YANKTON, S.D. – The Augustana track & field squad saw its first competition of the 2023 calendar year at the Mount Marty Opener in Yankton, South Dakota, on Saturday. 

Augustana saw strong finishes in the women's long jump highlighted by Kylee Sallee who won the event with a 5.52 meter jump. Jayda Becker took second with a 5.23. Mackenzie Hemmer and Lauren Merkley were the final two Vikings to place within the top-10. 

Elizabeth Schaefer took hold of a first place finish in the 60 meter hurdles running a time of 8.91. Lily Juhnke and Maria Pedroso placed third and fourth with Juhnke finishing in a time of 9.39 and Pedroso in fourth with a time of 9.84. The Augustana men also saw a successful finish in the 60 meter hurdle event with a first place finish coming from Andrew Martens who ran in a time of 8.29. 

Continuing their success in the 60 meter, the Vikings saw strong performances in the 60 meter dash with a first place finish coming from Nyanas Kur. Kur finished in a time of 7.64 followed shortly by Juhnke in fourth in a time of 8.01, Merkley in fifth with a time of 8.06 and Ella Heinitz in sixth in a time of 8.07.

The 400 meter dash was in full control by the Vikings. Maia Peterson ran through the chute in second place finishing in a time of 59.26. For the men, Ethan Boyens and Jed Dooyema took hold of second and third place seeing a 51.31 finishing time for Boyens and a 51.82 time for Dooyema. 

Augustana saw three additional individuals place first in their events. Emma Hughes saw success in the one mile run seeing a first place finish with a time of 5:35.15. Becker grabbed a first place finish in the 600 meter run in a time of 1:42.51. Gavin Fischer ran a 22.47 200 meter dash to pass the finish line in first place.

In relay events, Augustana took hold of a second and third place finish in the women's 4x400 meter relay. The group of Schaefer, Peterson, Olivia Amundson and Lily Sonday took hold of second place running through the finishing tape in a time of 4:16.88. The group of Sallee, Pedroso, Hemmer and Kasey Van Zee placed third finishing the race in a time of 4:22.37.

Up Next
Augustana returns to action next weekend in Brookings, S.D., at the Jim Emmerich Alumni Invitational. 

– GoAugie.com –