CHADRON, Neb. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's indoor track and field teams had a solid outing Sunday competing at the Chadron State Invitational in Chadron Nebraska.
The Hardrocker athletes notched two first-place event winners, recorded 11 Top 5 finishes, nabbed one school record and improved on 16 personal-best records.
Johnathan Murray posted his first event win of the season, taking top honors in the men's 400-meter dash clocking a time of 50.07 seconds. Murray is currently ranked third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in the event.
Andrew Ferris also earned a first-place finish during the mens' 800 run, registered the fastest time of 1:57.27 to take the event. Ferris has the fifth-best time in the RMAC and is less than a second off the pace for a provisional qualification to the NCAA Div. II National Indoor Championships.
Ryan Moen also had an outstanding performance setting a new school record in the men's 3,000 run. He clocked a time of 8:48.78 for the new SD Mines record and picked up third place in the process. The old record was held by Tyler Nack from 2013 (8:49.77).
"We saw some very strong performances this weekend, particularly in the long sprints and middle distance events," said Hardrocker track and field head coach
Steve Johnson. "Ryan did a great job in the 3K en route to a new school record and 9th best time in the RMAC this season."
Coach Johnson added, "Andy and Jonathon did well and both put together tremendous races and are solidly in the Top 5 in their events (in the RMAC)."
In other Hardrocker highlights:
Kevin Ptak notched a third-place finish in the men's 400 (51.64);
Casey Skillingstad cleared a height of 4.39 meter and earned second place in the men's pole vault;
Westley Siebdrath secured second place during the men's weight throw (16.14);
Cole Smith took third in the men's pole vault (4.25);
Cody Allen grabbed fourth place in the men's shot put (15.08) and then followed that up with a fifth-place showing in the weigth throw (16.14);
Jeremy Gonzales took fourth in the men's 200 dash (24.01); Connor Christenson cleared a height of 1.90 in the men's high jump for fourth place; Adeline Straatmeyer had a solid time in the women's 3,000; and Erica Westerman had a strong showing in the women's 800 with a time of 2:26.49.
"On the women's side, we saw very strong performances from Adeline Straatmeyer and Erica Westerman as they broke into the Top 20 in the 3K and the 800 races," Johnson said.
