Amos Allen Signs in CFL, heads up on posts

The BC Lions of the Canadian Football League announced today they signed former Coyote running back Amos Allen to a contract. This past season, Allen became the single season leading rusher in Coyotes history and also set the single game mark for most rushing yards in a game as well. It was Allen’s only season with the Coyotes.

A key fact to Allen signing with the BC Lions, they are the same team that signed another former Coyote running back, Stefan Logan. Logan and Allen are considered two of the top rushers in USD history, and now they will line up in the same backfield. Former Coyote running back Jamel White was also in the CFL this past season with the Toronto Argonauts.

You can keep taps on the BC Lions when their season starts June 26th. It will be interesting to see if both Coyotes can make the team in the BC Lions backfield.

Also with upcoming posts, I will try and post as much as I can, but I just started my internship on Wednesday. It is at a camp and the only place for internet is at the administration building and I will only have time to log on at nights. I am still hoping to post at least one day a week, until we get wireless internet for the whole camp and it will be a lot easier.

I am hoping to find out more about the volleyball coaching search this upcoming week. The search committee has given Athletic Director Joel Nielsen their recommendations for who they think he should bring in for on campus interviews. I would get this information from Nielsen, but he is out of the office this week. Hopefully I will find out more on Monday.

———-Justin Rust

Final day of the track and field championships

Well it looks like I was beaten to the punch, as the Coyote website finally beat me with the update. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Speaking of good, that’ an understatement of what the Coyote women were today. After coming into final day, the women racked up 37 points to finish sixth overall.

The women were led by freshman Emma Erickson. Erickson broke her own school record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:07.36. Her old record was 2:07.57. Oh yeah, I forgot the most important part. Erickson won the 800-meter run, which gives her the national title for the 800 in both the indoor and outdoor season this year. She is the first Coyote to complete that task and first freshman to win two national titles.

Erickson picked up three All-American awards on the day, and already has six All-American awards in her first year of competition.  Erickson was a part of the 4×100-meter relay team which finished third and the 4×400-meter relay team which finished fourth.

The 4×100-meter relay team also including senior Steph Gebhart, junior Jenessa Filler, and junior Shaneka Parkes. The 4×400 team also included Gebhart, junior Allison Smith, and sophomore Rosalie Brueske.

Gebhart earned three more All-American awards (4×400, 4×100, 400) to push her school record to 21 All-American awards during her time with the Coyotes. Gebhart also finished third in the 400-meter run with a clocking of :54.65.

Parkes picked up another All-American award besides the 4×100 meter-relay. Parkes earned an All-American after taking seventh place in the javelin throw with a throw of  140′0.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan earned an All-American award after breaking a school record in the 5,000-meter run. Kavan finished second in the 5,000 with a time of 16:53.23. That time crushes the old record of 17:00.01.

Senior Scott Hargens earned his third career All-American award by finishing fourth in the 800-meter run with a career-best time of 1:50.48.

Senior Terry Liggins received a sixth career All-American award after a fifth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Liggins recorded a time of :13.96.

The meet was the last Division II competition the Coyotes will compete on in any sport and they went off in style. Now the Division-I stage is set when either the Coyote volleyball team or soccer team will compete in the Coyotes first Division-I event. Neither schedule is out yet.

Stay tuned for more sports info over the summer on this blog.

——Justin Rust

Day 2 of the track and field nationals, updated with 4×400

I am earlier tonight with the results. By the way, even though I posted at 2 last night, I still beat the Argus Leader, the Coyotes website, KDLT, KELO, and KSFY. I am kind of perplexed by that right now. I wonder if I did the same tonight? I will let you know tomorrow maybe for the sake of bragging.

The events for the day might still be going on because running events didn’t start until seven o’clock at night in Walnut, California. So it’s only nine there right now. I will give you what I have though.

Senior Steph Gebhart finished 16th in 200 meter dash preliminaries with a time of :24.94. I don’t think her finish is good enough to make the finals, but I wouldn’t rely on me for the info. I would say only eight or nine runners make it in the finals, because that’s the number of lanes the track has. Yeah, that’s the process that goes on in my head.

Gebhart is also the member of the 4×400 relay team that freshman Emma Erickson, sophomore Rosalie Brueske, and junior Allison Smith are on as well. The team qualified for the finals in the prelims and finished fourth with a time of 3:43.15.

Erickson also competed in the 800 meter run prelims. Erickson came in with the top time in the 800 meter run, which didn’t change today. Erickson posted the top time in the prelimes with a time of 2:09.63, so it’s safe to say she qualified.

Interesting times for sophomore Ramsey Kavan. Kavan was suppose to take place in the 10,000 meter run yesterday, but I think it was postponed until today because of the rain in Walnut. Now when I looked up the results for the 10,000 meter run, it has Kavan as a did not finish. So I would think she suffered an injury. But Kavan also ran in the 5,000 meter run prelims today. Kavan easily qualified for the 5,000 meter run with the top time of 17:03.47. So I don’t know if Kavan is injured or not because I would assume the 10,000 came before the 5,000 meter run since it was suppose to be ran yesterday. Interesting I guess. Makes me wish I was in California, along with the South Dakota weather.

Junior Jasmine Mosley finished just outside of earning a point in the shot put today. Mosley finished ninth in the event with a total distance of 45-10.00. Eight place is the last spot in which a team can earn a point.

Senior Terry Liggins took place in the 110 meter hurdles prelims. Liggins finished third with a time of :14.03 and qualified for the finals. I just figured out the Q by the name means the person qualified for finals.

Senior Scott Hargens qualified for the finals in the 800 meter run. Hargens finished with the fourth best time at 1:50.66.

That’s all I have for today. Final events will run tomorrow, and if I get the results for the 4×400 prelims, I will change this blog, so maybe stay tuned. If I don’t get it I will put it in tomorrow’s update of course. The javelin throw, which junior Shaneka Parkes takes place in, is tomorrow as well.

Stay tuned to this blog for more information on the Division II track and field nationals.

——Justin Rust

Track and field national championships and other track news

Okay, after searching for a couple of hours for results from the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships, I have finally found the results. The results might be a little jumbled up because there was rain in Walnut, California and some of the events were delayed by three hours. So with nothing posted on usdcoyotes.com, I am going through the events individually that certain Coyotes participated in.

The 4×100 relay squad, which includes junior Jenessa Filler, junior Shaneka Parkes, freshman Emma Erickson, and senior Steph Gebhart, participated in the preliminaries today. The squad placed seventh in prelims with a time of :46.50.

Gebhart also ran in the prelims for the 400 meter dash and placed eighth with a time of :55.25.

Okay, I thought this part would be longer, but the rain moved one event to tomorrow and that is the 10,000 meter run which sophomore Ramsey Kavan is participating in.

The rest of the prelims will be conducted tomorrow, pending weather of course, and final events will be held on Saturday. The field events are spread out throughout today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Stay tuned to this blog as I will keep it updated with what happens.

Also, head women’s track coach Lucky Huber bagged another award on Wednesday. Huber was named the USTFCCA, as I mentioned in the last blog that is a LONG abbreviation, National Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year.

Huber, who is in his 14th season at USD, won the award for the second time in his career. He was also the national coach of the year in 2004. Have I said before he is totally prepared to lead the track team to Division-I? Oh and anytime I EVER do an interview with him, he always mentions student-athletes for any athlete because he wants the student part to come first and they are here to be students first. Talk about getting it, someone point OJ Mayo in Huber’s direction.

Also, eight Coyote track and field athletes were named to the Academic All-NCC Track and Field Teams:

Senior Colte Haines, 3.88 GPA in mathematics and computer science, it’s Haines third time making the Academic All-NCC team

Junior Ben Walters, 3.46 GPA in biology, it’s Walters second time making the Academic All-NCC team

Senior Matt Yaggie 3.61 GPA in psychology, it’s Yaggie’s second time making the Academic All-NCC team

Junior Preston Scott, 3.43 GPA in computer science

Senior Katie Cerling, 3.66 GPA in accounting and history

Senior Steph Gebhart, 3.53 GPA in psychology

Junior Lindsay House, 3.72 GPA in psychology

Junior Shaneka Parkes, 3.53 GPA in health and physical education and recreation

That’s all I have for tonight, it’s starting to rain pretty good here, so hopefully that is the rain from Walnut so the track and field competitions can continue tomorrow! Stay tuned everyone as the Coyotes finish Division II competition this weekend.

——-Justin Rust

Some track tidbits and NCC honors

This was the busiest day out of the sports department at the University since the NCC championships. Three releases were sent out, which made me feel lazy so I should post them on the blog here. Also coming up, news on the volleyball coaching search, a volleyball transfer, the other volleyball coaching jobs at Augie and SDSU (quite the vball season all of a sudden huh), and a new men’s bball assistant coach is going to be hired I guess. But I am a jerk and will get more info and inform everyone later, hopefully this week. Hey, I am lazy in the summer plus the fact I don’t get paid by the Volante in the summer.

Anyways, onto the sports news.

Head women’s track and field coach Lucky Huber was named, and I am just going to type out the letters because this is the longest abbreviation I have ever seen, the USTFCCA North Central Region Women’s Coach of the Year. It’s the fourth time Huber has received the award, and fourth time in the last five years as well.

Huber earned the award by leading the women’s track and field team to their fifth consecutive North Central Conference outdoor women’s title. Huber is in his 14th season guiding the Coyotes.

Huber is a great coach to be leading the team into Division-I. He has just knocked up the awards the past few years and the women’s team has dominated the outdoor season and indoor season the last five years.

The Division II National Championships take place this weekend in Walnut, California. Stay tuned to the Volante for the results.

Also, former Coyote Great Elena Swan Davis will be inducted into the USTFCCA Hall of Fame. Okay, that stands for U.S. Track and Field/Cross County Coach Association Division II Track and Field Athlete Hall of Fame. That is the award Swan Davis is getting.

Swan Davis graduated from USD in 1998. Swan Davis be inducted this weekend during the national championships. Swan Davis was a 15-time track and field All-American at USD. Swan Davis is the only two-time individual national champion in women’s track and field history at USD. She won the long and triple jump titles.

Swan Davis won 13 individual NCC titles while at USD and set four school records. She also earned the USTFCCA Division II National Female Outdoor Athlete of the Year. She was named the 1997 North Central Region Female Outdoor Athlete of the Yer and MVP at the NCC Outdoor Championship in ‘97.

Swan Davis earned her degree in elementary education and is an educational consultant for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. I think that is in California.

Swan Davis put together quite the resume at USD and definitely deserves this honor I would say. Plus she has quite the job now. Food for thought though. She had 15 All-American awards. Senior Steph Gebhart has 18 All-American awards, the most in school history, and has nationals this weekend. Could we see this same press release for Gebhart in about 10-15 years?

Finally, diver Jill Smolczyk and kicker Frank Leibfarth were named NCC Honor Athletes. They are among 14 male and seven female athletes recognized by the NCC during the 2007-08 year.

To earn the award, each athlete must have graduated this spring or be within 12 credit hours of graduation. They will be honored at the NCC Celebration Dinner on June 21st in Sioux Falls.

I won’t be attending because for one, it will probably be out of my price range, and two, longtime Volante sports writer and great friend Vance Janak will be getting married.

Anyways, Smolczyk finished wish a 3.833 GPA for psychology. She has won a crap load of awards. Seriously, check it out on usdcoyotes.com to see the number of awards she has piled up, academically and athletically.

Leibfarth finished with a 3.949 GPA in chemistry and physics. Did you read the title of his thesis during graduation? I had to pull out a dictionary for it. Sounded like he was curing something with whatever it was.  Leibfarth also has a ton of awards as well. Check it out again at usdcoyotes.com.

Well, stayed tuned to the blog as I will look to keep it rolling during the summer. Have fun all.

Ten Athletes Will Compete in Track and Field Nationals; Huber named NCC Outdoor Women’s Coach of the Year

A total of ten member of the USD track and field team have qualified for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which take place on May 22-24 in Walnut, California. Eight members for the USD women’s team and two members of the USD men’s team made the cut for nationals.

Senior Stephanie Gebhart, who has a school record 18 All American awards, will compete in four events: the 4×100-meter relay, the 4×400-meter relay, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter dash.

Also competing in the 4×100-meter relay will be freshman Emma Erickson, junior Jenessa Filler, and junior Shaneka Parkes. Gebhart and Erickson will be joined by sophomore Rosalie Brueske and junior Allison Smith for the 4×400-meter relay team.

Erickson will be competing in a third event, the 800-meter dash. Erickson has already won the national title in the 800-meter dash during the indoor season, and she is the top-ranked athlete in the 800-meter dash for the outdoor season.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan made the cut as well as she will compete in the 10,000 meter run and the 5,000 meter run.

Parkes will also compete in the javelin throw and junior Jasmine Mosley will compete in the shot put.

Senior Terry Liggins will conclude his time as a Coyote in Walnut. Liggins will run in the 110-meter hurdles and has the top time in nation in the event this year. Liggins won the national title in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season.

Senior Scott Hargens will be running in his last event as a Coyote. Hargens will compete in the 800-meter run and he is a two-time All-American.

Also this afternoon, USD women’s coach Lucky Huber was named as the final NCC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. This is the sixth time Huber has won the award. Huber also won the NCC Coach of the Year award during the indoor season.

Huber has a combined 12 NCC Coach of the Year honors. Huber is in his 14th season as coach of the women’s team and will lead the eight women athletes at the NCAA Championships in Walnut.

———-Justin Rust

Coyote women wrap up fifth straight, and last, NCC title; Coyotes men finish second

The USD women’s track and field team, as expected, wrapped up the last ever North Central Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday. This is the fifth straight NCC outdoor championship the Coyotes have won.

The Coyote women also set the record for points in the NCC outdoor meet with 255. The previous record was held by North Dakota State with 239.33 in 2002.

The Coyotes men’s team finished in second with a total of 167 points. The Minnesota State-Mankato won the men’s total with 283.5 points.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won the Coyotes last title of the meet when seh won the 5,000-meter run on Saturday morning with a time of 17:22.13, which is an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark for the outdoor nationals.

Most of the events took place on Friday, because of the rain predicting for the area today. The rest of the results can be found on the previous blog with Friday’s events.

The NCAA Division II Track and Field Nationals will be held on May 22-24th in Walnut, California.

———Justin Rust

Results from the first day of the NCC Outdoor Championships

Yeah sorry this is late, but I was finishing up a paper due at midnight tonight, but here are the results from the final North Central Conference Championships, which are being held at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls. NCC officials decided to hold a major of the events on Friday because of bad weather forecasts on Saturday.

The USD women stormed out of the gate on Friday and are poised to win their fifth straight NCC outdoor title. The Coyote women have scored 238 points in 19 events, which is only 1.4 points off the league record for meet points of 239.4, set by North Dakota State in 2002. Minnesota State-Mankato is a distant second with 138 points, a full 100 points behind the Coyotes.

The Coyote men are in second after the first day of competition with 162 points in 19 events. Minnesota State-Mankato should win their second strait outdoor title and have accumulated 247.5 points in the 19 events.

For the women:

Sophomore Jasmine Mosley won both the discus (143′01) and shot put (48′04) and both distances were provisional marks for the NCAA Division II outdoor nationals. Junior Shaneka Parkes won the javelin throw with a provisional mark of 143′0 for nationals. Sophomore Danielle Dornbusch won the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 160′0 and Mosley finished second (158′0).

Senior Stephanie Gebhart won the 400-meter dash with an automatic qualifying mark for nationals with a time of :54.62. She also finished second in the 200-meter dash (:24.74).

Freshman Emma Erickson continued her stellar freshman season by winning the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:11.22. Erickson competed in the 800 after finished second in the 1,500 meter-run (4:41.73), which finished 70 minutes for the 800 meter run.

Parkes, Gebhard, Erickson, and junior Jenessa Filler earned a title in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of :46.89. Gebhart, Erickson, junior Allison Smith, and sophomore Rosalie Brueske contributed to win the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:49.07.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan won the 10,000-meter run with a clocking fo 35:37.59, which is an automatic qualifying mark for nationals. Junior Kelsey Maloney finished third in the 10,000-meter run (36:42.36)

Freshman Amber Hegge won the triple jump with a distance of 38′04.25, which is a provisional mark for nationals. Hegge finished second in the high jump (5′03.25) and the long jump (17′10.25).

Senior Lindsay House won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14:67.

Filler finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of :12.22 and Parkes finished third (:12.26). Filler also finished third in the 200-meter dash (:24.91).

For the men:

Senior Terry Liggins won both the 110-meter hurdles (:14.86) and 400-meter hurdles (:54.08). Liggins is the only athlete to ever win the 60-meter hurdlers in the indoor season and the 110 meter hurdles in the outdoor season all four years.

Senior Ben Walters won the hammer throw with a toss of 175′06 and finished second in the shot put (51′01). Junior Preston Scott won the discus with a throw of 152′02, followed by a second place throw from freshman Kyle Wheeler (151′03) and Walters was third (149′06).

Senior Colte Haines won the triple jump with a distance of 46′08.25.

Senior Josh Jeffery was second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:59.79.

The Coyotes 4×400-meter relay finished second with a clocking of 3:17.20.

Junior Alex Perkowski, freshman Jared Clement, sophomore Quincy Christie, and freshman Andrew Langner combined for a third place finished in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of :42.75.

Senior Josh Olson finished second in the long jump with a distance of 22′11.

Junior Dylan Grau placed third in the javelin (189′03).

Senior Scott Hargen earned a third place finishe in the 800-meter run (1:53.90).

The meet will start at 8:30 in the morning at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls tomorrow.

———Justin Rust

One final goodbye to USD

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yeah, Jeremy already wrote his “goodbye” column in last week’s print issue of The Volante, but he still has more to say. Prepare for some reminiscing, memories and sappy prose.

* * * *

The thought of graduating has really hit me in the past week.

Maybe it was the stress of finals week, or finalizing every last detail for graduation, but for some reason, leaving USD has been hard to comprehend lately.

Call me crazy, but I’ll miss this place.

After five years and ten semesters, I’m officially leaving USD.

OK, enough with the sap. Let’s get to the good stuff: Coyote athletics.

I came to Vermillion in September 2003 with literally no background knowledge on the Coyotes, other than what I’d read in newspapers and watched on TV sports coverage. But right away I was thrown into the mix and quickly became familiar with the Coyote nation.

And from that day forward, it’s been one helluva ride.

In that span, I’ve watched Josh Mueller’s on-court antics. If you never got the chance to see Josh play, you really missed an experience. The dude was never quiet and never quit moving. He was always on the go. Always chattin’ with the refs. Always talkin’ with opponents.

In that span, I’ve watched the rebirth of USD football. I can still vividly remember watching the last USD/SDSU football game, not realizing the true magnitude of the game. It was the end of the rivalry. And as we learned later, the end of the road for Coyote coach John Austin. His exit opened the door for Ed Meierkort. And we all know what’s happened since….

In that span, I’ve watched the transition in Coyote women’s basketball. From the days of Mandy Koupal to the days of Meghan Woster to the days of Daly/Hoffman/Hoffman/Robinette/Yoerger. It all culminated with one weekend in Kearney, Neb. and one national championship game.

And in that span, I’ve watched the move to Division I.

And with that, it’s time for me to move on. Time to graduate and hit the road (30 miles down Highway 50 to Yankton).

Time for the Matt Dahlseid/Justin Rust era.

Ready, set, graduate.

— Jeremy Hoeck

Coyotes look to close out the outdoor season

Just like the indoor season, it looks like the Coyote men and women are flexing their muscles in the outdoor season. You know the men would like to go out on top after a second place finish at the indoor meet. The women will look to win both the indoor and outdoor titles in the final North Central Conference season.

Freshman Emma Erickson, fresh off a national championship in the 800-meter run in the indoor season, has the top time in the 800 in the outdoor season as well.

Sophomore Ramsey Kavan continues to be as solid as they get, and senior Steph Gebhart closed out her last Howard Wood relays last weekend with a couple of wins. Gebhart has dominated Howard Wood and has competed in the event for 11 years and has come away with 15 titles. Talk about South Dakota success right there…..

Freshman Amber Hegge is starting to find her bearings after being named NCC Field Athlete of the Week. Hegge earned the honor by winning the long jump and triple jump Sunday at the USD Open/Qualifier. Hegge met a provisional mark in the triple jump. Hegge dominated both events back in high school in Nebraska.

Plus you have all of the relay teams that have had success for the USD women, Shaneka Parkes, Jasmine Mosley, and all of the other members, the women’s team is on a roll.

The men’s team is looking for redemption and senior Terry Liggins will play his part in it. Liggins improved his best time by .14 seconds in nationals to win his first national title in the 60-meter hurdles in the indoor season. Now Liggins has been dominating the outdoor season in the 110 meter hurdles.

Ben Walters will earn USD some points in the throwing events and earned NCC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week after winning both the shot put and discus at the USD Open/Qualifier.

Plus you add in seasoned veterans Tyler Wetering and Scott Hargens in the long distance runs, and a deep men’s team (seriously it is hard to mention all the key members of the men’s and women’s team), the USD team will look to take both NCC titles.

If they win both titles in the final year, then they will win 3 out 4 this year, and the men placed second in the indoor season. Quite impressive for a team moving Division-I and will qualify a year earlier.

The NCC Championships take place this weekend in Sioux Falls at Howard Wood Field. If you can make it out there, and I know there are a lot of graduation parties going on, then check it out if you can. Should be a memorable meet.

———–Justin Rust