YANKTON, S.D. – Augustana track and field returned to action in 2025 with some Saturday competition at the Mount Marty Invitational, where numerous Vikings collected top-10 finishes and event titles.  

Lily Juhnke won the women's 60-meter dash finals in 7.70 seconds for a season best as Ellen Merkley joined her with a fifth-place finish in 8.07 and Trent DeCook took eighth on the men's side of the event finals with a clocking of 7.13. 

Andrews Martens and Tyler Christianson each qualified for the men's 60-meter hurdle finals, finishing first and seventh with times of 8.00 and 8.90, respectively. Four Vikings made the finals for the women, led by Maria Pedroso in second place with a 9.23. Baylee Van Zee came third in 9.25 for a PR, Ashton Massey was fifth with a 9.48 and Kylee Sallee clocked a 9.89 for seventh. 

DeCook also took fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.60 while five women placed in the top 10 of the same event. Ella Heinitz was fourth in 26.39 and Juhnke took fifth with a 26.58. Maia Peterson (26.70) was sixth, Sallee (27.02) was seventh and Jennifer Noutsougan (27.10) was ninth. 

In the men's 400-meter dash, Jude Jarding came third in 50.71 and Liam Schick was fifth with a 51.83 while on the women's side, Nyanas Kur was victorious in her event debut with a clocking of 58.61 (10th in AU history) and Sheridan Ludeman was fifth in 1:06.08. 

Peterson was fifth in the women's 600-meter run with a 1:43.06, Ethan Boyens came third in the men's 1000-meter run in 2:36.48 and Sydnee Serck ran a 3:09.63 for fourth in the women's 1000-meter run.

Four Vikings finished in the top 10 of the women's long jump, with Sallee leaping into victory with her mark of 17-09.75. Merkley (second, 17-05.50), Jayda Becker (seventh, 16-04.50) and Pedroso (ninth, 16-01.50) rounded out the placings. 

Mackenzie Hemmer won the triple jump with a distance of 35-08.00 as Ashton Massey came third with a 33-11.25 and Lexi Olderbak was fourth with a 33-07.25

In the final events of the day, the Augustana men's 4x400-meter relay 'A' team came second with a time of 3:28.58 while the 'B' team ran a 3:32.39 for fourth. The women's 'A' squad won the event in 4:01.74 and the 'B' squad clocked a time of 4:07.63 for a third-place finish. 

UP NEXT
Looking ahead to next weekend, the Vikings will compete in Brookings, S.D. at the Jim Emmerich Invitational on Saturday, January 25.