Jacks' XC Bring Home Summit League Awards

Saturday, October 28

Vermillion, S.D.

11 a.m.

South Dakota State University

The Summit League Championships

10/28/2017 8:19:00 PM | Cross Country, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

2017 MXC Perform List 2017 WXC Perform List Summit League MXC Results 2017 Summit League WXC Results 2017

Men's team wins their sixth title & sweep championship accolades; women's team places third & Rachel King wins individual title.

VERMILLION, South Dakota – The South Dakota State cross country teams came away with multiple Summit League accolades Saturday afternoon at The Summit League Championships in Vermillion, S.D., including a men's team championship and individual championships on both the men's and women's side.

MEN'S TEAM
The men's team brought home their sixth championship in the short 11 years they have been a member of the Summit League. The Jacks won it with their second-lowest score in the championship race with 31 points, placing 1-2-4-11-13-17-22 in the top 25 (scored 25 points in the 2016 championship).

The Jacks have won all of their championships in back-to-back seasons (2009-10, 2012-13, 2016-17) and is one of two active Summit League Schools that have won Summit League titles (Western Illinois won a title in 1991). The men's team has finished in the top two every year since 2012, claiming four titles.

Three Jackrabbits earned first-team All-Summit League performances, which ties for second-most in school history with the 2012 and 2015 teams (2016 had four first-team All-Summit League performers). As a total, SDSU had five All-Summit League runners, most of any team this year, and tying the 2013 team with the second-most honors (2016 had six).

Not only did the men's team have the most All-Summit League performers, but they swept the Championship MVP, Newcomer of the Championship, and Coach of the Year Award. It is the second time SDSU has swept the awards (first time, 2013) and the only other school to do it was IUPUI in 2014.

Head coach Rod DeHaven claimed his sixth Summit League Men's Coach of the Year honor, the most of any coach since 2007 when the Jacks joined the Summit League. He now has seven total coach of the year honors between both men and women.

Sophomore Chase Cayo and junior Kyle Burdick led the whole 8k-race. Cayo pulled ahead of Burdick in the last few meters of the race, winning his first career championship race and earning the Championship MVP and first-team All-Summit accolades. His time of 24:44.78 beat his 2016 league championship time by 1:04.8 minutes and placed him third on the all-time fastest Summit League Championship time.

Burdick finished with a time of 24:47.2, beating his 2016 time by 54 seconds and placing him fourth on the Jackrabbit all-time fastest league race. With his performance, he earned first-team All-Summit honors.

Sophomore Lukas Nelson found himself on the all-time list as well with a 25:12.70 time and fourth place finish. The time puts the first-team All-Summit performer eighth on the list and improves his 2016 league championship time of 27:17.1.

Junior Cal Lawton earned second-team All-Summit honors in his first Summit League cross country championships with an 11th place finish (25:29.18). He just missed beating his personal best 8k-time by two seconds.

Freshman Gabe Peters brought home the Newcomer of the Championship in his first year wearing the yellow and blue. The second-team All-Summit Leaguer was the first Jackrabbit to bring home the accolade since Brendan Sage in 2013. Peters finished 13th with a time of 25:34.93 in the championship race.

Sophomore Sam Ivanecky and redshirt-freshman Ray Munsterman also debuted in their first league championship. Ivanecky finished 17th (25:48.74) while Munsterman finished 22nd (26:25.74). Both improved upon their 8k-times, Ivanecky beating his old time by 4.9 seconds and Munsterman beating his time by 10.7 seconds.

WOMEN'S TEAM
The women's team finished in the top three of The Summit League Championships yet again with six top 25 runners. That is now six years in a row where they have finished in the top three.

The Jacks finished with three All-Summit League performers, tying with North Dakota State for the second-most honors this year. The Jacks have now claimed two straight Summit League individual titles and championship MVP's (Emily Donnay in 2016, Rachel King in 2017).

Junior Rachel King led the Jackrabbits in Vermillion, winning the race with a time of 20:53.54 and beating her 2016 championship time by 19.2 seconds. The first-team All-Summit Leaguer now has the all-time fastest championship time. With this performance, she earned her first Championship MVP.

Freshman Anna Donnay earned second-team All-Summit League honors in her first career championships race, placing 13th (21:50.76). It is her best 6k-race of the season, beating her previous best by 38.1 seconds and etching her name into sixth place for the fastest Summit League Championship time.

Right behind Donnay was junior Emily Berzonsky, who earned second-team All-Summit accolades by placing 14th (22:01.68). It is her second consecutive year earning all-league honors.

Rounding out the top 25 for SDSU was junior Mackenzie Schell (19th, 22:21.16), freshman Cailee Peterson (22nd, 22:30.08) and junior Renae Dykstra (23rd, 22:31.23). For Schell, she improved her personal-best 6k-time by 43.3 seconds and her championship time by 1:12.9 minutes. Peterson and Dystra also improved their 6k-times in their first championship races (Peterson by 40.2 seconds, Dykstra by 1:07.4 minutes).

UP NEXT: NCAA MIDWEST REGIONALS
Next for the Jackrabbit cross country teams is the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Ames, Iowa on November 10. The men's team is ranked 11th in the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional poll while the women's team has been ranked 15th twice during the season so far.

Social Media
For more information on the South Dakota State cross country teams, follow the Jackrabbits on Twitter (@GoJacksTFXC) and Instagram (@GoJacksTFXC) like us Facebook (/GoJacksTFXC).

-GoJacks.com-