Erickson earned the award with her work as a student and by winning the indoor and outdoor titles in the 800-meter run.

Other Coyotes who made the USTFCCCA all-academic team were Rosalie Brueske, Katie Cerling, Danielle Dornbusch, Allison Duba, Jenessa Filler, Steph Gebhart, Amber Hegge, Jasmine Mosley, Marissa O'Bryan and Shaneka Parkes.

The USD women's track team continues to ear awards well after the season. Erickson should only continue to pile up more awards in the future. It will be interesting to see the track team compete for a conference championship in 2008-09 in the Great West Conference and how well Erickson will do in Division-I.

---------Justin Rust

Fitzsimmons takes over for former cross country coach Rob Kinnunen, who resigned at the end of the track and field season. Fitzsimmons graduated from USD in 1986 and is the father of Sean Fitzsimmons, who runs cross country for the men's team.

Fitzsimmons has quite an impressive resume in this area. He has been the cross country coach for Yankton High School since 1997, and he was named Yankton's head track and field coach in 2002.

Fitzsimmons has been named the South Dakota Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2003 (girls), 2004 (girls), 2005 (boys), and 2006 (boys and girls). He has also led five team that were ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

As the track and field coach, Fitzsimmons guided the team to five state championships, six relay team championships, and 20 individual champions.

This is an interesting hire for the university. Fitzsimmons resume is absolutely amazing, but will he be able to transition his coaching style from high school to Division-I?

I think it is a great hire because running is running. Fitzsimmons runs a tough program in Yankton and I think he will put his runners at USD through the same rigorious training he did at Yankton.

The athletes are better in college of course, but I think Fitzsimmons will be able to make the transition to college. He used to run at USD so he knows what it takes to compete at the college level.

For those in the area who follow Yankton track and field and cross country, this hire stings. It happens just a month before the season starts. The team was informed of Fitzsimmons taking this position two weeks ago and have continued their own offseason training.

No coach has been hired yet, so there is a bit of uncertainity at Yankton. Plus it will be hard to follow Fitzsimmons, who is basically a legand in Yankton.

But I think this is a great hire for the university and Fitzsimmons will bring the right fire in to help this team with the transition to Division-I.

-----------Justin Rust

Schroeder-Miller has spent the past 12 seasons at NAIA Briar Cliff. She has done a pretty good job with an overall record of 280-174. Last season, she coaching Briar Cliff to a 22-11 mark, which was top in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

My MAJOR question for Schroeder-Miller is the severe difference between NAIA and Division-I. Yes, she has done a good job at Briar Cliff, but there is a big difference in playing the University of Sioux Falls to playing the likes of maybe Iowa State or South Dakota State or even the smaller Division I schools. Everything is completely different. It would be a HUGE jump. People were asking about Ryun Williams going from Division-II to Division-I. I know she is a local product and this is an interesting choice.

Matt Houk was an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 2002-03. Then he became an assistant for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay from 2004-06. Both schools are in Division-I. Last year, Houk was the club director and coach for the Wisconsin Volleyball Academy in Appleton, Wisconsin.

The most intriguing thing about Houk is that he is currently listed as the head coach at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin. From what I have found, he took the job on April 11th, no more then two months ago. St. Norbert is a Division-III school. I have tried to call his office but I have gotten no answer from him yet. Plus he hasn't coached in college since 2006. That's a long time to have off and have no head coaching experience in college to be going to Division-I.

Another thing is interim head coach for the Coyotes Kevin Marquis isn't in the final list. I was very surprised by this because the whole team wanted him back. He runs the same system as former coach Brian Lamppa and the players think he might run the system better. Even though he has no head coaching experience, he has been with the Coyotes and doesn't seem any worse than the other two candidates. I think the search committee made a mistake by not letting him have another interview.

I am guessing since both candidates interviewed, a decision could come up here soon, maybe in the upcoming week. Heck, the season starts in about two months and the schedule is close to being released, the team just needs a coach. I will keep trying to get in touch with Houk until it is shown he is not the coach.

In other news, former Coyote offensive lineman Tim Schneider agreed to a contract with the Sioux Falls Storm. The Storm are in the United Indoor Football League and have been the top team for the past three years basically and they have the league's best record at 10-2. Schneider will join the team immediately and puts him in a good spot to be on the team next year.

Allison Kruger was named as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team. Now guess where Kruger was from. Yep, she was an assistant at Wayne State under Ryun Williams the past four seasons. Not really surprising after you think about it, and I have also heard former Coyote great Mandy Koupal will be added as an assistant coach as well. Talk about a staff right there. Plus both the men's and women's team have been given the go ahead to add a third assistant to both programs. Interesting to see who the men add and who the fourth assistant will be for the Coyotes.

Also, it will be interesting to see if any players transfer from Wayne State to USD with Kruger now moving onto USD. Guard Teresa Case for Wayne is from Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls. Granted that is just speculation from my part and I haven't heard anything to confirm it, just mainly using it as an example.

On a couple of finals notes, two Coyote track members have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII Track and Field Squad.

Senior Steph Gebhart earned her first selection on the team after posting a 3.53 GPA in psychology. Gebhart has a school record 21 career All-American honors during her career at USD.

Senior Colte Haines earned the same award on the men's side. Haines earned a 3.88 GPA in mathematics and computer science.

As I said before, with my internship I have limited internet so hopefully something can get worked out for more posts. I will try to keep you all informed as much as possible. Thanks.

-------------Justin Rust

Speaking of good, that' an understatement of what the Coyote women were today. After coming into final day, the women racked up 37 points to finish sixth overall.

The women were led by freshman Emma Erickson. Erickson broke her own school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:07.36. Her old record was 2:07.57. Oh yeah, I forgot the most important part. Erickson won the 800-meter run, which gives her the national title for the 800 in both the indoor and outdoor season this year. She is the first Coyote to complete that task and first freshman to win two national titles.

Erickson picked up three All-American awards on the day, and already has six All-American awards in her first year of competition.  Erickson was a part of the 4x100-meter relay team which finished third and the 4x400-meter relay team which finished fourth.

The 4x100-meter relay team also including senior Steph Gebhart, junior Jenessa Filler, and junior Shaneka Parkes. The 4x400 team also included Gebhart, junior Allison Smith, and sophomore Rosalie Brueske.

Gebhart earned three more All-American awards (4x400, 4x100, 400) to push her school record to 21 All-American awards during her time with the Coyotes. Gebhart also finished third in the 400-meter run with a clocking of :54.65.

Parkes picked up another All-American award besides the 4x100 meter-relay. Parkes earned an All-American after taking seventh place in the javelin throw with a throw of  140'0.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan earned an All-American award after breaking a school record in the 5,000-meter run. Kavan finished second in the 5,000 with a time of 16:53.23. That time crushes the old record of 17:00.01.

Senior Scott Hargens earned his third career All-American award by finishing fourth in the 800-meter run with a career-best time of 1:50.48.

Senior Terry Liggins received a sixth career All-American award after a fifth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Liggins recorded a time of :13.96.

The meet was the last Division II competition the Coyotes will compete on in any sport and they went off in style. Now the Division-I stage is set when either the Coyote volleyball team or soccer team will compete in the Coyotes first Division-I event. Neither schedule is out yet.

Stay tuned for more sports info over the summer on this blog.

------Justin Rust

The events for the day might still be going on because running events didn't start until seven o'clock at night in Walnut, California. So it's only nine there right now. I will give you what I have though.

Senior Steph Gebhart finished 16th in 200 meter dash preliminaries with a time of :24.94. I don't think her finish is good enough to make the finals, but I wouldn't rely on me for the info. I would say only eight or nine runners make it in the finals, because that's the number of lanes the track has. Yeah, that's the process that goes on in my head.

Gebhart is also the member of the 4x400 relay team that freshman Emma Erickson, sophomore Rosalie Brueske, and junior Allison Smith are on as well. The team qualified for the finals in the prelims and finished fourth with a time of 3:43.15.

Erickson also competed in the 800 meter run prelims. Erickson came in with the top time in the 800 meter run, which didn't change today. Erickson posted the top time in the prelimes with a time of 2:09.63, so it's safe to say she qualified.

Interesting times for sophomore Ramsey Kavan. Kavan was suppose to take place in the 10,000 meter run yesterday, but I think it was postponed until today because of the rain in Walnut. Now when I looked up the results for the 10,000 meter run, it has Kavan as a did not finish. So I would think she suffered an injury. But Kavan also ran in the 5,000 meter run prelims today. Kavan easily qualified for the 5,000 meter run with the top time of 17:03.47. So I don't know if Kavan is injured or not because I would assume the 10,000 came before the 5,000 meter run since it was suppose to be ran yesterday. Interesting I guess. Makes me wish I was in California, along with the South Dakota weather.

Junior Jasmine Mosley finished just outside of earning a point in the shot put today. Mosley finished ninth in the event with a total distance of 45-10.00. Eight place is the last spot in which a team can earn a point.

Senior Terry Liggins took place in the 110 meter hurdles prelims. Liggins finished third with a time of :14.03 and qualified for the finals. I just figured out the Q by the name means the person qualified for finals.

Senior Scott Hargens qualified for the finals in the 800 meter run. Hargens finished with the fourth best time at 1:50.66.

That's all I have for today. Final events will run tomorrow, and if I get the results for the 4x400 prelims, I will change this blog, so maybe stay tuned. If I don't get it I will put it in tomorrow's update of course. The javelin throw, which junior Shaneka Parkes takes place in, is tomorrow as well.

Stay tuned to this blog for more information on the Division II track and field nationals.

------Justin Rust

The 4x100 relay squad, which includes junior Jenessa Filler, junior Shaneka Parkes, freshman Emma Erickson, and senior Steph Gebhart, participated in the preliminaries today. The squad placed seventh in prelims with a time of :46.50.

Gebhart also ran in the prelims for the 400 meter dash and placed eighth with a time of :55.25.

Okay, I thought this part would be longer, but the rain moved one event to tomorrow and that is the 10,000 meter run which sophomore Ramsey Kavan is participating in.

The rest of the prelims will be conducted tomorrow, pending weather of course, and final events will be held on Saturday. The field events are spread out throughout today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Stay tuned to this blog as I will keep it updated with what happens.

Also, head women's track coach Lucky Huber bagged another award on Wednesday. Huber was named the USTFCCA, as I mentioned in the last blog that is a LONG abbreviation, National Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year.

Huber, who is in his 14th season at USD, won the award for the second time in his career. He was also the national coach of the year in 2004. Have I said before he is totally prepared to lead the track team to Division-I? Oh and anytime I EVER do an interview with him, he always mentions student-athletes for any athlete because he wants the student part to come first and they are here to be students first. Talk about getting it, someone point OJ Mayo in Huber's direction.

Also, eight Coyote track and field athletes were named to the Academic All-NCC Track and Field Teams:

Senior Colte Haines, 3.88 GPA in mathematics and computer science, it's Haines third time making the Academic All-NCC team

Junior Ben Walters, 3.46 GPA in biology, it's Walters second time making the Academic All-NCC team

Senior Matt Yaggie 3.61 GPA in psychology, it's Yaggie's second time making the Academic All-NCC team

Junior Preston Scott, 3.43 GPA in computer science

Senior Katie Cerling, 3.66 GPA in accounting and history

Senior Steph Gebhart, 3.53 GPA in psychology

Junior Lindsay House, 3.72 GPA in psychology

Junior Shaneka Parkes, 3.53 GPA in health and physical education and recreation

That's all I have for tonight, it's starting to rain pretty good here, so hopefully that is the rain from Walnut so the track and field competitions can continue tomorrow! Stay tuned everyone as the Coyotes finish Division II competition this weekend.

-------Justin Rust

Anyways, onto the sports news.

Head women's track and field coach Lucky Huber was named, and I am just going to type out the letters because this is the longest abbreviation I have ever seen, the USTFCCA North Central Region Women's Coach of the Year. It's the fourth time Huber has received the award, and fourth time in the last five years as well.

Huber earned the award by leading the women's track and field team to their fifth consecutive North Central Conference outdoor women's title. Huber is in his 14th season guiding the Coyotes.

Huber is a great coach to be leading the team into Division-I. He has just knocked up the awards the past few years and the women's team has dominated the outdoor season and indoor season the last five years.

The Division II National Championships take place this weekend in Walnut, California. Stay tuned to the Volante for the results.

Also, former Coyote Great Elena Swan Davis will be inducted into the USTFCCA Hall of Fame. Okay, that stands for U.S. Track and Field/Cross County Coach Association Division II Track and Field Athlete Hall of Fame. That is the award Swan Davis is getting.

Swan Davis graduated from USD in 1998. Swan Davis be inducted this weekend during the national championships. Swan Davis was a 15-time track and field All-American at USD. Swan Davis is the only two-time individual national champion in women's track and field history at USD. She won the long and triple jump titles.

Swan Davis won 13 individual NCC titles while at USD and set four school records. She also earned the USTFCCA Division II National Female Outdoor Athlete of the Year. She was named the 1997 North Central Region Female Outdoor Athlete of the Yer and MVP at the NCC Outdoor Championship in '97.

Swan Davis earned her degree in elementary education and is an educational consultant for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. I think that is in California.

Swan Davis put together quite the resume at USD and definitely deserves this honor I would say. Plus she has quite the job now. Food for thought though. She had 15 All-American awards. Senior Steph Gebhart has 18 All-American awards, the most in school history, and has nationals this weekend. Could we see this same press release for Gebhart in about 10-15 years?

Finally, diver Jill Smolczyk and kicker Frank Leibfarth were named NCC Honor Athletes. They are among 14 male and seven female athletes recognized by the NCC during the 2007-08 year.

To earn the award, each athlete must have graduated this spring or be within 12 credit hours of graduation. They will be honored at the NCC Celebration Dinner on June 21st in Sioux Falls.

I won't be attending because for one, it will probably be out of my price range, and two, longtime Volante sports writer and great friend Vance Janak will be getting married.

Anyways, Smolczyk finished wish a 3.833 GPA for psychology. She has won a crap load of awards. Seriously, check it out on usdcoyotes.com to see the number of awards she has piled up, academically and athletically.

Leibfarth finished with a 3.949 GPA in chemistry and physics. Did you read the title of his thesis during graduation? I had to pull out a dictionary for it. Sounded like he was curing something with whatever it was.  Leibfarth also has a ton of awards as well. Check it out again at usdcoyotes.com.

Well, stayed tuned to the blog as I will look to keep it rolling during the summer. Have fun all.

Senior Stephanie Gebhart, who has a school record 18 All American awards, will compete in four events: the 4x100-meter relay, the 4x400-meter relay, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter dash.

Also competing in the 4x100-meter relay will be freshman Emma Erickson, junior Jenessa Filler, and junior Shaneka Parkes. Gebhart and Erickson will be joined by sophomore Rosalie Brueske and junior Allison Smith for the 4x400-meter relay team.

Erickson will be competing in a third event, the 800-meter dash. Erickson has already won the national title in the 800-meter dash during the indoor season, and she is the top-ranked athlete in the 800-meter dash for the outdoor season.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan made the cut as well as she will compete in the 10,000 meter run and the 5,000 meter run.

Parkes will also compete in the javelin throw and junior Jasmine Mosley will compete in the shot put.

Senior Terry Liggins will conclude his time as a Coyote in Walnut. Liggins will run in the 110-meter hurdles and has the top time in nation in the event this year. Liggins won the national title in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season.

Senior Scott Hargens will be running in his last event as a Coyote. Hargens will compete in the 800-meter run and he is a two-time All-American.

Also this afternoon, USD women's coach Lucky Huber was named as the final NCC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. This is the sixth time Huber has won the award. Huber also won the NCC Coach of the Year award during the indoor season.

Huber has a combined 12 NCC Coach of the Year honors. Huber is in his 14th season as coach of the women's team and will lead the eight women athletes at the NCAA Championships in Walnut.

----------Justin Rust

The Coyote women also set the record for points in the NCC outdoor meet with 255. The previous record was held by North Dakota State with 239.33 in 2002.

The Coyotes men's team finished in second with a total of 167 points. The Minnesota State-Mankato won the men's total with 283.5 points.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won the Coyotes last title of the meet when seh won the 5,000-meter run on Saturday morning with a time of 17:22.13, which is an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark for the outdoor nationals.

Most of the events took place on Friday, because of the rain predicting for the area today. The rest of the results can be found on the previous blog with Friday's events.

The NCAA Division II Track and Field Nationals will be held on May 22-24th in Walnut, California.

---------Justin Rust

The USD women stormed out of the gate on Friday and are poised to win their fifth straight NCC outdoor title. The Coyote women have scored 238 points in 19 events, which is only 1.4 points off the league record for meet points of 239.4, set by North Dakota State in 2002. Minnesota State-Mankato is a distant second with 138 points, a full 100 points behind the Coyotes.

The Coyote men are in second after the first day of competition with 162 points in 19 events. Minnesota State-Mankato should win their second strait outdoor title and have accumulated 247.5 points in the 19 events.

For the women:

Sophomore Jasmine Mosley won both the discus (143'01) and shot put (48'04) and both distances were provisional marks for the NCAA Division II outdoor nationals. Junior Shaneka Parkes won the javelin throw with a provisional mark of 143'0 for nationals. Sophomore Danielle Dornbusch won the women's hammer throw with a toss of 160'0 and Mosley finished second (158'0).

Senior Stephanie Gebhart won the 400-meter dash with an automatic qualifying mark for nationals with a time of :54.62. She also finished second in the 200-meter dash (:24.74).

Freshman Emma Erickson continued her stellar freshman season by winning the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:11.22. Erickson competed in the 800 after finished second in the 1,500 meter-run (4:41.73), which finished 70 minutes for the 800 meter run.

Parkes, Gebhard, Erickson, and junior Jenessa Filler earned a title in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of :46.89. Gebhart, Erickson, junior Allison Smith, and sophomore Rosalie Brueske contributed to win the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:49.07.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won the 10,000-meter run with a clocking fo 35:37.59, which is an automatic qualifying mark for nationals. Junior Kelsey Maloney finished third in the 10,000-meter run (36:42.36)

Freshman Amber Hegge won the triple jump with a distance of 38'04.25, which is a provisional mark for nationals. Hegge finished second in the high jump (5'03.25) and the long jump (17'10.25).

Senior Lindsay House won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14:67.

Filler finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of :12.22 and Parkes finished third (:12.26). Filler also finished third in the 200-meter dash (:24.91).

For the men:

Senior Terry Liggins won both the 110-meter hurdles (:14.86) and 400-meter hurdles (:54.08). Liggins is the only athlete to ever win the 60-meter hurdlers in the indoor season and the 110 meter hurdles in the outdoor season all four years.

Senior Ben Walters won the hammer throw with a toss of 175'06 and finished second in the shot put (51'01). Junior Preston Scott won the discus with a throw of 152'02, followed by a second place throw from freshman Kyle Wheeler (151'03) and Walters was third (149'06).

Senior Colte Haines won the triple jump with a distance of 46'08.25.

Senior Josh Jeffery was second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:59.79.

The Coyotes 4x400-meter relay finished second with a clocking of 3:17.20.

Junior Alex Perkowski, freshman Jared Clement, sophomore Quincy Christie, and freshman Andrew Langner combined for a third place finished in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of :42.75.

Senior Josh Olson finished second in the long jump with a distance of 22'11.

Junior Dylan Grau placed third in the javelin (189'03).

Senior Scott Hargen earned a third place finishe in the 800-meter run (1:53.90).

The meet will start at 8:30 in the morning at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls tomorrow.

---------Justin Rust

Freshman Emma Erickson, fresh off a national championship in the 800-meter run in the indoor season, has the top time in the 800 in the outdoor season as well.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan continues to be as solid as they get, and senior Steph Gebhart closed out her last Howard Wood relays last weekend with a couple of wins. Gebhart has dominated Howard Wood and has competed in the event for 11 years and has come away with 15 titles. Talk about South Dakota success right there.....

Freshman Amber Hegge is starting to find her bearings after being named NCC Field Athlete of the Week. Hegge earned the honor by winning the long jump and triple jump Sunday at the USD Open/Qualifier. Hegge met a provisional mark in the triple jump. Hegge dominated both events back in high school in Nebraska.

Plus you have all of the relay teams that have had success for the USD women, Shaneka Parkes, Jasmine Mosley, and all of the other members, the women's team is on a roll.

The men's team is looking for redemption and senior Terry Liggins will play his part in it. Liggins improved his best time by .14 seconds in nationals to win his first national title in the 60-meter hurdles in the indoor season. Now Liggins has been dominating the outdoor season in the 110 meter hurdles.

Ben Walters will earn USD some points in the throwing events and earned NCC Men's Field Athlete of the Week after winning both the shot put and discus at the USD Open/Qualifier.

Plus you add in seasoned veterans Tyler Wetering and Scott Hargens in the long distance runs, and a deep men's team (seriously it is hard to mention all the key members of the men's and women's team), the USD team will look to take both NCC titles.

If they win both titles in the final year, then they will win 3 out 4 this year, and the men placed second in the indoor season. Quite impressive for a team moving Division-I and will qualify a year earlier.

The NCC Championships take place this weekend in Sioux Falls at Howard Wood Field. If you can make it out there, and I know there are a lot of graduation parties going on, then check it out if you can. Should be a memorable meet.

-----------Justin Rust

Consider:

• The USD women's basketball team has hosted the North Central Region Tournament. The Coyotes (30-1) are one victory from an Elite Eight Berth.
• Terry Liggins won a national title in the 60-meter hurdles at the Division II meet.
• Emma Erickson (a freshman) won a national title in the 800-meter run at the same meet.
• Jill Smolczyk won a national title in the 1-meter diving competition at the Division II meet. She was named the D-II Women's Diver of the Year.
• The USD women's swimming & diving team took 10th at the national meet.

I'd say that's quite a successful two-day span.

— Jeremy Hoeck

The USD women's track and field team, who have won three of the last four indoor crowns, totaled 192 points to earn the eighth indoor title in school history.

The Coyote women finished fourth at last year's meet, but outscored MSU-Mankato, who finished with 162 points, after the USD women won five individual titles and two relay titles.

“We had a phenomenal afternoon. It was a great team effort led by Stephanie Gebhart, Ramsey Kavan and Emma Erickson. We were proud of everybody on this team,” said USD head women’s track and field coach Lucky Huber, who helped lead the Coyote women to their seventh indoor title in 14 years at USD.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won three individual at the two-day meet. Kavan won the 3,000-meter run, the 1-mile run and the 1,000-meter run.

Sophomore Emma Erickson won two individual events including the 800-meter run with a time of 2:12.78, which is an automatic qualifying time for nationals and nearly broke the NCC record held by USD grad Kassy Laber 2:12.57.

In the 500-meter run, Erickson won the event while teammate Rosalie Brueske finished second.

Senior Stephanie Gebhart finished second in the 400-meter dash and was just shy of an automatic qualifying time for nationals at 56.60. The automatic standard is 56.20.

Junior Allie Smith finished seventh in the 400-meter dash.

Senior Lindsay House finished second in the 60-meter hurdles while Haley Juhnke finished sixth in the same event.

Shaneka Parkes was third in the 60-meter dash while teammates Jenessa Filler and Lauren Krell finished sixth and seventh. Parkes was also fourth in the 200-meter dash while Filler was sixth in the same event.

The USD women sccored major points in the triple jump as Tia Haines was second, Natalie Stout scored fourth and Betsy Lubber finished fifth.

Andrene Miller finished third in the long jump.

Allison Duba finished fourth in the 1,000-meter run.

Kelsey Maloney was fourth in the 5,000-meter run and was also third in the 3,000-meter run.

Shara Thompson was seventh in the women's shot put.

Katie Cerling finished eighth in the pole vault.

The USD women also won the 4x400-meter relay and the distance medley relay.

The Coyote women did an outstanding job of bouncing back from last year's fourth place finish. Erickson and Kavan scored 50 points between the two of them. Considering the margin of victory was 30 points. Look for those two to finish high at nationals coming up March 14-15.

Meanwhile, the USD men finished second to MSU-Mankato after the Mavericks scored 284 points while the Coyotes had 148 points.

Freshman Jason Sebern won the triple jump while also finishing second in the high jump.

Senior hurdler Terry Liggins became the first athlete in NCC history to win the 60-meter hurdles four straight years. Liggins also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash and was eighth in the 60-meter dash.

Scott Hargens finished second in the 400-meter dash while Tyler Wetering was second in the 1,000-meter run. Rob Gregiore was fifth in the same event.

Junior sprinter was third in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash.

Senior Josh Jeffery was third in the 1-mile run and also finished fourth in the 800-meter dash.

Ben Walters finished fourth in the shot put.

Tyler Williamson was fifth in the 500-meter dash.

Matt Yaggie finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run.

Junior sprinter Ben Oberle was eighth in the 400-meter dash.

The USD distance medley relay team finished second while the 4x400-meter relay team was fifth.

From looking through the event finishing list, it was too much MSU-Mankato and their depth. In many situations, the Mavericks had two or three finishers compared to the one or two that the Coyotes had. That allowed the Mavericks to morph the Coyotes in the standings.

“I am really proud of our athletes, who had a lot of adversity this weekend. Given those factors, I feel good about their performance. They battled all weekend,” said USD men's track and field head coach Dave Gottsleben.

Given what Gottsleben said, the fact that the Coyotes dealt with illness and injury, they gave a solid effort while dealing with those issues.

- - Vance Janak

The Coyote men, the defending NCC indoor champs, trail MSU-Mankato, who have 75 points compared to USD's 50 points at the end of the first day.

On the women's side, Augustana has 57 points while the USD women have 49 points.

The meet starts back up at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Six events are final on the men's side including the pentathlon in which USD's Jeff Seagren finished eighth.

Preston Scott won the weight throw with a hurl of 56-feet, 10-inches. Ben Walters was fourth with a throw of 54-feet, 4.5-inches.

Andrew Smith finished second in the pole vault with a personal-best of 15-feet-, 6.5-inches. Tim Rust was sixth at 14-feet, .75-inches.

Josh Olson finished third in the men's long jump at 22-feet, 7-inches. Two other Coyotes also placed in the long jump with Alex Spielman taking seventh and Quincy Christie eighth.

The USD men’s distance medley relay was second (10:36.34) with a team of Josh Jeffery, Tyler Williamson, Gable Andrews and Robert Gregoire.

The Coyote women’s distance medley relay won the event with a time of 12:15.36. The team included Allison Duba , Stephanie Gebhart, Emma Erickson, and Ramsey Kavan.

Amy Velthoff captured third in the women’s weight throw 51-feet, .25-inches. Danielle Dornbusch was fifth.

Kristen Kritenbrink was third in the women’s high jump (5'01.25) while Jade Jasinski took eighth.

In the women’s long jump, Andrene Miller finished third (17-09.5) with Lindsey House fifth.

Two Coyote women placed in the top-six of the women's pentathlon. Jasinski was fifth with 2,941 points and Stacy Gould took sixth with 2,882 points.

The main reason why Augustana has the lead thus far is that fact that they scored 25 points in the 5,000-meter run compared to five for USD. The Vikings are the defending NCC cross country champs and their distance runners were well represented in the 5,000 meter race.

For Saturday, look for Nebraska-Omaha, currently in sixth place with 18 points, to move up. The Mavericks have a lot of girls qualified for finals in the preliminaries of the sprint events and will score points today.

On the men's side, the top two teams are right where they're expected to be. Dominic Artis and Terry Liggins and both in the finals in several sprint events and look to score major points in those events. Scott Hargens is also in position to score some points for the Coyotes as well.

I don't really see another team coming up and challenging USD as the final NCC crown should be decided between the Mavericks and Coyotes.

Check back with this blog for more NCC track and field updates.

- - Vance Janak

The USD Coyotes men's track and field team will look to defend last years NCC title while the USD women's track and field team looks to improve on last year's uncharacterics fourth place finished, which snapped a string of two consecutive indoor titles.

Last year's NCC indoor meet saw the Coyotes come away with the team title over MSU-Mankato. USD outscored the Mavericks 223.5 points to 222 points as the Coyotes won the final event of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay.

The Coyotes and Mavericks again look to be the front runners for the final NCC title. The difference in who wins the title could be in the number of athletes both have participating in the meet.

USD has many athletes on the men's side who should be able to either win events or finish in the top three.

Some names to watch for this weekend:Dominic Artis, the junior sprinter should challenge for a top spot in the 60-meter dash and some of the other sprint events. Artis suffered an injury in last year's NCC Indoor meet, but if he stays healthy, he should have an outstanding indoor meet.

Ben Oberle, the junior sprinter, should be another top contender in the sprint events, more specifically, the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. Oberle finished third in both events at last year's NCC indoor meet.

Terry Liggins, senior hurdler, is a lock to win the 60-meter hurdles if he does not get hurt or have other problems. Liggins looks to become the first athlete to win four straight indoor hurdle championships. Liggins will more than likely compete in the 200-meter dash and the high jump.

Scott Hargens, senior middle distance, won the 800-meter dash last year while anchoring the 4x400-meter relay team. Hargens has had a very good indoor season and should be able to pick up the 800-meter title and several others along the way.

Josh Olson, senior jumper, will, obviously, compete in the long jump and triple jump. Olson finished eighth in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump last year.

Preston Scott and Ben Walters are two guys in the throwing events that were solid at last year's meet. Scott won the weight throw as last year's indoor meet.Those are just a few of the USD men's track and field athletes to watch for.

Check with this blog and with the volanteonline.com for updates.

For the USD women's team has a lot of athletes to watch for and should be able to finish higher than last year's performance.

Some athletes to watch are: senior Stephanie Gebhart. Gebhart redshirted last year in order to train to become an 800-meter runner, adding to her 400-meter dash ability. Look for Gebhart to finish high in one or both events as well as helping out with a relay team.

Emma Erickson, freshman middle distance, should contend in several events and shoudl be able to come up with at least one title. Erickson should be in the running for the 800-meter dash title and the 1,000-meter run.Quick note, the USD women's team only had one runner in the 1,000-meter run and none in the 800-meter dash last year. The Coyotes will certainly improve in this area.

Natalie Stout, junior jumper, should contend for the triple jump title. Stout, who won the NCC title in that event as a freshman, finished fifth in the triple jump last year. Look for her to rebound.

Allison Smith, junior sprinter, should contend for titles in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. She scored points at last year's meet and could move into the top two or three spots this year.

Lindsay House, senior hurdler and jumper, won the 60-meter hurdles and was fourth in the long jump. House has not had the same level of success so far this indoor season, but she may come out of the woodwork to repeat last year's performance.

Ramsey Kavan, sophomore distance runner, won the NCC cross country title after having to redshirt due to transferring from Norte Dame and the fact that the Fighting Irish did not release her from her scholarship. Kavan should be able to come up with titles in many of the distance events.

This meet will probably come down to Nebraska-Omaha and the Coyotes. I think this is a different USD team than last year's and I look for them to come up with the league title.

Another interesting and important angle comes from this quote from USD women's track and field coach Lucky Huber in Ryan Moore's Volante story in this week's paper explains perfectly what the NCC meet is all about.

"It's really the kids that score one, two and three points in the meet that really make the big difference."

Many of the athletes above probably will not fall into this category, but the ones that are in the back half of the top eight are very important and make the difference.

If you do not believe me, ask USD men's track and field head coach Dave Gottsleben. His team won by a 1.5 points. That adds up to two eighth place finishes or one seventh place finisher.

- - Vance Janak