COLLEGE STATION, Texas –South Dakota’s Sara Reifenrath grabs a ticket to Eugene to highlight the final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds for Summit League athletes.

North Dakota
 Jadyn Keeler (5,000 meters), Kenna Curry (discus) and Frida Giersdorff (3,000-meter steeplechase) wrapped up North Dakota’s stay at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Saturday.

Keeler came less than three seconds shy from qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 5,000 meters and finished 14th in 16:04.12. The final qualifying spot in her heat went to Zofia Dudek of Stanford with a time of 16:01.80. By competing in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA West Regional, Keeler became the first athlete in school history to compete in the event at the regional.

On Thursday night, Keeler punched her ticket to the national championship meet in the 10,000 meters and had the fifth-fastest time (34:07.67) at the meet. By qualifying for nationals, she became the first women’s distance runner in UND’s Division I history to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Curry finished 29th in the discus with a toss of 170-9 (52.05m). She is just the fifth Hawk on the women’s team to compete in the event at the NCAA West Regional and her throw was good for the second-furthest throw at the meet in school history, trailing only Destine Rose-Haas’ throw of 176-0 (53.65m) in 2021. By throwing the discus on Saturday, Curry became the first athlete in school history to throw the discus, hammer and shot put all at the NCAA West Preliminary Round in the same year.

The thrower from Elk Point, S.D., qualified for the NCAA Championships on Thursday in the hammer throw with a toss of 208-2 (63.44m) at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. By qualifying for the NCAA Championships, Curry became the second UND thrower to qualify for the meet in UND’s Division I history, joining Molli Detloff, who competed at the national meet in the hammer throw in both 2017 (sixth) and 2019 (12th). On Thursday evening, Curry returned to the E.B. Cushing Stadium to take part in the shot put, where she finished 24th with a throw of 51-3 (15.62m).

Curry came into the meet on Saturday as the No. 40 seed in the discus and qualified for the regional with her toss of 172-2 (52.48m) at the USD Tune-Up. Her throw at that meet won the event crown and improved her No. 5 mark on the UND top-10 list.
Giersdorff took 39th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:41.44. She became the first UND distance runner on the women’s side to compete in the steeplechase at the NCAA West Regional in back-to-back years, also taking 45th in 11:15.85 at the meet last season. Giersdorff remains just the second Hawk on the women’s side to compete in the steeplechase at the meet in program history and her time of 10:41.44 beat the previous best time in the event at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, which was 10:51.59 by Keeler last year.

The German steeplechaser entered the meet as the No. 39 seed after clocking a time of 10:18.85 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. With that time, she shattered the school record and took eighth in the open section with a PR. Her time destroyed the previous school record of Keeler, who set it at 10:28.86 at the 2024 Summit League Outdoor Championships.
Keeler and Curry will conclude North Dakota’s season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday, June 12.

North Dakota State
Sophomore Arienne Birch and freshman Nyariek Kur concluded competition for the North Dakota State women’s track & field team at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Saturday afternoon.
 
Birch cleared 5-11.25 (1.81m) to tie for 12th in the high jump, but lost in a jump-off for the final qualifying spot to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene.
 
Kur placed 39th in the triple jump with a mark of 40-08.75 (12.41m). She ends the season ranked fourth in NDSU outdoor history.

South Dakota
On the final day of the NCAA West First Rounds in College Station, Texas, the Coyotes had their fourth qualifier for the NCAA Championships, and it came on a school record performance from Sara Reifenrath.
 
Reifenrath, a senior from Hartington, Nebraska, broke her own 400-meter school record Thursday night to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round race. She had to best her own record yet again Saturday to make the NCAA Championships in Eugene, and she did that by running 51.91 to place 11^th.
 
She became the first Coyote woman to run under 52 seconds with the performance Saturday. She also competed in the 200-meters, where her time of 23.36 placed her 17^th.
 
Also on the track Saturday, Averi Schmeichel ran a personal best 57.32 in the 400-meter hurdles that ranks her second in South Dakota history in the event. That time placed her 13^th in the quarterfinal, missing on making the NCAA Championships by .18 seconds.
 
In the field events, Lydia Knapp placed 36^th in the discus with a throw of 165-7 (50.47m). She took 13^th in the hammer throw on Thursday. Danii Anglin tied for 36^th in the high jump with a 5-7 ¼ (1.71m) clearance.
 
Four South Dakota track and field athletes will compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon June 11-14. Tre Young represents the Coyote men in the pole vault. Anna Willis and Gen Hirata represent the Coyote women’s pole vault squad and Reifenrath will compete in the 400-meters.

South Dakota State
Senior Madison Kizer competed in the high jump on Saturday afternoon to conclude competition for the South Dakota State women’s track & field team at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. Kizer cleared 5-07.25 (1.71m) to take 31st in the event. Kizer also finished her collegiate career, but will live on in SDSU history as the senior tied the program record of 5-10.75 earlier this season.