned a first-place finish with a time of 37:07.74. This time moves Robinson to #3 overall on the Yellow Jacket top ten list.
 
Kendra McDonald and Conor McGraw competed in the multi's for the Yellow Jackets with Kendra placing fourth overall with a score of 3356 and Conor placing seventh with a score of 5146.
 
Sprints / Hurdles / Relays
Shane McGraw was the top sprints finisher for BHSU placing second in the 400m dash with a time of 50.73. Mason Sartain brought in a third-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 23.04 and a fifth-place finish in the 100m dash with a time of 11.37. The men had Frank Becker, Coleman Chapman, Landon Nicholson, and Shane McGraw run the 4x400m relay and placed second overall with a time of 3:29.97.
 
Distance
The Yellow Jackets had five first place finishes in the long-distance races with Ruby Lindquist bringing home two. First up was the steeplechase where Lindquist completed the race in 11:40.06. Then Lindquist wrapped up her meet with a first-place finish in the 5000m run with a time of 19:02.36. Keith Osowski brought home first place in the steeplechase on the men's side with a time of 9:28.86 while Marcos Valerio brought home first in the 5000m run with a time of 15:31.62. Erica Dykstra earned a first-place finish in the 800m run finishing in 2:22.67 and placed third in the steeplechase with a time of 12:53.58. Tim Brown and Levi Smith each competed in the men's steeplechase coming in third and fourth, respectively. Brown completed the race in 9:48.59 while Smith completed the race in 10:31.57. Valerio also competed in the 1500m run where he placed fourth with a time of 4:05.69. Matthew Parker also competed in the 1500m run placing third with a time of 4:03.22. Jillian Brennan placed third in the women's 800 with a time of 2:29.73. Hayden Grosz and Britton Elkin rounded out a strong weekend of competition for the distance team with second and third place finishes in the 5000m run, respectively. Grosz completed the race in 15:37.18 while Elkin finished in 15:46.94.
 
Jumps / Vaults
Hannah Hendrick placed first on the women's side for pole vault with a jump of 3.56m (11' 08.00") and Mario Guerrero placed second in the men's triple jump with a mark of 13.21m (43' 4.25").
 
Throws
Kyla Sawvell brought home three first place finishes and two provisional marks at the Yellow Jacket Spring Open. Sawvell provisionally qualified in both the hammer throw and the shot put while also placing first in each event. In the hammer throw Kyla earned a mark of 53.86m (176' 08.00") ad in the shot put she earned a mark of 14.26m (46' 9.50"). Sawvell also earned a first place finish in the discus finishing with a mark of 44.17m (144' 11.00"). Gevin Paas cleaned house in the men's discus placing first with a mark of 47.07m (154' 05.00"). This mark earned Gevin the #6 spot on the Yellow Jacket top ten list. Paas also moved into the #6 spot in the hammer throw with a mark of 51.83m (170' 00.00). This is also a personal best for Paas in the hammer throw. Sully Mack earned a second place finish in the javelin with a mark of 49.75m (163' 03.00") and fifth in the discus with a mark of 49.22m (161' 06.00"). This is a personal best for Mack and moved him to the #7 spot on the Yellow Jacket Top Ten list. Alexandra Cameron earned a third-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 12.37m (40' 07.00") while Jadyn Gackle placed fifth with a mark of 11.94m (39' 02.25"). Savannah Perez also earned a fifth place finish for the Yellow Jackets in the hammer throw with a mark of 45.15m (148' 01.00").
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets are on the road in Billings next weekend as they are set to compete at the MSUB Open April 2nd.