About 50 Chadron State College track and field athletes will be participating in the South Dakota State University Indoor Classic that begins late Friday afternoon and will continue through Saturday in Brookings.
The meet will be a large one, and is particularly important for track athletes because they can run on the Jackrabbits’ 300-meter facility, improving their chances of posting times that will qualify them for NCAA National Meets in March.
One of the goals for the Eagles’ men will be to improve their time in the 4×400 relay. They currently have the fastest time among Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams of 3:15.35, after it was adjusted for the size of the track and altitude. But that is 15th nationally and only 12 relay teams qualify for the Division II National Indoor Meet.
CSC Coach Riley Northrup said the Eagles will probably need to run about a second faster to qualify.
The CSC relay team is comprised of Osiel and Osvaldo Cano, Morgan Fawver and Greg Logsdon. The Eagles are without their fastest sprinter from the past two years, Brodie Roden. He sustained a broken toe during a weight lifting accident last fall and probably won’t be able to compete until the outdoor season.
In addition, Naishaun Jernigan, last year’s bronze medalist in the long jump at the Division II National Outdoor Meet with a mark of 25-1 ¼, has not competed this winter because of a knee injury he sustained while playing in a pickup basketball game last summer when was at home in Massachusetts. It’s anticipated he’ll also be able to jump again outdoors this spring.