RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Hardrocker men's and women's track and field teams opened the first of three days of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in Grand Junction, Colo., with good performances in final and preliminary events.
Hardrocker junior
Aidan Thompson led the way with a fourth-place finish in the men's discus, which earned him Second Team All-Conference honors. On his second attempt, Thompson finished with a heave of 45.09 meters or 147-feet, 11 inches.
Thompson is also competing in the decathlon where he is currently in fourth place with 3,372 points. In Friday's action, he won both the shot put at 13.29 meters (43-7 ¼) and the high jump at 1.88m (6-2). The decathlon continues on Saturday.
As a team, the Hardrocker men are currently in eighth place with five points. Colorado School of Mines leads the men's field with 48 points, followed by Colorado Colorado Springs and Colorado Mesa with 22 each, CSU Pueblo with 20 and Black Hills State with 18.
In the women's team scoring, Colorado Mesa leads with 47.50 points, followed by Colorado Mines with 17.50, Colorado Colorado Springs with 16 and Western Colorado with 15.
In preliminary action, two Hardrocker freshmen qualified for Saturday's finals in the men's 400 hurdles as
Cole Dobberstein finished in sixth place in a time of 54.58 seconds and
Merek Ranstrom is right behind in seventh place in 55.07. Ranstrom's time is a personal best. The top eight in each event qualify for the finals. Also competing in the event for the 'Rockers was
Dominick Giggee, who was 17
th in 58.33.
Two Hardrockers just missed finishing in the top eight as
Trevor Fredenburg was ninth in the men's high jump at 1.89m (6-2 ¼) and
Lane Thomas was ninth in the men's 400 preliminaries with a personal best time of 49.21.
Ethan Pitlick was 13
th in the 400 prelims in 50.74.
The Hardrocker men had three other throwers in the discus, with
Reid Kaiser placing 14
th in 40.60m,
Ian Cone in 15
th in 40.19m and
Daniel Falk was 19
th in 38.22m.
In the men's hammer,
Isaiah Thurman was 13
th at 48.58m, Kaiser placed 15
th in 47.98m, followed by
Kevin Osmanski in 17
th at 47.35m, Cone in 19
th at 43.92m and
Eli Huot in 20
th at 43.49m.
Also for the 'Rocker men,
Owen Hansmann was 20
th in the 1,500-meter run in 4:03.92.
For the Hardrocker women,
Jaycie Stubbs finished 17
th in the women's discus at 36.78m and
Adisyn Schenck was 22
nd in the hammer throw at 39.13m.
Inclement weather caused some events to be delayed Friday, with the women's 10,000-meter run moved to Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
Saturday will also feature Stubbs in the javelin, as she looks to win her fourth straight RMAC title in the event, which would be a first for any South Dakota Mines track athlete.
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
