Black Hills State track and field and Head Coach Austin Billings have announced the signing of five incoming freshman on Signing Day.
 
The signings include two for the men and three for the women's teams.
 
MEN
 
Aiden O'Leary – Hurdles
Six-foot-one O'Leary will join the Yellow Jackets in 2024 as a member of the men's hurdle team. The Sheridan, Wyoming native competed for the Sheridan High School track and field team and specialized in hurdles.
 
Just last season, O'Leary posted personal best times in the 60m hurdles of 8.79 at the Simplot Games, a 55m hurdle time of 7.97 at the Wyoming High School Athletics Association Indoor State meet, hurdled 110m in 15.34 at the Wyoming Outdoor State Championships, and 300m hurdles in 39.26 at the Wyoming Outdoor Championships.
 
O'Leary wishes to major in Sports Medicine when he arrives at BHSU's campus in 2024.  
 
Seth Wilson – Jumps
Standing at six-foot, Wilson, from Casper, Wyoming, currently attends and competes in the horizontal jumps in track and field at Natrona County High School.
 
The incoming freshman will compete for the Yellow Jackets' high jump and long jump events, where he specialized in high school. Wilson, however, has competed in the 100m dash, 200m dash, pole vault, and 4x100m Relays for Natrona County.  
 
Through his high school career, Wilson competed as a two-time jump team captain and has competed as a member of indoor and outdoor state championship teams. As a long jumper, he has competed at the state level three times in his career and has podiumed in the event once.
 
Wilson plans to major in Economics and Finance when he arrives in Spearfish next fall, with hopes of building a career as a financial advisor.  
 
WOMEN
 
Elizabeth Miller – Pole Vault
Miller joins the signing class out of Sterling, Colorado, where she attended and competed in track and field at Sterling High School.
 
At Sterling High, Miller was a two-time All-State Second Team and was an All-State Honorable Mention in 2022. In 2023, Miller placed fourth in the pole vault at the State Championship meet, with the incoming freshman also posting a career-high mark of 10'0" in the same year.
 
Miller holds a 3.95 GPA and ranks 7^th in her class of 82 at Sterling High, with the future Yellow Jacket listing on the Academic Honor Roll all four years.
 
Upon arriving on campus next fall, Miller wishes to pursue an Exercise Science major with hopes to work a career in pediatrics.
 
Gretchen Adamski – Pole Vault
A local vaulter from right here in Spearfish, South Dakota, Adamski will join the BHSU track and field squad upon her graduation from Spearfish High School, where she competed as a pole vaulter for the Spartan track and field team.
 
In last year's Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Adamski posted a career-best vault of 11-feet and 9-inches, taking third overall. Later that month, at the South Dakota High School Athletic Association Class AA meet in Sioux Falls, Adamski posted the same mark to take the first-place victory at Howard Wood Field, despite dealing with injury at the time.
 
Gracie Wilts – Jumps
Wilts comes to BHSU from Frederick, Colorado, where she competed for the track and field teams for Frederick High School.
 
Intending to compete on the women's jump team in 2024, Wilts holds a personal record long jump of 15-feet, 4-inches that she recorded in 2022 at the St. Vrain RE-1J District meet to place third.
 
In the high jump, Wilts' personal best was logged during the 2022 outdoor season, when she logged a 5-foot, 1-inch leap to place eighth at the CHSSA State Championship meet.