– South Dakota’s Emily Grove posted the nation’s top mark in the pole vault while Megan Glisar set the nation’s third-best mark in the women’s high jump as South Dakota’s track and field teams competed at the Bill Bergan Invitational.  The men placed fourth in the final team standings in Ames, Ia.,  with Teivaskie Lewin and Casey Shade both tallying wins, while the women finished fifth.

Grove vaulted 14 feet, 3¼ inches to win and move into first on the national performance list.  She leads Natalia Bartnovskaya of Kansas, who has a season-high of 6-2.  Defending outdoor national champion Bethany Firsick placed second in the competition at 13-9¼ while Hunter Wilkes added to USD’s score by finishing seventh at 11-9¾.

In the high jump, Glisar posted a school record height of 6-0½ to win the event by two inches over Kansas State’s Alyx Treasure (5-10½).  She topped the record she set last weekend at the Jack Johnson Classic by a half-inch.  Glisar’s height is third-best in the nation.

Outside those events, the USD women had four more top-five finishers with three coming in the triple jump.  Ashley Thompson placed second in that event with a 38-8¼ mark, while Katie Ferguson was fourth with a 35-1 mark and Ali Haines was fifth with a mark of 34-1¼.  Tansha Clarke placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.04 seconds.

On the men’s side, Teivaskie Lewin won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.95 and Casey Shade won the men’s 1,000 in 2:27.65.  Two more Coyotes had top-five finishes in 1,000, as Stephon Nielson placed fourth in 2:33.01 and Taylor Huseman was fifth in 2:33.30.

Sprinter Brandon Kovash had a pair of top-five finishes by placing third in the 60-meters (6.89) and fifth in the 200 (21.97).  He now holds the league’s fastest times in both events, with his 60-meter time on Saturday and his 200 time of 21.93 at the Jack Johnson Classic holding the top spots.