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Track and field: BHSU, Dickinson State win DAC
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FarkSPEARFISH — Black Hills State University women and Dickinson State men continued their dominance, winning team titles at the Dakota Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field meet Saturday at the Young Center.
The Lady Yellow Jackets won their third straight DAC indoor title, topping the women’s standings with 286.5 points. Dickinson State was second with 203. South Dakota Mines finished sixth with 23.5 points.
Dickinson State captured its fifth consecutive DAC men’s indoor title, totaling 238 points. BHSU was second with 163.5. Mines recorded a sixth-place score of 57 points.
BHSU swept all 11 running events and earned 15 firsts in the women’s division. Shannon Hellman accounted for 52.50 points. The talented junior began the scoring, winning the women’s pentathlon on Friday. Her points total in the event erased the previous school record held by Jenna Bachand. Hellman, competing in her initial pentathlon, is now ranked among the NAIA national leaders in the event.
“Hellman’s pentathlon was phenomenal,” BHSU coach Scott Walkinshaw said. “She is so competitive. Her marks were solid in each event.
“I actually liked it a lot,” said Hellman of her initial try at the grueling five multi-events. “It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I just started doing the long jump three weeks ago.” Hellman is now contemplating competing in the pentathlon at the NAIA National meet in Johnson City, Tenn., in March.
Hellman continued her winning ways Saturday, taking four first-place finishes and running on the winning 800-meter relay team. The two-time NAIA national champion (60-meter indoor hurdles and 100-meter outdoor hurdles) won the 55-meter hurdles in a school record time of 8.02 seconds. Her winning time of 7.34 seconds in the 55-meter dash was only one one-hundredth of a second off the BHSU school record. Hellman sprinted to the fastest time of 25.78 in the 200-meter dash. She won the long jump with a winning mark of 17 feet, 9-1/2 inches.
Hellman joined Nicki Shinkle, Jodi Williams and Kayla Ferguson on the winning 800-meter relay foursome. For her outstanding performances, Hellman was honored as the Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete and Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the meet. She also won the same awards last year, while competing at South Dakota Mines. Wendy O’Lexey of BHSU was a double winner, taking firsts in the one-mile run (season best time of 5:19.11) and 3,000-meter run (10:49.47).
Lady Jacket runners Kerry Washburn, Katie Cook and Jamie Adams swept the top three places in Friday’s 5,000-meter run.
Nicki Shinkle and Jodi Williams finished 1-2 in the 400-meter dash in season best times of 1:01.25 and 1:01.40, respectively. Scheffler completed the 800-meter run in a winning time of 2:24.03. Shinkle, Kaila Ivers, Ferguson and Williams were members of the victorious 1,600-meter relay squad (4:13.20).
Robyn Rosechandler, Adams, Cook and Marissa Curry comprised the first-place 3,200-meter relay team.
Aubrey Baxter and Amber Broderson swept the top two places in both the shot put and weight throw. Baxter's throw of 52-7-1/4 set a meet record in the shot put.
“I thought we had a lot of contributors,” Walkinshaw said.
Individual women’s event winners for Dickinson State were: Valdeana Bain, high jump, 5-6; Kelsey Aide, pole vault, 12 feet; Chadee Moss, triple jump, 35-2-1/2. Bain was named the Most Valuable Female Field Event Athlete.
“We knew Black Hills was too deep to catch,” Dickinson State coach Pete Stanton said. “Our women had an outstanding meet. We expected them to score around 140 points, and they had 203. I couldn’t be more pleased with our finish.”
Dickinson State notched eight first place finishes in the men’s division. The Blue Hawks runners Michael Sands, John Ingraham and Cordero Bonamy were one, two, three in the 55-meter dash. Ingraham Le’Sean Pickstock and Bonamy took the top three places in the 200-meter dash. Ramon Miller, Pickstock and Allan Ayala were 1-2-3 in the 400-meter dash. DSU jumpers Dominic Goodman, Antillo Bastian and Kurt McCormick swept the first three places in the triple jump competition.
Ingraham earned the Most Valuable Male Track Athlete and Most Valuable Male Athlete of the Meet.
“Our depth in the sprints was key for us. Our third and fourth-place finishers really stepped up for us,” said Stanton. “We also scored some points in the distance and weight events.”
BHSU had two athletes each win a pair of events. Eric Flores won the shot put and weight throw. The Custer sophomore was named the Most Valuable Male Field Event Athlete.
Cody Bordewyk won the one-mile run and 3,000-meter run. Allen Wood was the first runner across the finish line in the 5,000-meter run in a meet record time. Wood added a second-place finish in the one-mile run run. Wood collected Most Valuable Male Senior Athlete honors.
“I felt if we could get second place (team standings), it would be quite an accomplishment,” Walkinshaw said.
South Dakota Mines had two performers take home first places. Tyler Flattum won the 55-meter hurdles in a school indoor meet record time of 7.71 seconds. Chandler Caldwell topped the pole vaulters with a height of 15-5-3/4.
“I am very pleased with the way we competed,” Mines coach Jerry Schafer said. “Flattum in the hurdles and Caldwell in the pole vault were big for us.
“The weight and distance event kids competed very well. Both the men’s and women’s 3,200-meter relay teams ran extremely well.
“We’ve done much better than we projected, based on the event’s performance list.
“Our women doubled what we expected.” Brittney Hovdenes and Kendra Crisman were seventh in the one-mile run and 800-meter run, respectively. Ashley Stewart tied for fifth in the high jump. Molly Vukelich took sixth place in the 3,000-meter run. Kim Kerce was eighth in the 5,000-meter run. Katrina Donovan finished eighth in the shot put.
The Lady ’Rockers 3,200-meter team of Hovdenes, Samantha Diede, Jessie Chretien and Crisman collected a runner-up finish of 10:38.
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