Latest news with #Jackrabbits
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Long Beach Poly boys' 4x400 relay team shines at state track and field championships
CLOVIS, Calif. — The stars close the show and Long Beach Poly's 4x400-meter relay brought the crowd to its feet with a stunning performance in the final race of the CIF State Track & Field Finals, winning in 3 minutes 8.68 seconds for the second-fastest time ever in the state meet. The top four teams ran sub-3:10, making it the fastest four-lapper ever in the finals on depth. The Jackrabbits just missed the state meet record of 3:08.42 set in 2010 by a Gardena Serra foursome anchored by Robert Woods, running the fourth-fastest time in California history. Central East of Fresno was second in 3:09.23, Servite took third in 3:09.46 to clinch the team title with 33 points, L.A. Cathedral took fourth in 3:09.59 and Long Beach Wilson was fifth in 3:10.55. Sprinters headlined Friday's prelims but it was the distance runners who played leading roles Saturday at Buchanan High School. Rylee Blade has made a habit of performing her best on the brightest stage and she ran her fastest girls' 3,200-meter race ever (9:50.51) but had to settle for second when she was passed on the last turn by Hanne Thomsen of Santa Rosa Montgomery, who won in 9:48.98. 'I knew this would be a kicking race and give [Thomsen] credit, she had a bit more at the end,' said Blade, the Corona Santiago standout who won the state title as a sophomore and was third last year. In a shocking development, Stanford-bound senior Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, last year's boys' 3,200 champion, caught a stomach flu earlier in the afternoon and had to drop out of the race, distraught that he couldn't defend his title. Woodcrest Christian's Eyan Turk took advantage of the race favorite's absence, winning in 8:51.62. Thomsen was involved in another stretch duel in the girls' 1,600 versus another Corona Santiago runner Braelyn Combe, who did not realize she won until times were posted on the scoreboard. 'We were shoulder to shoulder with 100 [meters] to go and pushed each other to the end,' said Comb, who won by five-hundredths of a second in a personal-best of 4:35.64, the second-fastest in the country this year and fifth fastest in state history. 'I've never been that close to someone at the finish line. I closed my eyes and prayed and when I looked up at the board I burst into tears. I've never wanted anything more in my life. I'm so happy. My family drove five hours up here to watch.' Combe, a junior who took second in the 1,600 last year, credits her victory to training with Blade, who she called 'unbelievable.' 'It's a blessing to have her on my team, she's the best pacing partner,' said Combe, who capped off her day by anchoring the Sharks' 4x800-meter relay, which ran 8:49.01 to establish a new state meet record. 'It's a real advantage for me.' Looking like an Olympic gymnast, Loren Webster stuck her landing on her fifth attempt in the girls' long jump, a personal-best 21 feet, 0¼ inches that earned her first-place by three and a half inches over transgender athlete A.B. Hernandez, who beat Webster at the Southern Section Masters Meet and posted the top qualifying mark Friday. 'I'm glad I was able to win to honor my jump coach who has worked with me since my first year jumping as a sophomore,' the teary-eyed senior said of Carl Hampton, who died of cancer May 24, the day of the Masters Meet. 'I PR'd by a couple of inches. I was injured most of the season but I knew what I was capable of and I knew today was the only day that mattered.' Hernandez went on to win the triple jump and tied for first with Lelani Laruelle of Monte Vista and Jillene Wetteland of Long Beach Poly in the high jump at 5-07. JJ Harel of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame cleared 6-09 to win the boys high jump after finishing second at the state meet last year. 'I knew I would win but honestly, I'm not happy,' said the Knights' junior, whose personal-best was 7-0¼ last year. 'I was on fire in the lower heights, getting over easily but once it got to seven feet I forgot my form.' Giving Harel a high-five after his win was Notre Dame senior Aja Johnson, who won the girls' shot put for the second time in three years with a throw of 45-05¾. 'It's not a PR or anything but at least I won it for my school. ... I'm happy about that,' said Johnson, who is going to college at Louisville. Oaks Christian's girls repeated as 4x100 champions in 46.08, edging Long Beach Poly (46.18) for the second year in a row. Servite won the boys 4x100 relay in 40.27, one hundredth of a second faster than its prelim time. Concord De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson won the boys' 100 meters in 10.27, followed by Servite's Benjamin Harris (10.31), Alemany's Demare Dezeurn (10.39) and Rancho Cucamonga's RJ Sermons (10.48). Temecula Valley's Jack Stadlman won the 400 meters in 46.02 and took second in the 200 meters in 20.82. Sermons, who had to win a run-off Friday to gain the last qualifying spot, finished sixth in the 200 in 21.05. Long Beach Wilson successfully defended its 4x400 girls relay title.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Larson punches his ticket to Eugen
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (SDSU) — Cody Larson will head to Eugene for South Dakota State, while the other 10 Jackrabbits wrap up their season Saturday afternoon at the NCAA West First Round. HEAD COACH ROD DEHAVEN 'Cody making nationals is an incredible achievement and kind of continues an almost magical season for him. And he's still got a little bit more left in the tank as we head to Eugene. I think it's a good experience for the other Jackrabbits that made the trip to College Station. It's sad to see the careers of some all-time greats come to a close, but I wish them the best in their future endeavors. For those that return next year, hopefully they're fueled to achieve greater heights.' THE MEET Cody Larson finished second in his heat of the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:39.60. Larson's placement as runner-up in his heat secured the junior a spot in the semifinals held in Eugene, OR. Josh Becker also competed in the 3000-steeplechase, but did not finish due to injury. Pierre Lear made his way to the quarterfinals after clocking 13.76 in the 110-hurdles. The senior finished 21st overall with a time of 14.40. Lear's performance in the quarterfinals was his final competition as a Jackrabbit. Lear will leave South Dakota State with a legacy as he currently holds the 110-hurdles program record at 13.57. In field events, Madison Kizer competed in the high jump on Saturday afternoon. Kizer cleared 5-07.25 (1.71m) to take 31st in the event. Kizer also finished her collegiate career, but will live on in SDSU history as the senior tied the program record of 5-10.75 earlier this season. Caiden Fredrick, Cayman Gebheim and Ethan Fischer all represented the Jackrabbits in the discus competition. Frederick placed 33rd with a mark of 179-03 (54.65m), Gebheim took 37th with a throw of 176-11 (53.92m), and Fischer finished at 45th with a mark of 164-6 (50.14m). Brielle Dixon rounded out her collegiate career Thursday evening. Dixon placed 36th in the first round of the 100-hurdles with a time of 13.58. Similarly to Lear, Dixon will leave the program with her name on the SDSU records list as she currently holds the best Jackrabbit 100-hurdles time of 13.37. Jessica Lutmer also finished her collegiate career Thursday night. Lutmer, alongside freshman Courtney Stadter, competed in the 10,000-meter race. Stadter took 36th in the event, crossing the line at 35:52.31, while Lutmer finished at 36:59.36 for 42nd. Grayson Ring competed at the NCAA West Regionals after his first year in DI competition. Ring competed in the high jump, but did not clear the opening bar. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SDSU engineering students win NASA contest that helps farmers with precision agriculture
A team of South Dakota State University engineering students won a NASA contest May 21 for their work designing modules to install on drones to help agronomists and farmers understand their farmland throughout the year. One of the modules samples soil before and after the growing season by flying autonomously and landing at many locations across a field, probing the soil to understand nutrient profiles. The other module samples tissue throughout the growing season by cutting the top leaf from a corn plant and collecting samples for further analysis in a lab. 'It's a great day to be a Jackrabbit,' faculty advisor Todd Letcher said after learning the team won the NASA Gateways to Blue Skies contest at Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, Calif. The contest's theme this year was 'AgAir: Aviation Solutions for Agriculture,' and entrants were tasked with researching new or improved aviation solutions to support agriculture. SDSU mechanical engineering students Nick Wolles, Keegan Visher, Nathan Kuehl and Laura Peterson designed and tested the prototypes over the school year. Letcher said the team was probably the only one that brought a functional prototype to the competition with them. Letcher said the team's two drone attachments will help farmers and agronomists in a more precise way so they can adjust to their crop's changing needs throughout the growing season. The team began the project by contacting about 25 farmers, crop consultants and agronomists in eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, to see how an aerial vehicle could benefit them or enhance production. 'Figuring out what problem affected the most farmers took a lot of time,' Visher said. The team participated in I-Corps, a business development training program through the National Science Foundation and Great Plains Hub, which encouraged them to conduct customer discovery sessions and gave them the answer for a drone with sensors. NASA judges 'loved that they did I-Corps' and 'made sure to call it out at the awards ceremony as one of the reasons they chose us as winners,' Letcher said. Letcher said the team's design will help people better understand their land and crops to precisely apply fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and uses autonomous data collection to better apply those chemicals and save time on precision agriculture decisions. They expect the soil sampling module could be ready for beta testing in the field by 2026, and ready for commercial sales in 2027. The leaf tissue sampler will be tested in 2025 and 2026 while AI systems are being trained. It could be ready for autonomous testing in 2027, beta testing in 2028, and commercial use in 2029. Visher said he sees the technology as an 'easily integratable system' and said it 'wouldn't be too much of a stretch' to see it get into many farmers' and agronomists' hands and into their fields to help them perform precision agriculture practices. Team members said future SDSU students will pick up on the beta testing and commercialization of the project as part of their senior design capstone project, similar to other SDSU student projects, like a remote control snowblower. Kuehl said he hopes future SDSU students will continue to advance the award-winning technology. More: SDSU student group works on remote control snowblowers SDSU's team was one of 75 to enter the contest, and one of eight finalists chosen. Each team received $8,000 to cover travel costs to the finals. Kuehl said winning the competition was 'super rewarding' and that he was 'super proud of this team for the hard work we put in.' The winning team members were also offered internships at NASA. Each senior already has summer jobs lined up, but said they may reconsider the internship opportunity in a couple of months. SDSU teams have also seen success in other NASA contests, including as one of six finalists in Break the Ice lunar excavation challenge in 2024, and the overall third place winner in 2024 in the RASC-AL (Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage) contest. More: South Dakota State testing excavator to extract ice crystals from the moon in NASA contest Letcher said SDSU has made an 'arc of progress' from its first drone funding from NASA in 2020, to startup company AeroFly, which secured Phase 1 funding from NASA in 2024 and Phase 2 funding last week to last the next two years. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota State engineering team wins NASA Blue Skies contest
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Seven-run second lifts ORU past Jackrabbits
OMAHA, Neb. (SDSU) — Top-seeded Oral Roberts scored seven times in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back in an 11-2 victory over South Dakota State in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship Wednesday afternoon at Tal Anderson Field. The Golden Eagles improved to 35-20 overall and will face the winner between Wednesday's late game between North Dakota State and Omaha at 6 p.m. Thursday. SDSU dropped to 16-35 on the season and will face the NDSU-Omaha loser in an elimination game at noon Thursday. ORU sent 11 batters to the plate in the second inning. Makani Tanaka started the outburst with a base hit off Jackrabbit starter Arlen Peters, which was followed by an error. Owen Coil doubled in the first two runs of the frame and Wailele Kane-Yates capped the rally with a three-run home run to left field. The other runs scored on a bases-loaded walk to Will Edmunson and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cooper Combs. Ty Madison followed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the Jackrabbits before the Golden Eagles added three more runs in the fifth — two of which were unearned — and a run on four walks in the seventh inning to build an 11-0 advantage. Meanwhile, ORU starter Easton Teel kept the Jackrabbits scoreless through the first seven innings and did not allow more than one baserunner in any of those innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked one batter. The Jackrabbits ended Teel's shutout bid with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Jess Bellows and Nic Werk singled around a walk to Davis Carr to load the bases. Carter Sintek and Five Jackrabbit pitchers combined for only two strikeouts while issuing 10 walks and three hit batters. Hits were even at eight per team. Bellows was the lone Jackrabbit with two hits, while Tanaka and Logan Campbell each tallied two hits for ORU. NOTES Oral Roberts has won all seven games against the Jackrabbits this season and improved to 19-0 all-time against SDSU in Summit League tournament games SDSU dropped to 20-26 overall in 14 Summit League Baseball Championship appearances Bryce Ronken singled in the eighth inning to reach base safely for the 30th consecutive game Ronken made his first start in right field since April 11, after 15 consecutive games as the Jackrabbits' designated hitter Nolan Grawe extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a fourth-inning single Sintek registered his 75th hit of the season with an infield single in the sixth inning Madison made his team-leading 22nd appearance of the season Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SDSU women to play Gonzaga at Pentagon
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SDSU) — The South Dakota State women's basketball team will take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a nonconference contest November 20 at the Sanford Pentagon. The on-sale date for tickets will be announced later. 'This is a resume-building matchup that is going to stand out on the schedule for both teams,' said Jesse Smith, vice president of operations for Sanford Sports. 'The energy in the Sanford Pentagon always rises when the Jackrabbits play here, and Gonzaga is a national brand with a passionate fan base.' The Jackrabbits won the Summit League Championship last season and received a No. 10 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. SDSU defeated No. 7 seed Oklahoma State 74-68, before falling to eventual national champion Connecticut in the second round. The Jackrabbits are 1-2 all-time at the Sanford Pentagon. 'We are excited to return to the Pentagon next season. The Pentagon is a terrific facility, and the staff provides a first-class experience,' said South Dakota State Head Coach Aaron Johnston. 'Gonzaga has a strong tradition of success and will be a great early-season test for the Jackrabbits.' Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference regular season title for the 20th time last season, finishing with a 24-11 record. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the WBIT Tournament, where they fell to eventual champion Minnesota. The Bulldogs are 1-1 all-time at the Sanford Pentagon. They defeated South Dakota 54-50 and lost to No. 1 South Carolina 79-72 during the 2-day 2020 Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic. 'The Sanford Pentagon is a great facility and always puts on high level events,' said Gonzaga Head Coach Lisa Fortier. 'We have a ton of respect for the South Dakota State program and always look forward to playing quality teams in our non-conference schedule. This should be a very fun, early season game.' South Dakota State leads the all-time series 3-1. Their last meeting was on Dec. 17, 2023, an 83-58 victory by the No. 14 Bulldogs. In addition to this meeting with Gonzaga, the Jackrabbits have also announced plans to play at the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
