BHSU Set to Host the Dave Little Alumni Mile Meet

SPEARFISH, S.D. – After having more than a month off in-between meets due to the winter break, the Black Hills State University men's and women's track & field teams are back in action on Saturday, January 18, as they host the Dave Little Alumni Mile Meet. The Yellow Jackets look to carry over the success from the season opener, which saw 13 individual event winners between the two squads, nine of which came from freshmen making their collegiate debuts.

RACE DETAILS
Date & Times: Saturday, January 18 – field events begin at 9:30 a.m. while running events start at 11 a.m.
Location: Spearfish, S.D. – Donald E. Young Center Fieldhouse

BLACK HILLS STATE MEN'S TRACK & FIELD STORYLINES

In the season-opening indoor meet in Chadron, Nebraska, the Black Hills State men's team recorded a second place finish in the Birds and the Bees Holiday Open as the Yellow Jackets totaled 178 points with five event wins. BHSU's event winners in the meet included Braden Anderson (600m run), Drew Lehman (1,000m run), Trennan Pearson (high jump), Chase Maher (pole vault), and Jayden Curtis (long jump). Highlighting the meet was a Green & Gold sweep of the top-4 placings in the pole vault and long jump, while they also swept the top-3 placings in the 600m run.
This season's Black Hills State men's track & field team features four of the top-7 all-time performance leaders in the 60m dash, led by Mason Sartain who holds the second-best time of 6.92, Jace Johnson holds the third-best time of 6.95, Landon Scalise holds the sixth-best time of 7.05, and Conor McGraw holds the seventh-best time of 7.11.
Sartain holds the all-time best performance mark in Yellow Jacket history in the 200m dash with a career-best time of 22.36, while McGraw is ninth-best in program history with a time of 22.78.
Anderson is fifth-best in BHSU history on the performance list for the 600m run as he holds a career-best time of 1:22.77 in the event. He also holds the programs top all-time mark in the 800m run as he's clocked a career-best time of 1:52.24.
The pair of McGraw and Curtis are each among the top-10 times all-time on the Yellow Jacket performance list in the 60m hurdles as McGraw ranks third with a time of 8.51 while Curtis is tenth with a time of 8.69.
In his collegiate debut, Curtis notched the eighth-best long jump mark among the Black Hills State indoor performance list, posting a mark of 6.81m (22' 4.25") to win the event at the Birds and the Bees Holiday Open in December.
Another freshman who made his mark in his collegiate debut was Maher, who won the pole vault at the Birds and the Bees Holiday Open in a dual meet against Chadron State, recording a mark of 4.56m (14' 11.5").
McGraw has been one of the top heptathlon athletes in Yellow Jacket history, ranking fourth on the program's all-time performance list with a career-best 4,470 points in the 2022 RMAC Championships.
Alex Kemp is in his first season as the head coach of the Black Hills State men's and women's track & field teams.

BLACK HILLS STATE WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD STORYLINES

In the season-opening indoor meet in Chadron, Nebraska, the Black Hills State women's team recorded a first place finish in the Birds and the Bees Holiday Open as the Yellow Jackets totaled 186.5 points with eight event wins. BHSU's event winners in the meet included Saraya Afrank (200m dash), Kendall Tietjen (600m run), Jillian Brennan (1,000m run), Gracie Wilts (high jump), Erin Weibel (pole vault), Sophie Louderback (long jump), and Isabell Higgins (shot put and weight throw). Like the men's team dominance in certain events, the women's team swept the top-3 placings in the 600m run and the pole vault.
Tietjen currently ranks eighth all-time on the Black Hills State performance list in the 400m dash, having posted a career-best time of 59.29.
Sylvia Brown is among the top-5 of a pair of events all-time in Yellow Jacket history, holding the top time in program history in the 5,000m run with a time of 17:14.57 and is then fifth all-time in the 3,000m run with a time of 10:11.65.
Louderback posted one of the top marks in program history in her collegiate debut in the long jump, recording a mark of 5.28m (17' 4") to win the event at the season opening Birds and the Bees Holiday Open in December to rank eighth all-time.
Weibel remains one of the best pole vaulters in BHSU history, ranking ninth all-time with a career-best mark of 3.45m (11' 3.75") to win the Birds and the Bees Holiday Open in December.
In the shot put, Hanah Sullivan ranks seventh all-time on the Black Hills State performance list as she holds a career-best mark of 13.74m (45' 1").
Alex Kemp is his first season as the head coach of the Black Hills State men's and women's track & field teams.