JACKS TO RUN AT BRIAR CLIFF INVITE

MEET 4: South Dakota State at Briar Cliff Invite

When	Friday, Oct. 1 \| Women's Race at 3 p.m. \| Men's Race at 3:40 p.m.
Where	Adams Nature Preserve \| North Sioux City, South Dakota
TV	None
Results	DakotaTiming.com
Meet Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook \|

The South Dakota State University cross country teams kick off a busy month of October on Friday, stepping back on the line at the Briar Cliff Invite.

Start time for the women's 5,000-meter race is 3 p.m. at the Adams Nature Preserve in North Sioux City, South Dakota. The men's 8K competition is slated to follow at 3:40 p.m.

Friday's meet will provide an opportunity for a number of Jackrabbit runners to get a taste of collegiate competition or to gauge their progress in training through the first month of the season.

GRIAK RECAP: The Jackrabbits finished in the top 10 of the team standings in both the men's and women's divisions at the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota on Sept. 24.

Men
South Dakota State's five scoring runners were separated by only 29 seconds as the Jackrabbit men's cross country team turned in a ninth-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational.

Sophomore Daniel Burkhalter moved from the middle of the pack to pass 40 runners over the final 3,000 meters to finish the 8-kilometer Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold race at Les Bolstad Golf Course 44th overall in 25 minutes and 30.3 seconds. Teammate Ben Olson was right behind in 45th place in 25:31.5.

Thomas Breuckman and Joseph Minor placed just outside the top 50 in the field of 224 runners with respective showings of 51st (25:42.0) and 53rd (25:43.5), respectively. Closing out the scoring runs for the Jackrabbits was Mason McDonald, who clocked in at 25:59.5 to finish 72nd overall.

Completing the top seven for SDSU were Gabe Peters, 88th in 26:07.3, and Jacob Knodle, 93rd, in 26:11.2.

BYU, on the strength of an individual title from Conner Mantz (23:53.9) edged Iowa State by one point, 34-35 for the team championship. Michigan State (86), host Minnesota (137) and Wyoming (175) rounded out the top five. The Jackrabbits finished ninth with 242 points, two points behind Portland State for seventh and one behind Tennessee in eighth place.

Women
Leah Hansen posted a 15th-place finish to lead the South Dakota State women's cross country team to a 10th-place showing in the team standings at the Roy Griak Invitational.

A sophomore from Willmar, Minnesota, Hansen covered the 6,000-meter course for the Jack Johnson Women's Golf race at Les Bolstad Golf Course, in 21 minutes, 31.2 seconds. Hansen's time was the best ever by a Jackrabbit women's runner in the event, and she was later honored as TicketSmarter Summit League Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her performance. She earned her second weekly award of the season after being the league's top finisher at the meet.

Anna Donnay also turned in a top-50 performance for the Jackrabbits, placing 46th overall in 22:19.9.

Juniors Bailey Dergan (101st, 23:16.5), Jessica Christoffer (115th, 23:27.8) and freshman Caitlin Bright (131st, 23:39.3) rounded out the Jackrabbits' top five, followed by Claire Beckman (148th, 23:52.9) and Kayla Christopherson (150th, 23:56.9). A total of 234 runners finished the race.

The Jackrabbits tallied 354 points and were the top Summit League squad in the field of 21 Division I teams. Host Minnesota won the event with 51 points, followed by Iowa State with 81 and Tennessee with 100.

REGIONAL RANKINGS: The Jackrabbit men enter the Chargers Invite ranked eighth in this week's Midwest Region rankings conducted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. SDSU, which began the season ranked sixth, fell one spot after competing last week at the Roy Griak Invitational.

The Jackrabbits are the lone Summit League team in the men's rankings.

In the women's division, the Jackrabbits moved back into the rankings after their performance at the Roy Griak Invitational, checking in at No. 13. SDSU opened the season with a 12th-place showing in the preseason poll.

SUMMIT LEAGUE FAVORITES: Both Jackrabbit cross country squads have been picked to repeat as Summit League champions, according to preseason polls conducted in August among the league's head coaches.

Women
SDSU received six of the nine first-place votes and finished with 60 points, narrowly topping North Dakota State by a single point in the preseason poll.

Senior Anna Donnay was nominated as one of two Jackrabbits among the Summit League's Women's Athletes to Watch. Donnay took third overall at the 2020 league championships with a time of 21:58, helping the Jackrabbits secure league title and a low total of 22 points.

Sophomore Leah Hansen was the second nominee for the women's squad as last year she earned All-League honors as the individual champion at the 2020 League Championship with a time of 21:45.60. Then, Hansen went on to claim a berth to the NCAA National Championships where she recorded a season-best mark in the 6K of 21:40.60.

Men
The Jackrabbit men are the odds-on favorite to win a sixth consecutive Summit League crown after garnering seven of the eight first-place votes in the preseason poll. SDSU finished with 49 points, followed by North Dakota State with 42.

Juniors Joseph Minor and Thomas Breuckman were selected as Summit League Men's Athletes to Watch for SDSU. Minor-Williams was the individual champion at the Summit League Cross Country Championships in 2019 along with leading the Jackrabbits at the 2020 Summit League Championships with his runner-up 8K effort of 25:01.5, aiding the low 22-point championship team total.

Breuckman earned all-league honors for his third-place finish at the 2020 league championships. Also during the 2020 season, Brueckman finished as the Jacks' No. 2 runner in both meets the squad competed during a pandemic-shortened campaign that was moved to the spring.

The Summit League Championships are set for Oct. 30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

COACH DeHAVEN: South Dakota State coach Rod DeHaven is in his 18th season leading the Jackrabbit cross country and track and field programs. During his tenure, DeHaven has been named a conference coach of the year 15 times — 13 times in cross country and twice for indoor track and field.

DeHaven has led the Jackrabbit men to nine Summit League cross country team titles, including each of the last five. In addition, the Jackrabbit women claimed Summit League team titles in 2008 and during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season, completing a sweep with the men for the first time in program history.

DeHaven was a standout distance runner for the Jackrabbits from 1984-89 and later represented the United States in the marathon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will take a week off before returning to competition Oct. 15 at a pair of meets. The men's squad is scheduled to compete at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Verona, Wisconsin, while the women's team is slated to run at the Bradley Pink Invitational in Peoria, Illinois.

-GoJacks.com-

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Players Mentioned

Claire Beckman

Thomas Breuckman

Caitlin Bright

Daniel Burkhalter

Jessica Christoffer

Kayla Christopherson

Bailey Dergan

Anna Donnay

Leah Hisken

Jacob Knodle

Mason McDonald

Joseph Minor-Williams

Ben Olson

Gabe Peters

Upcoming Event: Women's Cross Country at Summit League Championship on November 1, 2025 at 11:00 a.m.

Upcoming Event: Women's Cross Country versus NCAA Midwest Regionals on November 14, 2025 at 10:30 a.m.

Upcoming Event: Women's Cross Country versus NCAA Championship on November 22, 2025 at 10:20 a.m.

Completed Event: Women's Cross Country at Platte River Rumble on October 17, 2025 , , 3rd of 7 -- 82

Completed Event: Women's Cross Country at Pre-Nationals on October 17, 2025 , , 22nd of 38 -- 590

Completed Event: Women's Cross Country at Holiday Inn Express Classic on October 11, 2025 , , 3rd of 17 -- 76

Cancelled Event: Women's Cross Country versus SDSU Classic

Completed Event: Women's Cross Country at Griak Invitational on September 19, 2025 , , 6th of 10 -- 144

Completed Event: Women's Cross Country at Augustana Twilight on September 5, 2025 , , 1st of 26 -- 20

South Dakota State University Athletics