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Dakota State finishes strong in indoor track and field’s regular-season finale
February 16, 2012
SPEARFISH, S.D. – Dakota State claimed five first-place events Thursday afternoon in the Independent Open at the Donald E. Young Gymnasium, hosted by Black Hills State University. Four individuals had recorded their personal bests in Trojans' final indoor track regular-season meet.
Stephanie Uher claimed the women's 400-meter dash title. She recorded her personal best time of one minute and .55 seconds. Claire Beck as fifth in 1:03.14 and Nicole Jurrens placed sixth (1:08.06).
Matt Fideler dominated the men's 3000-meter run and captured a first-place finish. He improved his personal best and national qualifying mark of eight minutes and 43.53 seconds. Nic Penning was ninth in 9:43.36.
In the men's 200-meter dash, Stacey Berg clocked his personal best time of 23.06 seconds to claim the title. He ran a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash prelims in 7.17 seconds. He finished third in the finals with his personal best time of 7.15 seconds. Berg finished fourth in the men's long jump with a measurement of 21 feet and 4.69 inches (6.52 meters).
Dakota State had three runners placed in top five in the men's 1500-meter run. Michael Hoffman recorded his personal best time of 4:15.16 for a first-place finish. John Bintliff was third in 4:31.40. Jacob Cassutt finished fifth with a time of 4:41.03.
The women's 4 x 400-meter relay team (Beck, Uher, Shannon Spurgin and Summer Bronson) won the title with a time of 4:12.80, just .57 seconds short of tying DSU school record.
The Trojan men's 4 x 400-meter relay team (Andy Coy, Chad Pelkofer, Andrew Gross and Ike Pohlman) 
recorded a runner-up finish with a time of 3:48.21.
In the women's 60-meter hurdles, Bronson recorded a time of 9.97 seconds in the prelims. She finished with a third-place in the finals in 9.98 seconds.
DeVonte Garica recorded a third-place finish in the men's triple jump. He finished with a measurement of 42 feet and 1.51 inches. He was 11th in the long jump (19 feet and 3.1 inches).
Joshua Scott placed fifth in the men's 400-meter dash in 57.26 seconds. Pohlman was sixth in 57.60 seconds.
Spurgin was sixth in the women's long jump. She jumped with a measurement of 15 feet and 7.4 inches (4.76 meters).
Pelkofer was seventh in the men's 60-meter hurdles (9.24 seconds) prelims. He improved his time to 9.19 seconds in the finals for a fifth-place finish.
In the men's 800-meter run, Gabe Samuelson was seventh with a time of 2:07.65. Hoffman was eighth in 2:12.01. Bintliff was ninth in 2:12.93. Cassutt placed 12th in 2:18.34.
Other DSU place finishers in the Independent Open are: Jurrens (9th in 200-meter dash – 30.62 seconds); Sara Schultz (8th in 800-meter run – 2:54.88); Amber Wiebenga (10th in 800-meter dash – 3:02.08); Shayna Dwyer (10th place in shot put – 32 feet and 1.83 inches and 10th in weight throw – 36 feet and 10.52 inches); 
Brittany Pearson (11th in weight throw – 34 feet and 4.6 inches); Chance Clason (13th in 200-meter dash – 25.33 seconds); Ryan Gimbel (10th place in shot put – 39 feet and 7.98 inches and 8th place in weight throw – 44 feet and 8.22 inches); Trevor Rossknecht (13th in shot put – 36 feet and 5.80 inches and 14th in weight throw – 41 feet and 7.21 inches) and Trevor Van Tilburg (15th in weight throw – 41 feet and 1.31 inches).
Dakota State will be sending three athletes (Fideler, Coy and Uher) to NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. The national meet will be held in Geneva, Ohio on March 1-3.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
