November 6, 2020

Helton expects plenty of growth, excitement with new track season approaching

MITCHELL, S.D. – With a new track season on the horizon, a sense of expected growth and development surrounds the Dakota Wesleyan University indoor track team heading into the 2020-21 season. Yet, with an expanded recruiting class and plenty of returners, excitement looms quite large with every event.

MITCHELL, S.D. – With a new track season on the horizon, a sense of expected growth and development surrounds the Dakota Wesleyan University indoor track team heading into the 2020-21 season. Yet, with an expanded recruiting class and plenty of returners, excitement looms quite large with every event.

"The biggest goals for our young team is the continued growth and development of the program," iterated second-year head coach Jamen Helton. "With our recruiting classes becoming larger, we are adding much more quality and overall depth at each event."

Multi-Events

Fresh faces will have an immediate impact in the multi-events as assistant coach Matt Johnson enters his second season instructing the sprinters, jumpers and multi-event specialists.

The Tigers welcome in the likes of Noel Reynolds (Belgrade, Mont.) and Nicolas Jacolucci (Litchfield, Minn.) who will be training and competing in the multi-events as freshman. Reynolds recorded personal bests of 11.4 and 23.01 seconds in the 100 and 200-meters, respectively while Jacolucci enters with a plethora of experience holding marks in the long jump, pole vault, and 100-meter dash.

Meanwhile, key returners in the pentathlon and decathlon events are junior Nate Rupprecht (Bennington, Neb.) and sophomore Avany Long (Oacoma, S.D.). After sitting out the duration of last season due to injury, Rupprecht aims to build off a successful freshman campaign where he finished with 3,924 points in the heptathlon at the 2019 GPAC Indoor Championships earning all-conference status. Long is projected as the only multi-event athlete on the women's side as she sets her sights on improving off an 11th-place finish in the pentathlon at last year's conference championships where she tallied 2,510 points.

With a nice mix of experience and youthfulness in the multi-events this season, Johnson expressed the importance of strategic training.

"The training for the multi-events is complex due to the high demand of the event. Their event and overall training work is broken into much shorter segments which provides adequate time for training for the events, but not so much as they seem to be practicing all day, every day," Johnson said.

Jumps

Replacing 2020 GPAC high jump champion Jared Rabenberg is no easy task, however, Dakota Wesleyan returns an abundance of talent and experience in the jumps creating plenty of reason for excitement and optimism.

"The goal and vision for this season are going to be more on the technical components of jumps, whether it is long, triple, high or vault", expressed the second-year assistant coach. "Making each part of the particular jump crisp and under control will always lead to a bigger performance than trying to 'muscle' through a jump."

Aiming for crisp returns in the jumps are 2020 NAIA national qualifier Lydia Gerber (Canton, S.D.) and fellow teammates Lia Guigui (Rapid City, S.D.) and Ashtyn Evans (Gillette, Wyo.) who posted strong performances a season ago. Gerber enters her final season of competition after placing 12^th in the triple jump at the 2020 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships with a personal best of 11.56 meters. Gerber's counterparts, Guigui and Evans enter their junior and sophomore campaigns, respectively. Guigui aims to build off a fourth-place finish in the high jump at the 2020 GPAC Indoor Championships while Evans figures to improve in the long and triple jump.

Outside of Reynolds and Jacolucci, new Tigers to look out for on the runway include freshman Abby Ferris (Pierre, S.D.) and Sydney Savatos (Gregory, S.D.). Savatos joins Dakota Wesleyan as a state qualifier in the triple jump while Ferris boasts personal bests in the high, long and triple jump.

Sprints

Moving from the runway to the starting blocks, the sprints unit will encompass the overall youthfulness of this year's team as the Tigers will count on Austin Hughes (Box Elder, S.D.), Jacob Becker (Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Isaac Mack-Alston (Glendale, Ariz.) to score points.

"The sprints squad this year is very young, and there are multiple redshirt athletes returning from last year, so expectations are anyone's guess as the metrics indicate constant improvement," iterated Johnson when talking about the goals and expectations of the sprinters.

The junior duo of Hughes and Becker return from injuries a season ago and will look to improve off of solid freshman campaigns. Hughes posted a personal best of 7.31 seconds in the 60-meter dash in 2019 while Becker recorded bests of 23.72 and 53.39 in the 200 and 400-meter dash, respectively. Meanwhile, sophomore Mack-Alston also adds much needed experience to the sprint's unit after competing in two meets a year ago.

On the women's side, Gerber and Guigui will serve as versatile athletes crossing over into the sprints with valued experience and talent. The Canton, S.D., native notched a time of 7.88 in the 60-meter dash nearly missing the national-qualifying time of 7.82. Similarly, Guigui has a solid chance of qualifying in the 60-meter dash at the conference championships after moving into the DWU-Top 10 list a season ago.

Distance

The Dakota Wesleyan distance and mid-distance units will face a quick turnaround as the track season kicks off just as the cross-country season finally culminates. However, according to distance coach Helton, great accomplishments so far in cross-country and last indoor season will hopefully lead to solid performances on the track.

"I am excited for our runners to build off what they have accomplished last season as well as this fall. While our distance crew is still a bit young and adapting to some new training this season, we boast a really strong middle-distance group this winter. As coaches, we are excited to get some opportunities in the middle-distance-relays and individual events this year."

Pivotal returners include sophomore Justin Sorenson (Vermillion, S.D.) and Devin Rihanek (Plankinton, S.D). Sorenson enters year two with the program after tallying a season best of 2:38.03 minutes in the 1,000 meters placing him third on the DWU All-Time list in the event. Senior teammate Rihanek posted a collegiate best of 1:27.53 in the 600-meter dash while helping the 4x800-meter relay team to a fourth-place finish at the 2020 GPAC Indoor Championships. Other returners with plenty of experience include Wyatt Baldauf (Seneca, Ill.), Macey Bohl (Garretson, S.D.), Delaine Larson (Gettysburg, S.D.) and Layne Lewis (Plankinton, S.D.).

Newcomers aiming to solidify strong seasons on the track after also competing in cross-country this fall include Hunter Shanks (Bennington, Neb.), Tessa Kilber (Ipswich, S.D.) and Morgan Oedekoven (Pierre, S.D.). Both Shanks and Kilber will be crucial members of the middle-distance team while Oedekoven will specialize in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

Throws

Excitement looms large surrounding the Dakota Wesleyan throwers entering the upcoming indoor season, a unit with much history and success over the years to brag about. And according to second-year assistant coach and throws' specialist, Chris Aschemann, new milestones and accomplishments are on the horizon once again this season.

"As a whole, I think we are poised to have a pretty solid year. Our unit has a nice balance of upperclassmen that know what to expect, and underclassmen that are still learning. Hopefully, it means big marks at crucial points in the season as I think we can have a sizable impact in the GPAC this year," Aschemann commented.

Key returners include the senior duo of Dawson Kerzman (Dell Rapids, S.D.) and Caden Milmine (Buffalo, Wyo.) who have made sizable impacts at the conference level throughout their careers. Kerzman picked up all-conference status at the 2020 GPAC Indoor Championships with a mark of 16.07 meters, while Milmine finished in seventh place in the shotput at the same meet. Other returners adding experience include Mikaela Stofferahn (Dell Rapids, S.D.), Morgan Taft (Norris, S.D.) and Chris Zanotto (Blair, Neb.).

Fresh faces expected to make an immediate impact to the throw's unit are Lila Gronseth (Sargeant, Minn.), Abby Magnuson (Buxton, N.D.) and Katlyn Briggs (Plankinton, S.D.) who all enter the program as freshmen.

2020-2021 Dakota Wesleyan University indoor track schedule

Date Event Location

Friday, Nov. 20 DWU Early Bird /Multi Mitchell, S.D.

Saturday, Nov. 20 DWU Early Bird /Multi Mitchell, S.D.

Saturday, Jan. 16 DWU Invitational Mitchell, S.D.

Saturday, Jan. 23 Dordt Invitational Sioux Center, Iowa

Saturday, Jan. 30 Mount Marty Invitational Yankton, S.D.

Saturday, Feb. 6 DWU Invitational Mitchell, S.D.

Saturday, Feb. 13 Mount Marty Invitational Yankton, S.D.

Friday, Feb. 19 GPAC Championships Sioux Center, Iowa

Saturday, Feb. 20 GPAC Championships Sioux Center, Iowa

Thursday, March 4 NAIA National Indoor Meet Brookings, S.D.