RABBIT TRACKSSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

...ANDHE

TAKESTHE

PASSJUSTIN SELL

LEADS CHARGE FOR NEW ERAIN ATHLETICS

RABBIT FEVER OUTBREAK

WOMEN’S SPORTS THROUGH THE YEARS

VOLUME 14 NO. 1 \ FALL 2009

Hello fellow Jackrabbits! I am so proud to have joinedthe Jackrabbit family and feel blessed to be part of avibrant university and an athletic program that hassuch a strong tradition.

Being the “new guy,” I am often asked to comment on our plans for the future. However,in order to effectively plan for the future and develop quality strategic plans, I believe itis important for us to understand the past.

PastI have a great deal of respect for all of the athletic directors, coaches, student-athletes, and University personnel that have puttheir heart and soul into SDSU and Jackrabbit athletics. I am impressed by the longstanding support by our passionate and loyalfan base, all of whom continue to support us today. SDSU has been a nationally recognized athletic program for a lot of years. We have had numerous national champions, all-Americans, professional athletes, league champions, all-sport league trophies,and academic recognition.

Stan Marshall took the lead at the national level to support equal opportunity for women’s athletics and was truly a trendsetterin the Title IX era. Harry Forsyth and Fred Oien built upon the attitude that SDSU would be leaders in managing a program withclass, integrity, and the highest moral character.

In addition, we have won our fair share of games over the years. We have successfully made the transition to Division I athleticsand have become a source of pride for the entire state. I feel a great deal of responsibility in making sure this program continuesto honor the effort of all of those that came before us.

PresentSDSU is in the second year of being eligible to participate in Division I NCAA championships. Last year, we won The SummitLeague Women’s All-Sport trophy, came in second for the overall All-Sport trophy, and won the league’s Sportsmanship Award.Pretty impressive first year in The Summit League!

The women’s soccer team and women’s basketball team won The Summit League Tournament and advanced to the secondround of the NCAA tournament. The football team is in the top twenty, and we are well on our way to setting all-time attendancerecords at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

We have a terrific staff, top-notch coaches, and high-achieving student-athletes. Our student-athletes have done an outstandingjob in the classroom with a 3.1 overall grade point average, while excelling on the courts, fields, pools, and courses. In addition,our athletes behave well socially, support community service initiatives, and are great role models.

Every program we have is competitive, which gives us the very real opportunity to be the top athletic program in The SummitLeague. Work continues on the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center, which will help our student-athletes develop into LifelongChampions. In other words, the future is bright!

FutureThe Athletic Department is aggressively positioning our program to be a source of state pride and to achieve national recognitionfor our athletic and academic success. We have developed new marketing, ticket, and Jackrabbit Club plans. Our future dependson the ability to increase ticket sales and add new Jackrabbit Club members.

We are currently at 865 members in the Jackrabbit Club and are generating $332,000 towards a $2.9-million annual scholarshipbill. We must do better! Lastly, we are currently working on a facilities master plan, which includes looking at the feasibility ofrebuilding Coughlin-Alumni Stadium and building a new indoor practice facility.

It is my sincere hope that you will feel a strong connection with our program because we display the same values and workethic of our loyal and passionate fans. I want each of you to know that WE will achieve great things, but it will take the support ofeach and every person who has an affinity to SDSU. We know who we are, and we are excited to represent South Dakota StateUniversity. We are poised to have a fantastic year, and we hope to make you all proud!

Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

JustinSellJUSTIN SELL

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

Past, present, and future

There’s a new quarterback at the helm ofthe SDSU Athletic Department. Justin Sell,who warmed up his arm during fall mediaday August 17, has been on the job asathletic director since May 29.

Rabbit Tracks is produced by University Relations incooperation with the SDSU Athletic Department at no costto the State of South Dakota. Please notify the AthleticDepartment office when you change your address.

2,200 copies printed by the SDSU Athletic Department at no cost to the State of South Dakota. PE069 10/09

WOMEN’S SPORTS HISTORY — A SERIESMajor advances and key events through the years

SDSU PRESIDENT David L. ChicoineDIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Justin SellASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR — SPORTSINFORMATION Jason HoveSDSU SPORTS INFORMATION

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Ryan SweeterASSOCIATE AD/EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Mark BurgersEDITOR Andrea Kieckhefer, University RelationsCONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Graves, Kyle Johnson, Dana Hess, University RelationsDESIGNER Colleen Lanchester-RayniePHOTOGRAPHER Eric Landwehr, UniversityRelations, Amanda Palluck, the Brookings Register

Athletic Department South Dakota State UniversityBox 2820, Brookings, SD 57007Telephone: 1-866-GOJACKSFax: 605/688-5999Web site: www.gojacks.com

2 MEET THE NEW DIRECTORAD Justin Sell has been here more thanenough time to get his feet wet. Find outwhich way he is swimming.

4 A HERTIAGE HONED THROUGH NINE DECADES

A quick look at the eleven athletic directorswho preceded Justin Sell.

6 ACADEMICS REMAIN KEYIt’s easy to measure SDSU’s athleticprogram in the win-and-loss columns. Amore significant, and equally successfulone, is found in the classroom.

8 SUCCESS BEYOND STATERyan Berry, Kevin Robling, and StaceyHuss are going back to school this fallthanks to receiving a prestigious NCAAPostgraduate Scholarship.

10 ATHLETES LEND A HANDIt’s not listed on the schedules, butcommunity service is a fulfilling part of the experience of an SDSU athlete.

12 RABBIT FEVER RUNS RABIDThe Jackrabbit species mutated itself inseveral interesting ways at the NCAAwomen’s basketball tournament inLubbock, Texas.

15 IRON JACKSIt takes a little more to be an Iron Jack, yet10 percent of SDSU athletes met thisweight-room standard during the 2008-09academic year.

16 WOMEN’S SPORTS HISTORYRabbit Tracks continues its look at women’ssports at SDSU and focuses this issue onswimming, basketball, soccer, andvolleyball.

24 SUPPORT SPOTLIGHTEngineering Professor Mylo Hellickson hasserved the Athletic Department as thefaculty representative, interim athleticdirector, and scholarship donor.

24 FALL PREVIEWSDSU’s first athletic competition was 120years ago. There will be no tug-of-war thisseason, but this sneak peak gives RabbitTracks readers a grasp on the fall contests.

ABOUT THE COVER

RABBIT TRACKSSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

VOLUME 14 NO. 1 \ FALL 2009

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SDSU ‘good fit’ for new director of athletics

RABBIT TRACKS2

Sell succeedsFred Oien, whoretired as theschool’s longestserving directorof athletics(1990-2009).

Beginninghis duties May29, Sell served as an athleticadministrator atthe University ofNorthern Iowafor the past tenyears, includingsenior associate

athletic director since 2006.Born in Salem, Oregon, and raised in

Columbus, Ohio, Sell earned hisbachelor’s degree in sports managementfrom Bowling Green State University in1991, and a master’s degree in physicaleducation/sports administration at OhioState University in 1992.

Sell and his wife, Jennie, have fourchildren: Abbie (13), Zach (12), Josh (9),and Eric (8).

Fresh after settling into his newsurroundings, Sell took time to discusshis new job prior to overseeing his firstsports season at the Jackrabbit helm.

Describe your feelings being namedSDSU’s director of athletics?

This is a wonderful school and awonderful place. I’m very excited to be apart of this family, and I hope that otherpeople can see what we have here.

I had pretty high expectations whatSDSU and the people would be likewhen I first came, and I must say, I’vebeen blown away—they are even better.I really can’t wait to get after this thing.I’m going to work my tail off and makeit a greater place than it already is.

MEET THE NEW ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

Justin Sell draws a chuckle from President David L. Chicoine when the former Northern Iowa seniorassociate athletic director is introduced to the public May 7.

lthough Justin Sell says he sleeps well at night, it’s hard to believe it’s peaceful restconsidering the adrenalin rush he’s feeling these days.

Named only the twelfth director of athletics in SDSU history and the first non-Stategraduate to hold the position since the legendary Stan Marshall (1965-80), Sell is eager tocomplete initiatives already in place and is greatly looking forward to charting new ones.A

FALL 2009 3

After ten years at Northern Iowa, what attracted you to SDSU and why?

From a professional standpoint, thisis a great growth opportunity for mebecause my experience matched whatthe position description was. From apersonal standpoint, it’s the ability tobring my family to a town that we feltvery comfortable with in terms of thenature of people, their work ethic, andvalue systems.

SDSU was a good fit for me and myfamily. Anytime you can match yourprofessional goals with your personalgoals you have hit the home run.

What are some of your short-term and long-term goals?

We need to generate more revenue.So, one of the first things is to increaseour game ticket sales. A differentapproach is to have our ticket office gofrom not just receiving ticket orders toactually help us sell season tickets, andthe second piece, is to increasemembership in the Jackrabbit Club.

We are putting the finishing touchesto a whole new marketing plan. We haveto be in the Sioux Falls market and wehave to capture certainly the eastern sideof the state because that’s where thepopulation base is. Communicating withour fans in the western part of the stateand attempting to get better press

coverage, especially in Rapid City, arealso important parts to the plan.

We have to capitalize on the fact thatwe are the state school, both in terms ofour size, who we are, and where we aregoing. We will get that message out tothe people.

A bigger goal is a facility master planinvolving a new football stadium and amulti-use indoor fieldhouse. I want tofinish bleachers and pressboxes forsoftball and baseball, and of coursefinish the Dykhouse Student-AthleteCenter. The building of the relationshipsto help raise the money to do thesethings is taking place now.

What was the state of the athleticdepartment when taking over?

That’s one of the things that was soattractive about the position. Fred andthe people before him have done such agood job with this program, and Fred, totake it from Division II to Division I andreally do the backbreaking work to getthrough that process, and here we sit inour infancy of Division I athletics.

I don’t have to turn the world upsidedown in terms of fixing everythingbecause this place is in great shape.However, there are a few things we cando to make it better, to solidify ourfuture, and give people pride in what weare doing.

We will be playing USD in basketball,but what about football?

With the Summit League acceptingUSD, I think it’s wonderful to re-establishthe rivalry in basketball with an eyetoward respect. Both of us want to beateach other real bad, but at the same time,finish the contest, shake hands, and walkaway with mutual respect for one another.

Football is different because ourschedule is pretty well set two, three, and four years in advance. But, we willplay USD somewhere down the road, no question.

How would you describe your style of leadership?

I’m certainly not a micromanager. I believe you hire great people and letthem bring their expertise to the table.In our first staff meeting I said thateverybody is a valued employee, thatopinions do matter, and their work isappreciated. I have no problem making a tough decision, but we will doeverything as a family and make goodquality decisions as a group based ongood research and data.

I’m just really excited about takingour vision to our supporters. We needevery person who is interested insupporting SDSU athletics to step upand help us to accomplish our goals.

KYLE JOHNSON

True to his name,Sell plans to sellthe SDSUathletic programto a broaderaudience,especially inSioux Falls andRapid City.

Stan Marshall (1965-1980)A 1950 State graduate who also wasan assistant football coach at hisalma mater from 1957 to 1963,Marshall spent one season as thehead football coach at Wayne Statein Michigan before returning toSDSU as athletic director at age 38.

Among Marshall’s crowningachievements was the constructionof the Health, Physical Education,and Recreation Center. It wascompleted in 1973, just in time forSDSU to host the NCAA Division II

National WrestlingTournament forthe first time.

The $3.7-million facility was named afterMarshall followinghis death June 14,1980.

Marshall was president of theassociation in 1976-77 and servedas secretary-treasurer of theNational Collegiate AthleticAssociation the same year. He isthe only one to have held those

positions simultaneously. He alsoserved on the powerful NCAAtelevision committee.

He also was instrumental ininitiating national championshipsfor Division II and III schools aswell as helping initiate competitivewomen’s athletics on campus.

Marshall also originated theBeef Bowl during the footballseason and the Pork Classic duringthe basketball season as well as theNCC Holiday Basketball Tourneyand NCC basketball playoffs.

ATHLETIC DIRECTORS FROM THE PAST

In late May, Justin Sell becamethe twelfth athletic director at SDSU.When former Athletic Director HarryForsyth retired in 1980, the farewell

program listed the ten athletic directors under the heading “Great Leaders in a Great Program.”Continuing with that theme, Rabbit Tracks takes a brief look at the eleven who have gone before Sell.

“Great Leaders in a Great Program”

Fred Oien (1990-2009)A 1972 State graduate, Oienreturned to campus in 1979 as thewomen’s golf coach and an associateprofessor in Health, PhysicalEducation and Recreation. Hemoved to the administrative side in1981, when he became athleticbusiness/ticket manager. Oien heldthat position until becomingathletic director.

His accomplishments includeguiding the women’s athleticprograms into national prominence,

particularlybasketball andvolleyball.

The basketballteam won theDivision IIchampionship in 2003, the firstnational title in a women’s

program, and reached the EliteEight of Division II basketball forthree consecutive years. The 2003squad was led by tournament MVPMelissa Pater but is perhaps bestremembered by a last-second three-

pointer by Stacie Cizek to forceovertime in the semifinals.

Two-time all-American Shauna(Sturm) Brockmann lead thevolleyball team to the nationalchampionship match in 2001 andschool record setter Kristina Martinhelped the 2007 team reach theregional tournament, the first SDSUsquad to qualify for a Division Inational tournament.

Early in his career Oien returnedmen’s and women’s tennis to theSDSU athletic program. In his latteryears, women’s soccer and equestrianwere added.

Oien also directed the Universityinto Division I competition, whichrequired a major increase inscholarships and a sharp jump incorporate sponsorships.

Oien, who officially retired inApril, also was at the helm whenfunding was secured andconstruction was commenced onthe $6-million Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center, which particularlyaddresses needs in the footballprogram. It is to be completed laterthis fall.

Harry Forsyth (1980-1990)The Redfield native spent more than40 years at SDSU as student, athlete,coach, teacher, and administrator.

A 1951 State graduate, Forsythserved in the Korean War andreturned to South Dakota State in1955 to earn his master’s degree. Henever left until retiring in 1990. Hespent fifteen years as an assistant toAthletic Director Stan Marshalland succeeded his college classmatefollowing Marshall’s death.

Forsyth wasathletic businessmanager untilbeing promotedto assistantathletic directorin 1970.

DuringForsyth’s tenure as

athletic director, SDSU set anNCAA Division II basketballplayoff attendance record when9,339 fans attended the 1985 SDSU– Cal State-Hayward game. OnFebruary 11, 1989, SDSU broke the

Frost Arena record with 9,456 fansfor the Augustana game.

The 1984-85 team went on apostseason run that took the Jacksright to the national championshipgame, where Jacksonville prevailed74-73.

During Forsyth’s AD term,women’s athletics was added to the North Central Conference,which was regarded as one of thebest Division II conferences.Previously, women played in aSouth Dakota league.

Axel “Ax” Bundgaard (1961-1965)

Bundgaard, at6-31/2, 210 lbs.,was literally abig man oncampus. The1939 grad ofMidland Collegein Fremont,Nebraska,arrived at State

after serving as cross country coachand athletic director at WartburgCollege in Waverly, Iowa.

He then became the chair of thePhysical Education Department at St. Olaf College in Northfield,Minnesota, until retiring in 1986.

Bundgaard was at the helmwhen Jim Iverson’s squad won thecollege division nationalchampionship as Sid Bostic hit aone-handed, midcourt jump shot.It was the school’s fourth trip (also1959, ’60 and ’61) to the nationaltournament under Iverson.

The 1961 team finished thirdbehind prolific scorer Don Jacobsen,the tournament MVP. The awardfor the 1963 team went to WayneRasmussen, who would laterachieve fame with the Detroit Lions.

RABBIT TRACKS4

Thurlo McCrady (1941-1947)

McCradyarrived in fall1940 fromHastings(Nebraska)College andbecame athleticdirector the nextyear. Duringthose war years

he found himself as director ofHPER, director of athletics, andhead coach of all varsity sports(football, basketball, and track). In 1945-46, the first physicaleducation major was authorized.

He left for the football coachingjob at Kansas State. At State, his basketball teamscompiled a 70-70 record in sevenseasons and his football teamswent 11-17-3 in five seasons.

Walter Schwank (1960-1961)

Schwankbrought ideasthat werecarried out byothers. Hearrived at Statefrom CoeCollege inCedar Rapid,Iowa, with plans

to build a new football stadiumand basketball field house as wellas continuing the development ofthe physical education program.

Schwank, an Iowan withtwenty-six years coachingexperience prior to SDSU, becamethe athletic director and HPERDepartment head at Montana Stateafter one year at State.

Robert Coffey (1937-1941)Coffey was unique for his era inthat he didn’t serve as a head coachas well as being AD. He had beenat Brookings High School beforemoving to SDSU.

On the academic side, Coffeyestablished a minor in physicaleducation and added threecourses—first aid, andscoutmanship I and II.

According to a history of theHPER Department, the P.E. minor

was designed to “qualify menand women for1) P.E. teachers,2) directors of play andrecreation, 3) coaches insecondaryschools, and

4) prospective county agents,home demonstration agents, and4-H club leaders to give themtraining in recreation leadership.”

R.A. “Red” Threlfall (1933-1937)Threlfall produced a 17-19-2 markas a football coach (1934-37) and a21-22 mark as a basketball coach(1930-33).

Threlfall’s claim to fame isleading the Jackrabbit gridders tothe school’s only win against theUniversity of Wisconsin. The teambeat the Badgers 13-6 in 1935.

It was the first time a NorthCentral Conference team hadbeaten a Big Ten foe. Among the18,000 in the stands in Madison,

Wisconsin, was prominentSouth DakotaState alumnusCharlesCoughlin, whogave a pre-gamepep talk andafter the wintold Coach

Threlfall that he would pay for silkfootball pants for the team. Thenext season the team came out ingold silk pants.

T.C. “Cy” Kasper (1928-1933)

Kasper produceda 33-22-3 markin six seasons asa football coach,including aNorth CentralConference titlein 1933. Theteam wasboosted by

“The Great” Weert Englemann, a 6-2, 185-pound Miller nativewho was a three-sport standout atState before graduating in 1930.

The engineering major went onto play four seasons with the GreenBay Packers and in 1928 was firstalternate on America’s four-memberOlympic decathlon delegation.

SOURCES: SDSU media guides,The College on the Hill, and TheHistory of the Health, PhysicalEducation, and RecreationDepartment at South DakotaState University.

C.A. “Jack” West (1918-1928)

West resumedthe basketballand footballprograms after aone-year hiatusdue to WorldWar I. Heposted a 67-58mark in sevenbasketball

seasons (1919-26), including a 21-3 record in 1921-22.

In nine seasons (1919-27), hisfootball teams went 44-17-9 and wonNCC titles in 1922, ’24 and ’26. The1922 squad was the inaugural NCCchampion. His 1926 team wasundefeated 8-0-3 and finished theyear with a 9-3 win on ChristmasDay at Hawaii University in a gameofficiated by coaching legendKnute Rockne.

On December 3, a cablegramfrom the University of Hawaii invitedState to play in the Pacific. West,his wife, and eighteen players madethe estimated 10,000-mile roundtrip. In terms of miles and days, itremains the longest trip ever madeby an SDSU football team.

DAVE GRAVES

He arrived from Bemidji StateTeachers College and becamedirector of the HPER Departmentand director of athletics as well ashead basketball and baseball coach.

He spent seven years asbasketball coach and guided histeams into the National Associationof Intercollegiate Basketballtournament in 1948 and 1951. He coached baseball for two years.

During Frost’s leadership, thegraduate program was added in1953. The first master’s graduateearned his diploma in 1956, thesame year Frost took a sabbatical toearn a doctorate at the Universityof Oregon.

One of Frost’s greatestaccomplishments was thedevelopment of his staff, whichincluded future athletic directorsMarshall and Forsyth.

He left SDSU to become headof the Division of Health, Physical

Education and Recreation atSpringfield (Mass.) College.

During his tenure at State, Frostoversaw some legendary coaches.In football, Ralph Ginn lead the

program fortwenty-twoyears, producinga school record113 wins andnine league titles.In basketball,there was SoxWalseth, whoachieved fame at

the University of Colorado, andJim Iverson, who had a 141-66 markin eight and one-half seasons.

In track, there was JimEmmerich, who later worked as atrainer with the Olympic program,and lead the State track team to theschool’s first national title—the 1953NAIA small-college championship.

Reuben B. “Jack” Frost (1947-1960)

FALL 2009 5

While the Jackrabbit women’s basketball team was making itsname as a new force in Division I, it was also quietly building alegacy of excellence in the classroom. Like all team endeavors, therewas a coach spurring on the Jacks’ academic efforts. That coach wasLaurie Melum.

During Melum’s tenure with the Jackrabbits as associate women’sbasketball coach and academic coordinator, theteam led all divisions of women’s collegebasketball in team grade point average for threeconsecutive seasons. With that kind of trackrecord, it was fitting that Melum was chosen inJuly to serve as SDSU’s first-ever assistant athleticdirector for academics.

In her new role, Melum will oversee academicsfor student-athletes on all twenty-one of SDSU’steams. She’ll serve as a coordinator to help withsupport services, check grades, organize coach’s

study tables, and monitor the classroom progress of student-athletes.“In my role, I’ll be bringing everybody together on the same page,”Melum says.

Melum’s position is mandated and partially funded by the NCAA,just one of the signs that the move to Division I has had an affect onthe classroom as well as the playing field.

“With the move to Division I, the standards really do heighten,”according to Mary Kay Helling, associate vice president for AcademicAffairs. “It’s at a higher level.”

Helling notes that student-athletes are spread through at least 90percent of the programs at State rather than most of them in the samecourse of study.

“It’s good that there’s a cross-representation, which is very healthy,”Helling says.

While enrolled in more than eighty different majors, SDSUstudent-athletes manage to acquit themselves well in the classroom.At the end of the last fall semester, student-athletes had a cumulative3.04 grade point average.

One place those student-athletes will be found is the classroomof economics Professor Patrick Lyons. Lyons helps recruit prospectivestudent-athletes who are interested in SDSU and the businesseconomics major. As a result, just about all of Lyons’ academicadvisees are football players.

Tara Heiser, center, concentrates on PowerPoint notes in her general psychology class this summer. Heiser, a freshman from Watertown, is flanked by fellowfreshmen Ashley Eide, left, of Sioux Falls Washington, and Steph Paluch, of Pierre. Players typically take summer classes to reduce the academic loadduring the season.

Laurie Melum

Success in classroomimportant for student athletes

RABBIT TRACKS6

“SDSU athletes are not dumb jocks,” Lyons says. “They are qualityyoung men who are good students.”

Lyons emphasizes the need for time management with thestudent-athletes he advises, noting that their classroom schedule hasto be balanced with practice, games, travel, and weight room sessions.

“They don’t have much time,” Lyons says.Another faculty member impressed with the way student-athletes

use their time is journalism Assistant Professor Matthew Cecil. He says the transition period to Division I status could have been

particularly daunting forstudent-athletes as theirteams traveled the countrylooking for opponents.

“I always try to remindpeople that those big,strong athletes they’rewatching are eighteen- totwenty-two-year-olds,”Cecil says. “Imagine the

distractions on long road trips with your friends at that age. Andthen imagine the discipline it takes to sit down and study in a hotelin New Jersey or Kentucky or California.”

While SDSU’s athletic programs emphasize the importance ofacademics, often it is the student-athletes themselves who stressexcellence in the classroom.

Kathy Heylens, associate athletic director-compliance, notes thatthe move to Division I had some people believing that the recruitingstandards would change at State as the emphasis would be on recruitingathletes regardless of their academic skills.

“It is a priority and a preference that our coaches go out andrecruit the best student-athletes,” Heylens says, with an emphasis on “student.”

That’s another area where Melum, the new assistant athleticdirector for academics, has some expertise. In addition to her othercoaching roles, she was the recruiting coordinator for the women’sbasketball team.

“That’s one of the biggest keys,” according to Melum, “recruitingstudents who want to do well, not just on the field or court, but inthe classroom, too.”

DANA HESS

Classroom progressmeasured by Academic Progress Rate‘Graduation rates aren’t the only way that the NCAA cantrack the academic progress of Division I athletes. It hasalso developed the Academic Progress Rate, a systemthat provides a semester-by-semester snapshot ofclassroom performance.

Using a point system, the Academic Progress Ratemeasures both the progress of the individual athleteand the composite score of the entire team. If a team’srate falls below the 925 benchmark, it could facesanctions that include practice restrictions, scholarshiplosses, and bans on postseason play. The 925 benchmarkequates to about a 60 percent graduation rate.

A new NCAA rule requires a coach’s rate to followhim throughout his career.

“APR shows how strongly committed they are toacademics,” says Kathy Heylens, associate athleticdirector-compliance and senior women’s administrator.

According to the 2008-09 Jackrabbit Athletics AnnualReport, the average APR in Division I is 967 out of aperfect 1,000. This means that student-athletes areearning 96.7 percent of possible points in a typicalacademic term.

In the last academic year, eight SDSU teams talliedscores at or above 967. The Jackrabbit men’s golf teamscored a perfect 1,000 for the second straight year.Other SDSU teams with rates above the Division Iaverage were the women’s cross country, 981; women’sgolf and track and field-indoor, 980; women’s track andfield-outdoor, 978; women’s basketball and soccer,974; and women’s volleyball, 969.

DANA HESS

LEFT: Economics Professor Pat Lyons says all indicators show that theSDSU student-athlete is outperforming others in the classroom.

“SDSU ATHLETES ARE NOT

DUMB JOCKS. THEY ARE

QUALITY YOUNG MEN WHO

ARE GOOD STUDENTS.”

ECONOMICS PROFESSOR

PATRICK LYONS

FALL 2009 7

iscipline and dedication brand most successful collegeathletes, and at SDSU thosequalities carry over into the classroom.

During the past school year, threeJackrabbits earned the prestigious NCAAPostgraduate Scholarship, a $7,500 one-timeaward. SDSU athletes have been regularrecipients of the award since 1969, but thisis the first time to have three in oneacademic year or two from one sport (football).

Ryan Berry and Kevin Robling learned of their honors in March. Track athlete StacyHuss was awarded her scholarship in July.

Berry, a record-setting quarterback,entered the SDSU Accelerated Nursingprogram in Sioux Falls in late August aftergraduating in May. Robling graduated inDecember and already is at work on aresearch project with the Department ofWildlife and Fisheries. Huss, a May graduate,began law school in late August.

While their stories are unique,each understands the NCAAtelevision tagline “There are over380,000 student-athletes, and mostof us go pro in something otherthan sports.”

Berry says, “The chancesof making it as an athlete[at the professional level]are pretty slim.”

Consequently,coach JohnStiegelmeieremphasizedbeing a student firstand an athletesecond, Berryrecalls. Like each ofthe fifty-eight NCAApostgraduate recipients whoare awarded each season,success is found both as astudent and an athlete.

Scholarship criteria is holding a 3.2 gradepoint average and performing with distinctionon a varsity team.

The reality is that only the most elite ofstudent-athletes earn the scholarships. Huss posted a 3.97 gpa while majoring insociology and prelaw. She has her name onfour school records. Berry’s 3.89 gpa in

biology stands alongsideeight school records.Robling built a 3.82 gpawhile providing theprotection for Berry to setthose records.

“These athletes serve asgreat role models for whatwe envision as a student-athlete at SDSU,” says Mylo

Hellickson, who as faculty athleticsrepresentative to the NCAA, formallynominated Huss, Berry, and Robling.

The initiative to see that these athleteshave a chance to compete for theNCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

begins with the coach.Offensive coordinator Luke

Meadows “really pushed for it. I think he was the go-getter of it

all,” says Robling, wholearned that he mightget a shot at thescholarship whenStiegelmeierapproached him in

the summer beforehis senior year toconfirm his plansto go to graduateschool.

Those planshadn’t wavered

since Robling was inmiddle school.

Athletes realize successbeyond careers at SDSUThree more earn prestigious NCAA Postgraduate ScholarshipSDSU has had a total of thirty-three

recipients in the forty years of the NCAAPostgraduate Scholarship Program.

• John Thomas, basketball, 1968-69;

• Don Trapp, wrestling, 1969-70

• Stan Opp, wrestling, 1972-73

• Dave Thomas, basketball, 1972-73

• Michael Engels, wrestling, 1973-74

• George Baker Jr., gymnastics,1976-77

• Chuck Loewen, football, 1979-80

• Paul Kippley, football, 1980-81;

• Dan Sonnek, football, 1987-88;

• Tara Tessier, basketball, 1987-88;

• Paul Koenig, wresting, 1989-90;

• Laurie Kruse, baskeball, 1990-91;

• Christy Young, cross country/

track and field, 1990-91;

• Jeff Booher, basketball, 1991-92;

• Kiri Johnson, cross country/

track and field, 1992-93;

• Brian Loeffler, wrestling, 1992-93;

• Jodi Bergemann,

women’s basketball, 1993-94;

• Jake Hines, football, 1994-95

• Jason Sempsrott, basketball,

1996-97;

• Londa Vander Wal, track and field,

1998-99;

• Casey Estling, basketball, 1999-2000;

• Rose Ebnet, volleyball, 2000-01;

• Josh Ranek, football, 2001-02;

• Tyler Bryant, wrestling, 2002-03;

• Scott Connot, football, 2003-04;

• Ashley Kalina, softball, 2004-05;

• Brad Lowery, cross country/

track and field, 2005-06;

• Heather Seiler, basketball, 2005-06;

• Becka Mansheim, cross country/

track and field, 2006-07;

• Megan Vogel, basketball, 2006-07

• Ryan Berry, football, 2008-09;

• Kevin Robling, football, 2008-09;

• Stacy Huss, track, 2008-09.

Ryan Berry looksdownfield in a game

against Western Illinois.

Robling

D

NCAAPostgraduateScholarships

RABBIT TRACKS8

“At age 10 I wanted to be a veterinarian.When I was a little older we went to a naturepark and they were talking about ducks” andthe work of a wildlife biologist, he recalls. At that point, Robling, who had been raisingducks since age five, changed his mind frombeing a vet to being a waterfowl biologist.

His focus did change species while atcollege. Robling’s training is with largemammals, specifically white-tailed deer.

Berry’s biology degree has prepared himto study two-legged mammals. His plans areto graduate from the Accelerated Nursingprogram in August 2010, spend a year in thefield, and then enter nurse anesthetist school.

He entered State with plans of becoming a doctor but switched focus after learning its demands.

“The nurse anesthetist provides the bestopportunity to provide for the family as wellas be there for my family,” Berry says.

He has had to keep family in mindthroughout his college career. Berry marriedclassmate Caitlin Hiedeman July 10, 2004, thesummer after graduating from WatertownHigh School. They have two children—

Carter, who turns five in December, andBrooklyn, who was born July 30.

But rather than being a distraction, Berrysays having a family was motivation to hit the books.

“I wanted to succeed academically toprovide for them in the end. If I was just asingle guy, I might not have been as focused,”Berry says. If he had been single, he mighthave spent more time playing Nintendo orgoing downtown to the bars. Instead, heprioritized and “kept things in perspective.

“I keep telling people I’m the oldest 23-year-old in the world.”

While Berry doesn’t have any gray hair, hedoes have three postgraduate scholarships thathe can use to finance his education in theAccelerated program and anesthetist school.In December 2008, Berry received an$18,000 scholarship through the NationalFootball Foundation and in April received a$5,000 scholarship through the college athleticdirectors association.

Being able to succeed as a family man,scholar, and athlete helped his application to stand out in those scholarship awards,Berry believes.

“You don’t see it very often. It’s not thenorm. . . . [But] people see you can stillsucceed,” says Berry, whose athletic successinclude career marks for completions, attempts,passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Heset school and conference records with seventouchdown passes versus Illinois State.

Huss ran on three record-setting relayteams as well as clocking the fastest 400-meterhurdle race in SDSU history, and only hadone B in her college career, but she didn’tconsider herself suitable for the NCAAPostgraduate Scholarship.

“The only track athletes I knew who gotthe scholarship were Brad Lowery and BeckaMansheim. I never put myself in the samecategory [athletically] as them,” says Huss, a2005 graduate of Stanley County High School.Lowery and Mansheim were both Division Iindependent champions.

Huss, despite her success, never met thestandards to qualify for the Division Iregional championships.

But her coach, Rod DeHaven, thought theFort Pierre native was well deserving.

For the last two years, Huss has internedin the Division of Criminal InvestigationStatistical Analysis in Pierre doing computerentry work. “I really liked working there. I might possibly come back later as anattorney,” says Huss, who began the three-year law program at the University of SouthDakota in late August.

She credits Pat Lyons, a lawyer andeconomics professor, for steering her towardlaw school after taking a couple of his classes.

Thanks to the NCAA PostgraduateScholarship and aid received from the USDLaw Program, “my first year will be fullycovered,” Huss says.

Berry undoubtedly speaks for all threeathletes when he says that the NCAAPostgraduate Scholarships are “just a bigblessing. It’s amazing to know there is thatkind of aid out there if you work hard both asa student and as an athlete.”

DAVE GRAVES

Stacey Husscompetes in theSDSU TwilightMeet atBrookings HighSchool April 22.It was the firsthome meet in adecade. Thisalso was the firsttime SDSU hadthree studentsearn NCAAPostgraduateScholarships inone academicyear.

FALL 2009 9

ommunity service might notimmediately come to mindwhen reminiscing aboutcollege life.

However, it ranks right upthere with game-winningscores, memorable road trips,

and creating lasting friendships.“When we went to the Black Hills

Children’s Home, the kids just lit up when wegot there and were so excited to get out andplay,” says Jordan Paula, a senior runningback from Brookings.

“I felt bad for the workers who had tocalm them down when we left,” he adds. “But it’s those kinds of experiences that makeall the time in the weight room, classroom,and on the field worthwhile.”

In April, Paula and his SDSU footballteammates bused to Rapid City for a MAD(Making a Difference) tour. They conducted a scrimmage and youth clinic, saw patients at Rapid City Regional Hospital, visited theChildren’s Home Society, and went to Mount Rushmore.

The Rapid City outing offers a smallglimpse of the vast amount of importantcommunity service work and outreachactivities undertaken by SDSU student-athletesand their counterparts across the country.

Community service endeavors areorganized by individual teams as well as thestructured Student-Athlete AdvisoryCommittee; both entities report and scheduleactivities with each other. Mandated by theNCAA, the Student-Athlete AdvisoryCommittee, commonly referred to as SAAC,serves as a communication link betweenstudent-athletes and administrators.

Part of college experienceThe committee’s mission is to enhance thetotal student-athlete experience by promotingopportunity, protecting student-athlete welfare,and fostering a positive student-athlete image.

And, “total image” is what best describesJackrabbit student-athletes. Not only do fans laud their efforts on the field, theyequally value their outreach activities awayfrom competition.

“Community service is a big part of theirexperience as a student-athlete and beinginvolved in the community,” says Beth Clarke,senior secretary and SAAC advisor. “It’s really about a relationship between bothgroups of people.”

SAAC consists of two elected athletes from each of the twenty-one SDSU sports, but many more end up joining the group.

Not only do members meet weekly todiscuss NCAA developments regarding rules,regulations, and compliance issues, most oftheir attention is devoted to planningupcoming community service projects.

COMMUNITY SERVICE — a lasting college experience

AbOvE: The softballteam delivered bakedgoods to theBrookings FireDepartmentSeptember 11, 2008.

LEFT: Bo Helm andRodkeem Matthewsvisited patients atRapid City RegionalHospital as part of theteam’s West River tripApril 17.

C

RABBIT TRACKS10

Viewed as role modelsWhile SAAC is student-athlete run, team

community service is organized by thatparticular coaching staff.

For example, the softball team has donebake sales for troops and the volleyball teamhas volunteered to help out in gym class atBrookings elementary schools.

The football team takes part in numerousactivities, either on their own or throughSAAC. Their influence is felt overseas as wellwith the Haiti solar oven project. Recently,four football players unloaded a truck full ofboxes containing lids and oven componentsto be shipped to the Caribbean country.

In recent years, a commitment tocommunity service projects has been addedto the criteria necessary to earn a varsityfootball letter.

“We’ve been blessed with an opportunityto play a college sport and many people lookto athletes as role models,” says Paula, SAAC’svice president. “Being able to reach out tokids has been the highlight of my time here at SDSU.

“If we can make one person smile at aschool or camp that was maybe having a badday, I feel that service project was worth it,”adds Paula. “When people think about SDSUathletics, we want them to think of us assomething special.”

Food fight to the finishHighlighting community service work in

2008-09 was the Summit League food fightproject between all league schools duringJanuary of the basketball season.

In a contest where athletes from all sportsparticipated, the idea was to see whichschool could raise the most food that waseither donated by people coming to thegames or going out into the neighborhoodsto collect items.

In a close finish, and much to the dismay of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee,Oakland University nudged SDSU by a mere105 pounds, 4,299 to 4,194, out of more than14,000 pounds the league collected as a whole.

“We thought we were in first,” relatesClarke. “The hardest part was we didn’t

know where we stood until April becauseevery school was assigned different weeks toraise food.

“It was a great project, though,” she adds. “We had a lot of food for one month,and we basically overloaded the BrookingsFood Pantry!”

Service benefits everyoneClarke is always amazed at the willingness

of student-athletes to freely give and committo service projects.

“The athletes are always so eager toparticipate,” she says. “They would dosomething once a week if time allowed.”

According to Ketty Cornemann, seniormember of the Jacks’ basketball team andSAAC president, community service isbeneficial in several important ways.

“Getting involved in the community is agreat way to give back to those who supportyou and your team,” she says. “The supportthe community provides helps make thetransition from being a high school student toa college student much easier and enjoyable.

“Community service not only benefits the person receiving the service but it alsobenefits the volunteer,” she adds. “When ourbasketball team does community serviceprojects together we always seem to bond andgrow more as a team. The experiences we’vehad have been rich for everyone involved.”

KYLE JOHNSON

Throughout the year, SAAC organizes events such as:

• The annual Halloween penny carnival with proceeds benefiting thelocal Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

• Conducting food and clothing drives for the needy.• Tutoring students at local schools as part of the Brookings Youth

Mentoring Progam.• A campuswide cleanup day.• Toys for tots during Christmas that benefits Project Joy.• Free youth basketball, football, and soccer clinics.• Take a kid to a game—where a student-athlete takes a middle school

student to a game, hangs out with them, and returns them home.

FALL 2009 11

LEFT: The softball team conducted a clinic forabout thirty Brookings girls October 22, 2008.

Granger Maranell, far left, lets it be knownhow far the group traveled for the March24 game against Baylor. He is joined inthe stands before the regional final by,from left, Jake Johnson, Tyler Trageser,and Garrett Davis.

TOP LEFT: Traveling from Yankton tosupport their sister, Ketty Cornemann,at the NCAA Regional Championshipgame against Baylor are, from left,Kami, 10, Chloe, 15, and Cooper, 7,

as well as Adam Fritz, a seniorengineering major from Colman.

Well, if you’re SDSU junior Tyler Trageser you’ve got a bit of potbelly,but no one notices your love handles because of the giant blue “S”painted your chest.

If you’re grandmother Suzie Kindopp, you’re wearing a blue fleecejacket over your Jackrabbit T-shirt and got a permanent before makingthe trip to Lubbock, Texas.

As evidenced at the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournamentin Lubbock, Jackrabbit fans come in all shapes, ages, and locations.Although they generally only come in two colors—yellow or blue—whatthey will do in the support of the Yellow and Blue manifests itself in arainbow of logic-defying acts.

For instance, there is Trageser and his buddies—Granger Maranell,Jake Johnson, and Garrett Davis. They drove to Lubbock after classes on Monday.

Sixteen hours on the road and then they walked into United SportsArena without their shirts. “We’ve never done anything this crazy before,”says Johnson, a sophomore from Orange City, Iowa, who had a bold blue“D” painted over the yellow paint on his chest.

Davis says an uncontainable strain of ’Rabbit fever struck them whilewatching the Texas Christian game at Maranell’s house. The outbreakcaused a spur-of-the-moment decision to make the trip to Texas.

“We figured it was the chance of a lifetime. SDSU is in the nationalspotlight. We’ve got to support them,” Davis says after

hamming it up for the ESPN television camera prior tothe start of the March 24 second-round game

against the second-seeded Baylor Bears.

RABBITFEVEROutbreak strikeswide variety of fans in Lubbock

What’s a Jackrabbit fan LOOKlike?

RABBIT TRACKS12

Kindopp could be describedas having a chronic case of’Rabbit fever.

She has been able toidentify how she contracted’Rabbit fever. Cody Volmer,

from Kindopp’s home territory, Lyman County, playedfor the Jackrabbit men from 1998 to 2001. “We startedgoing to games then, and we never quit,” Kindopp saysof her and her husband’s attendance history.

Myron and Suzie Kindopp started watching the women’sgames during that era and “got hooked when they won thenational Division II championship” in 2003, she says.

The Kindopps, semiretired ranchers from Reliance, went to thattitle drive with their son, Kelsey ’97 and his friend, Aaron Koosman’01. They were together again for the 2009 tournament push. UnlikeTrageser and friends, this Jackrabbit quartet split the sixteen-and-one-half-hour drive into two days.

For the last three years, the Kindopps have been driving toJackrabbit home games and this year also went to the Summit Leaguetournament in Sioux Falls.

But those winter trips to Brookings weren’t as demanding as onemight think. During the winter, the Kindopps live in Watertown. “We lived in Arizona for five winters and we didn’t like it. We movednorth so we could watch the Jacks,” Kindopp says with a smile.

The fact that their other two children and five grandchildren livein Watertown may have had some influence.

Mary Jo Garnos can also pinpoint her outbreak of ’Rabbit fever.

Her niece is redshirt freshman JillYoung. That was enough also toaffect her 13-year-old daughter,Chesney, as well as her friend,Haley Halverson, 13, and Haley’smom, Meta, all of Lyman County.

Theirs was an acute case of’Rabbit fever. Perhaps it could be

blamed onarriving inLubbock at3:15 a.m.Sunday afterleaving the day

before following the seventh-grade girls’ victoriousperformance in a Rotary Club-sponsored basketball tournament inValentine, Nebraska.

At any rate, they showed up in United Sports Arena with paintedblue whiskers, little black bunny noses, and velvet rabbit ears from theEaster section at a dollar store. They had to make two stops to get therabbit ears. At the first store, they were sent to the electronics section.

The crew in the Oistad fun bus had quite a trip as well—eighteenhours from Minneapolis where they met the plane carrying MeredithOistad, younger sister of senior Stacie Oistad. She flew from Phoenixto Minneapolis so she could gain “good bonding” with the family.Their karoke-singing group included the Oistads’ parents, Lorrie andJeff; a brother, Marcus; his fiancée, Katie Schlangen; Stacie’s fiancé,Nik Aamlid; and a friend, Ryan Herm. >>

Lyman Countyhas less than

4,000 residents,but six of them were

in Lubbock for the2009 women's

basketball regionalchampionships. Pictured,

from left, are Myron andSuzie Kindopp, Mary Jo

Garnos and Meta Halverson.Missing from this photo is Garnos'

and Halverson's daughters, who alsowere sporting rabbit ears.

Jolene (Johnson) and Brad Johnson, below,are 1990 State graduates now living in Lubbock,

Texas, where he is on the faculty at Texas Tech. Theyfollowed

the team's progress this season and were impressedwith the women's work ethic.

A chronic

case

An acutecase

FALL 2009 13

Demand forseason ticketsmakes big leap

SDSU Athletic Department officials arehoping the success of the women’s basketballteam will translate to the box office.

During the 2008-09 season, there were1,200 season-ticket holders for men’s andwomen’s basketball games, a number that hasbeen slowing rising during the last few years.

“Overall, we’ve increased each year inbasketball and football since I’ve been here,”

says Christi Williams, who has been the ticketmanager for the last four years.

With the addition of single-game ticket buyers, thewomen’s program was able to average 2,803 personsper game. That ranks forty-fourth among Division Ischools, just behind the University of Washington inSeattle, whichaveraged 2,865.The nation’sleader wasnationalpowerhouse Tennessee with 14,000 per game. Nationalchampion Connecticut was second with 10,514.

The only smaller schools ahead of SDSU inattendance were Indiana State (4,100), Old Dominion(3,597), and Montana (3,596).

Frost Arena, in its current configuration, seats 6,500,so there is plenty of room for bigger crowds. However,the number of available reserved seats is dwindling,Williams says. Therefore, the department will sellgeneral admission season tickets for 2009-10.

They will sell for $235 plus a required minimumdonation of $25 to the Athletic Department, shereports. Purchasers of these tickets will get the samepercentage break on the per-game cost of tickets asreserved ticket holders do, Williams says. Purchasersalso are able to accumulate priority points for thingslike giving history and years as a ticket holder, whichallow ticket holders to upgrade their seats later.

Williams says new season tickets often come frompeople who have gradually been buying more single-game tickets.

“We’ve definitely had an increase in the number ofpeople calling about tickets after the Summit Leagueand NCAA tournaments,” Williams says. Season-ticketrenewals began June 1, about the same time theschedule for the 2009-10 season was released.

For ticket information, call the ticket office at (605) 688-5422 or 1-866- GO JACKS or go to GoJacks.com.

DAVE GRAVES

>> A couple days out of the fun busdid nothing to temper their ’Rabbit fever.In fact, attending the Texas Christiangame on Sunday appeared to worsen the condition.

When they arrived back at the UnitedSports Arena on Tuesday evening,Schlangen had painted the faces ofAamlid, Herm, and Marcus Oistad. Theguys, who previously never had ’Rabbit fever manifest itself in face painting,also took a shot at ESPN studio host Trey Wingo.

Their sign reminded him it is “South Dakota” State. Wingo erroneouslycalled the team San Diego State and South Carolina State on different occasions.

The Jackrabbit fan club in Texas also included a fair number of SDSUalumni living in Texas as well as Texans who became tainted with ’Rabbitfever. That list included Craig and Michelle Gilbert of Stamford, who drove150 miles to attend the tournament.

They came Sunday night simply “to watch good basketball and becameJacks fans,” Craig Gilbert says.

On Tuesday evening they were back at United Sports Arena with the sign“Texans for SDSU.” He notes, “We were impressed by their team defense andoffense. We like their fans too. They’re a lot more fun than most schools andtheir mascot is awesome too.”

Another Texan who contracted ’Rabbit fever during her brief exposure toSDSU was Dana Grace of Shallowater.

She wrote of her new “disease” in a letter to the editor of the BrookingsRegister and signed herself as “a long-time Texas Tech Lady Raider fan turnedavid SDSU Lady Rabbit fan.”

DAVE GRAVES

Part of Stacie Oistad's crew ribsESPN's Trey Wingo for notproperly identifying the homestate of the Jackrabbits.Pictured, from left, are NikAamlid, Oistad's finance; RyanHerm; and Marcus Oistad,Stacie's brother.

Success on court pushes numbers in the bleachers

Crossinggeographic borders

RABBIT TRACKS14

tudent-athletes know all aboutcompetition. First they competeto make the team. Then theycompete to start. Once they’restarters, they compete to keepthat job.

One elite group at SDSU takescompetition a step further, achieving highstandards for membership throughdemonstrating excellence in the weight room.

In its third year, Iron Jacks was created byHead Strength and Conditioning CoachNathan Moe as a performance-based award forvarsity student-athletes. Performancestandards can vary by sport but generallyinclude the power clean—an explosive lift ofweight from the floor to the shoulder—thesquat, the bench press, and a vertical jump.

As an example, men’s basketball playerswho want to earn the title of Iron Jack mustachieve a power clean of 247.5 pounds, a squatof 375 pounds, a bench press of 250 poundsand a vertical jump of 30 inches or higher.

In order to become an Iron Jack, student-athletes must achieve all four standards in onetesting period each year. “They can’t just begood in one area,” Moe says.

The workouts athletes go through toachieve those standards will, according to Moe,help them be better athletes by being moreexplosive and powerful in their sports and helpthem avoid injuries.

“We want it to be difficult to achieve,”says Moe. Last year’s forty-one Iron Jacksrepresented about 10 percent of the more than400 varsity student-athletes at SDSU.

“It’s right about where we want it,” Moesaid of the membership. “It’s meant to honor

those who have met the standards andmotivate others to work toward achieving thatgoal. I’ve heard athletes say, ‘That’s my goal. Iwant to become an Iron Jack.’”

The tangible rewards for being in IronJacks are few. Members get a T-shirt and acopy of a group photo poster that’s alsodisplayed in the weight room. Moreimportantly, they get the pride of a job welldone and an increase in confidence that carriesbeyond the playing field.

“Being a member of the Iron Jacks hasgiven me more confidence on the field and ithas taught me that if I want to become the bestI have to work harder than I have before,” saysRyan McKnight, a junior on the football team.

McKnight’s teammate Brandon Gant, asophomore, agrees that being a member ofIron Jacks has helped his confidence. “It hashelped me set and reach goals that I know arepossible,” Gant says. “It gives you a lot ofconfidence as an athlete.”

The confidence earned in Iron Jacks cancarry over into daily life, according to seniorswimmer Sara Olenich. “It’s a good feeling toknow that there’s something that you areexceptional at and that confidence easilytransfers to other areas of my life,” Olenichsays. “I figure that if I can do well in one area,like lifting, then I can do well in other areassuch as academics and swimming.”

As he talks about Iron Jacks on a mid-Juneafternoon, Moe estimates that there are asmany as 140 SDSU athletes working outduring the summer in Brookings. Thoseworkouts have to be accomplished within therules and regulations set by the NCAA.

“All of our student-athletes deserve a ton ofcredit,” Moe says. “They have to practice timemanagement. They have a lot of things tuggingat them from school, work, practice, lifting,meetings, and just having a social life.”

At the Division I level, student-athletesneed to make a year-round commitment totraining. Usually student-athletes will get atwo- or three-week break after the end of theirseason, then it’s back to the weight room.

“Iron Jacks is a great goal to work towardfor many athletes,” according to senior BrittanyGarner, a sprinter and pole vaulter on the trackteam. “It’s an exclusive club that you can onlyachieve membership in through working hardoutside your sport’s practice.”

DANA HESS

AbOvE, FROm LEFT: Wide receiver Brandon Gant, vaulter/sprinter Brittany Garner, offensive lineman Ryan McKnight—all Iron Jacks.

Student-athletes earn special status in Iron JacksSIF I CAN DO WELL IN ONE AREA,

LIKE LIFTING, THEN I CAN DO

WELL IN OTHER AREAS SUCH AS

ACADEMICS AND SWIMMING..”

SARA OLENICH, SWIMMER

FALL 2009 15

Rabbit Tracks takes a deeper look at women’s sports

hen Ron Lenz began his twenty-nine-year reign in theSports Information Office in 1977, SDSU boasted tenwomen’s athletic teams.Quite a change from 1970, when he graduated from

State and worked as a student sports information assistant. Then it wasjust the men who merited the attention of the Sports Information Office.Title IX, the women’s rights movement, and forward-thinking SDSU

administrators literally changed the shape of athletics at State. Thatfoundation has made it possible for today’s Jackrabbit ladies to playcenter stage.Not all the sports played back in 1977 are still in the athletic

program. Field hockey and gymnastics were dropped after neighboringschools dropped their programs.Sports like tennis and golf were dropped because of financial concerns

and later brought back by former Athletic Director Fred Oien, who alsooversaw the creation of soccer and equestrian, and, most recently, theenhancement of locker and team rooms for women’s teams. The following articles note some of the highlights of the current

programs as well as providing glimpses into the sports.Editor’s note: The focus of these stories is not to include every record,

championship, or top performer, but to give a glimpse into the programfrom the perspective of some who helped shape it.Other women’s sports will be covered in future issues.

W

WOMEN’SSPORTSHISTORYA S E R I E S

SWIMMING

RABBIT TRACKS16

Erickson witnesses ageneration of change

For Brad Erickson, the good ole days are today.

Erickson, who has completed thirty-threeyears of coaching the SDSU men’s and women’sswimming teams, can remember the old daysand they don’t hold a candle to today.

“I’ve told people, for as long as I’ve beenhere, the last few years have been the mostenjoyable. When you have some funds, youcan go out and recruit. Before, as a walk-onprogram, you would hope people would stay out.

“Now we can be competitive in theconference. Our goal is to move up each yearand that’s what we have done,” he says.

In the 2008-09 season, the women’s teamset thirteen school records en route tomatching its 2008 third-place finish in theconference meet.

The difference between what is and whathas been can best be explained using afinancial ledger. When the Jacks werecompeting in the North Central Conference,Erickson had one-third of one scholarship to divvy up. Now he has twelve on thewomen’s side.

It’s a family thingThat has allowed him to bring in swimmers

like Mallory Onisk, a record-setting seniorfrom Bear, Delaware.

While a talented swimmer, Onisk wasn’texactly a national recruit. Her mother, Julie(Kenefick) Onisk ’81 swam at State from1977 to 1980. The SDSU swimming programhad just gotten out of diapers when Kenefick,a Brookings native, started at State.

SDSU men’s swimming began in 1968.Erickson ’74 joined the team in 1970 andfound “there were some women who wereinterested [in swimming]. They competedwith the men.” By 1975 the women had theirown team. In 1976 Erickson became theprogram’s second full-time coach.

Until the natatorium on campus openedin January 1973, the collegians swam at theBrookings High School pool, which openedin 1967.

That’s where Kenefick could be found.“Everybody kind of knew everybody. That’swhere the notion of swimming in collegecame,” recalls Kenefick, who now works as adiabetes educator/dietitian in a largeendocrinology practice in Delaware.

Her teammates at State included Beth(Anderson) Kaspar ’80, who became the firstSDSU woman all-American in spring 1977.She also was a 1978 all-American.

Anderson, now a civilian employee for the Department of Defense near Washington,D.C., says she didn’t comprehend thesignificance of her all-American status. Shedoes remember her first national meet as the“three longest days of my life because I wasn’tused to competing at that level.

“You wanted to do well, so you need to stayfocused, you need to stay concentrated. It washard to stay balanced for those three days.”

That intensity is in stark contrast to when,back in Brookings, Erickson handed the team“some new suits and said, ‘Go try them on.’We went downstairs and tried them on. Theswimsuit fit on exactly one thigh and the restwas a stretch job. We just sat down andlaughed and laughed,” Anderson says.

Replacing the nylon Speedos with the all-Lycra models was just one example ofcreating team camaraderie. Others weremore grave.

Maturity in the face of crisisIn fall 1978, Kenefick’s sister, Kari, joined

the team and became a national qualifier. Bythe time Julie Kenefick was a junior, therewere three Keneficks on the team. However,William, a freshman, was killed in aDecember car crash that spared the lives ofthree other teammates.

At that time, Erickson, 27, wasn’t mucholder than the swimmers he was coaching.Julie Kenefick credits Erickson for helpingher and Kari as well as their teammates towork through the tragedy.

“The benefits of being part of athletics isnot only swimming and getting the yards in,but sometimes the less obvious pieces are howpeople help you develop as a human being, asa leader on the team,” Julie Kenefick says.

A couple weeks later the Kenefick girlsand their teammates loaded into cars to driveto Mexico for winter training. “I wouldn’t sayhe took us under his wings, but he gavepeople the space … and had an unspokenconfidence in his swimmers that they couldwork through whatever they needed to,”Kenefick recalls.

“Brad's involvement with kids goes deeperthan their athletic ability,” she adds.

A new generationIt was because of such memories that she

had no qualms about sending her daughter1,400 miles away from home to go to college.

Mallory Onisk says SDSU was not on herinitial list of college choices. But in thesummer before her senior year, she and hermother made a trip to Brookings to visitfather and grandfather Don Kenefick, aretired SDSU plant science professor.

“Mom said, ‘Let’s just go visit the swimcoach and the pharmacy program,’ thepharmacy major remembers.

“Division I swim programs are justnotorious for being demanding on your timebut it wasn’t that way here, and the dean ofpharmacy was just extremely warming.

Deans at other pharmacy schools I visitedsaid ‘It’s a tough program; we’ll see if you get in.

“[Then-]Dean [Brian] Kaatz said, ‘We’dlove to have you here.’ By the time I went >>

“EACH YEAR, THE LEVEL OF

GIRLS HAS PROGESSED. THIS

YEAR, TIMEWISE, IT IS VERY

COMPETITIVE.”

MALLORY ONISK, SENIOR SWIMMER

Mallory Onisk competes in the butterfly in a meet at SDSU.

FALL 2009 17

>> home, I knew this was where I wanted tobe. The opportunity to do both [swimmingand pharmacy] is what hit home with me.Coming out here is a completely differentlifestyle. Out here everyone is just sowelcoming,” Onisk says.

That includes the swimmers on the other teams.

Surrounded by talentAnd the athletes on the SDSU swim team

are more athletic than they ever have been.“My freshman year (2005-06) I came in

without much competition” in practice,Onisk says. “Each year, the level of girls hasprogressed. This year, timewise, it is verycompetitive. Coaches, timewise, had so manygirls they could put in relays.”

A look at the women’s record book bearsthat out. All the records were set in 2008 or2009, most in the current season.

From pool to pageantAll but a couple of the 2007-08 marks still

on the books belong to Alex Hoffman, whotook this season off to reign as Miss SouthDakota and compete in the Miss Americacontest. While Hoffman can impress bothinside and outside of the pool, Ericksondescribes her as “one of the hardest trainersI’ve had.

“She’s one of those that just gives 100percent every lap, every yard. When you dothat, you’re going to get better.”

Hoffman, of Eureka, spent one semesterswimming at the University of Minnesota,transferred to SDSU, and sat out the secondsemester of her freshman year. As a sophomorein 2007-08, Hoffman set six individual andfour relay records, Erickson reports.

“She’s got to be right up there [as one ofthe program’s all-time best swimmers]. I’d beremiss if I didn’t say Mallory was right upthere too,” the coach says.

Another star tanker from this year’s teamis Katie Budahl of Mitchell, who spent twoyears swimming at the University of

Minnesota. The junior set school marks inthe 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and swamon a couple record-setting individual medleyrelay teams.

Budahl’s win at the Summit LeagueChampionships in the 200-yard breaststrokegave SDSU its first conference titlist sinceDiane Kelsey in 1985.

Junior Christina Gerometta of FarmingtonHills, Michigan, rewrote the freestyle recordbook by setting school marks in the 200-,500-, 1,000-, and 1,650-yard freestyle at theconference meet at Rochester, Michigan,which is the home to ten-time leaguechampion Oakland and located near Detroit.

That was the only meet that Kenefick sawthis season.

A following developsHowever, she notes that many of the

parents had been to other meets and knewJackrabbits not a part of their family. “Nowthey have a huge fan base. I’d say half of thekids had parents there. These people traveledhuge distances—Connecticut, Alaska,Colorado—and then stayed in Michigan forthree nights.

“We never had that kind of following.”Of course, those teams were traveling to

Kearney, Nebraska, and Moorhead, Minnesota.From the travel, to the locker rooms, to

the scholarships, to the weight lifting, and tothe training, it’s a different program; just thesame coach and the same lasting impression.

“Everything has gone way beyond what Ipossibly could imagine,” Onisk declares.

Beyond myriadachievements liesdevelopment ofindividuals

Clearly, in recent years no SDSU athleticprogram, men or women, has had moresuccess than the women’s basketball team.

A short checklist:• Qualifying for the NCAA Division I

national tournament in 2009, its first year ofeligibility, and winning a game.

• Tying the school record for wins in aseason (thirty-two and three in 2008-09) andgoing undefeated (fourteen wins) at FrostArena for the first time in school history.

• Gaining national recognition in DivisionI polls, reaching as high as fourteenth in theUSA Today/ESPN poll March 3, 2009.

• Winning the 2003 Division II nationaltitle with a school record thirty-two winsversus three losses.

• Posting winning seasons every yearsince 1986-87, including five years whiletransitioning into Division I.

• Earning back-to-back appearances inthe National Invitational Tournament,reaching the semifinals in 2007.

• Seeing three players—Melissa Pater,Megan Vogel, and Andrea Verdegan—makethe rosters of European professional teams.

At the start of this decade, no one couldhave imagined that the program would gofrom being a solid squad that battled the

BASKETBALL

Alex Hoffman wears the crown as Miss SouthDakota 2008 but she has also earned crowns inthe pool, setting six individual and four relayrecords in her freshman year.

WOMEN’SSPORTSHISTORY

RABBIT TRACKS18

North Dakota schools for supremacy in theNorth Central Conference to a prominentteam on the national Division I scene.

Wins over Big Ten programs likeMinnesota and Wisconsin draw a smile, butno longer surprise State fans.

Fan support of women’s basketball is at anall-time high. In fact, infourteen games in 2008-09the women averaged 2,803,compared to 2,487 for themen and 2,343 during lastyear’s record-settingseason. In its national titleseason, the Jacks averaged2,693 per game.

Fan support predatescurrent success

Certainly, there’s nothing like achampionship to bring out the fans, butSDSU has had strong support for years.

The “Back of the Bus” group is a fansupport network of about 100 that chartersbuses to select games, awards scholarships,conducts raffles, hosts a steak fry for thebasketball teams in the spring, and awatermelon feed for the soccer, crosscountry, and football teams in the fall.

“The fun part is getting to know theparents of the players. They really let youknow how much they appreciate you beingthere and supporting the kids,” memberSharon Anderegg said in a 2002 alumnimagazine article.

In 1993, during Christmas break, Darwinand Jeanne Longieliere came up with the ideaof inviting the seniors on the women’sbasketball team to their home for dinner. It

was a big success so the following year theyinvited the entire team over for a mealbetween Christmas and New Year’s andcontinued the practice for about a decade.

They also are members of “The BallHogs,”a small fund-raising group that awards twoscholarships every year, one in men’sbasketball and one in women’s basketball.

Rose remembers rivals, road trips

Carleen (Rose) Holm, who played 1990-93,remembers, “Brookings has always beengood supporters.”

Some of the best supporters for thewomen’s program were the men’s players, andvice versa. “They’d really pull for each other.They became friends, no doubt about it,” saysNancy Neiber, coach of the women’sbasketball team from 1985 to 2000.

Holm notes, “We went on the same bus asthe men” with the men in the back and thewomen up front.

“I met my husband [Scott] through that,”she says. Her career included a trip to Fargo,North Dakota, for an NCAA Division IIRegional Tournament game against North

Dakota State, a team that had the Jacks’number throughout Holm’s career. NDSUwon 92-58, the Bison’s seventh win in asmany games against State in Holm’s career.

NDSU Coach Amy Ruley “had it rollingthen, just like Aaron [Johnston] has it now,”Neiber says.

Titles and testimonialsYes, times do change.

By the nationalchampionship season(2002-03), SDSU wentfrom occasionally pickingoff the Bison to beatingthem all three times by atotal of fifty-five points. Itwas the other NorthDakota school that was the

Jacks biggest nemesis that year.UND beat SDSU two of their four

meetings, including a 90-87 win during theleague tournament championship.

But State gained revenge in the NorthCentral Regional semifinals and beatconference foe South Dakota to advance tothe Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Missouri. There,SDSU used Stacie Cizek’s last-second three-pointer to force overtime in the semifinalsand advance over Bentley.

In the title game, the fourth-ranked Jacksnever gave Northern Kentucky a chance,jumping to a 32-17 halftime lead en route toa 65-50 win.

That remains the only nationalchampionship in the forty-two-year historyof the women’s basketball program, and withSDSU now playing Division I, the odds ofanother title are even smaller. But those whowatched NDSU regularly hammer the Jacksdidn’t envision that first crown.

But beyond the trophies, records, andrankings, there are the athletes.

“I look at my personality,” Holm says.“What would I have done? Maybe been inplays. I had this ability from my mom. I didbetter in school because of athletics. It helpedme be a better person all around.

“I’m just fortunate to be able to bring outa gift that would have never blossomed”without athletics.

“I’M JUST FORTUNATE TO BRING OUT A GIFT THAT WOULD HAVE

NEVER BLOSSOMED” WITHOUT ATHLETICS. CARLEEN (ROSE) HOLM, ’93

RIGHT: Andrea Verdegan started at guard forthree seasons and ranked in the top ten for careermarks in steals, assists, and three-pointers. Aftergraduation she signed to play ball in TheNetherlands.

Holm ’93

Pater ’03

Verdegan ’08 Vogel ’07

FALL 2009 19

NCAA tourney upsetends running joke

Comparisons are often tricky, especially ifyou’ve got apples and oranges, or soccer ballsand basketballs.

In the fall, SDSU’s soccer program arrivedon the national scene with a first-round winin the NCAA Regional Tournament inMinneapolis. It became the second SDSUteam to make a national splash. The women’sbasketball team has been there for three years now.

But here’s where we get into apples and oranges.

“It’s a difficult thing when you start tocompare us with other programs,” soccercoach Lang Wedemeyer says. “The women’sbasketball had won a Division II nationaltournament. We hadn’t even gotten close.They had decades of history. I think it’s hardto compare what we’ve done in nine years.”

Nine years is the total history of SDSU soccer.

Considering Wedemeyer was building anexpansion team without the benefit of anexpansion draft, SDSU fared fairly well inDivision II play. But as the school steppedout of the North Central Conference and intoDivision I play around the nation, it had todeal with the “South Dakota” putdown.

“Nobody has taken South Dakota Stateseriously in many sports,” says Wedemeyer.

That was still the case when he took his14-4-1 squad to face Colorado for theNovember 14, 2008, NCAA tournamentmatch in Minneapolis. Wedemeyer reports,“There were all sorts of jokes in the press boxabout how we were going to get killed andabout our mascot.

“It was all kind of a running joke until itwas clear we were going to win,” which SDSUdid 1-0.

That win over Colorado, which had beenranked as high as eleven and never lower thanfifteen, was definitely the apex of the program’shistory, Wedemeyer says. That is especiallytrue considering that the Jackrabbits weren’teven ranked in their region.

“They had us listed in the wrong region foralmost the whole season,” he says. “I caughtthe disparity between two different polls[Great Lakes and North Central] toward the

end of the season. It took me two weeks toget it sorted out. In the last poll we receivedvotes in our region.

“In the final national poll we receivedvotes for a top twenty-five ranking. Withinthe span of a week we went from receivingvotes in the regional poll to receiving votes inthe national poll,” Wedemeyer recalls.

The affect of an NCAA tournament winremains to be seen.

“We hope it will transfer to moreexcitement, more fans coming to the games,recruiting a higher level student-athlete,”Wedemeyer says. “In the short term, it givescredibility to the hard work we’ve beenputting into the program. Credit goes to theadministration for stepping forward and saying‘Yes, we can compete at the Division I level.’”

Credit also goes to those who actually didcompete at the Division I level.

“As soon as we knew we were in TheSummit League, we started to set goals thatwe were going to win the conference and winthe tournament. [Team captain] Kelly Larsenreally led the charge and the belief that wecould accomplish these great goals.

“Our confidence grew as the seasonprogressed. The way we finished last year wasso positive, winning a bunch of games on theroad, where we finished in the Summit League,we knew we could compete,” Wedemeyer says.

And compete they did, winning non-conference games against Iowa, Iowa State,and Drake.

“When we started to win those games,then the belief just really blossomed andnothing could get in our way,” Wedemeyersays of his momentum. SDSU lost only oneconference match and made that up bybeating Oakland (Michigan) in the SummitLeague Championship.

It was the second time in three years thatSDSU won a tournament championship.(SDSU wasn’t eligible for the Summit title in 2007.)

In 2006, SDSU won the United SoccerConference championship, which drew eightindependent and Division I transition teamsto Washington, D.C.

In the title game, SDSU beat NDSU 1-0 toavenge an earlier loss to the Bison,Wedemeyer recalls.

Highlights in earlier years:• 2005 — Playing almost an entire

Division I schedule with no seniors andgaining three wins over Division I schools.“We were often starting eight, sometimesnine, freshmen. They were naïve and a little bitimmature in their play, but that experiencepaid off ” this season, Wedemeyer says.

• 2004– Playing the first Division I gamein South Dakota State history, losing 2-0 toWisconsin-Milwaukee, and recording thefirst win against a Division I school, a 2-0win versus Western Illinois. The gameincluded Heather Hill scoring the program’sfirst goal against a Division I school.

• 2003 — Gaining its first all-American,Erin Miller, a goalie from Sioux Falls. Shehelped State have the fourth lowest goals-against average in the nation in Division II.

• 2002 — Beating Minnesota State-Mankato for the first time, a strong NorthCentral Conference squad.

• 2001 — Being one of four teams toqualify out of the ten-team North CentralConference for the NCC tournament.

• 2002 — Scoring the first goal in schoolhistory, a shot by Jennifer Briggs againstNorthern State, and winning its first match—8-0, September 3 against the University ofSioux Falls.

SOCCER

Goalie Erin Miller became the program’s firstall-American in 2003. Originally from SiouxFalls, she transferred to State for her seniorseason to be with her fiancé after playingher first three years at the University ofNebraska-Lincoln.

WOMEN’SSPORTSHISTORY

RABBIT TRACKS20

Teams find nationalexposure in DI, DII eras

SDSU women’s volleyball has been apicture of success since going 7-0 in its firstseason in 1966.

Certainly there have been some smudgesin that picture during forty-three years ofcompetition, but with an all-time record of808-539 and nine all-America selections, theprogram can do plenty of boasting. Thatincludes seven postseason appearances.

In 2001, Coach Andrew Palileo led theJackrabbits to the national Division IIchampionship game against Barry University.

But the program’s crowning achievementcame in 2007, Palileo’s final season, whenSDSU advanced to the NCAA RegionalTournament against the second-rankedNebraska Cornhuskers. The team became thefirst squad in State history to advance to aDivision I NCAA Tournament.

The DI pacesetter“It was great to be part of the first team to

do it,” says Kristina Martin, a right-side hitteron the team.

“I felt honored to be one of the teamschosen to do it,” adds Martin, who finished

with a school record 1,765kills in her four seasons.As SDSU transitioned intofull Division I membership,the University selected thevolleyball and wrestlingteams as the nonrevenuesports to be allowed a two-year jump on otherJackrabbit teams in beingeligible for postseason play.

The squad was well aware of thesignificance of the accomplishment,teammate Mackenzie Osadchuk says.

“Coach had said if you make it, you’ll bethe first Division I team in the whole state to make it to the national tournament. Wewanted to leave our mark on SDSU and thewhole state,” recalls Osadchuk, a May 2008interior design graduate.

And indeed the Jacks did, winning both TheSummit League regular season and conferencetitles for the first time en route to the historictrip to the NCAA championship event.

Palileo was named the 2007 Summit LeagueCoach of the Year and the squad broke ortied twenty-three team or individual records.

A year to rememberOsadchuk, a middle blocker, says her career

was “really kind of like a blur until my senioryear and then I think I can tell you everymoment. We came as a class, and we reallygrew close. From the get-go we thought oursenior year was going to be really good.

“We were ranked third [in the league] inthe first preseason poll. and we knew thatwasn’t right. We knew we could be No. 1 ifwe worked hard.”

That they did, as well as recover from anemotional blow when SDSU baseball playerKevin Morsching, the boyfriend of Martin,died in skateboarding accident just as theseason started. The close-knit team all feltthe pain. SDSU opened the year 3-3.

Martin missed five of the team’s first sixmatches. When she returned, the teamregrouped and won twelve straight.

The Jacks faced more adversity whenjunior hitter Mackenzie Anger went out withan injury as the 15-3 Jacks began a six-matchroad trip in six different states. SDSU droppedfive of those matches, but again reboundedand won nine straight.

Mission accomplishedThat streak included winning the regular

season and league title games.Osadchuk recalls trumping Western

Illinois in four games in a road match in a“toe-to-toe battle on their senior night. Weset ourselves up to be No. 1 in the tournament.

Then we beat Oral Roberts on our seniornight” to be regular season champs.

“When we did that we were on a high fora week. We felt like we were on top of the

world. To accomplish thisgoal felt so great,” she adds.

Martin, who spent ayear directing volleyballoperations at WashingtonState where Palileo nowcoaches, says after winningthe regular season crown“we knew we could beatanyone [in the leaguetournament]. We just had

to keep playing hard.”SDSU waltzed by Western Illinois and

then beat Indiana University-PurdueUniversity at Fort Wayne in five games forthe tournament title.

“To represent our school and show thatwe can compete with those other schools” inDivision I volleyball was “a great experience,”notes Martin, who is now playingprofessionally in Finland.

Division II pacesetterThat feeling is shared by Shauna (Sturm)

Brockmann, who lead her team to theDivision II national championship game in2001. “It was truly a privilege to play for theJacks and I still, to this day, feel grateful I wasgiven the opportunity,” Brockmann says.

Her career was filled with highlights,individually and as a team.

Individually, she became the Jackrabbitsfirst two-time all-American and still ranks >>

VOLLEYBALL

Jackrabbits Melia Iwamoto (1), Amy Anderson (7), and Kristina Martin (4) huddle with teammates in thefinal home match during the 2007 season. The team won the conference title and became the firstState team to advance to an NCAA Division I Tournament.

Kristina Martin

MackenzieOsadchuk

FALL 2009 21

>> third all-time in career kills for SDSU aswell as being in the top ten career hittingpercentage and blocking assists. Her twelveblocks in a five-game match remains a school record.

As a team, SDSU reached the NorthCentral Regional qualifying tournament eachof her four seasons.

Beating the rival BisonBut “the No. 1 memory would be beating

NDSU [North Dakota State] in the regionalchampionship to go to nationals. They hadbeaten us twice during the regular season.We played up in Fargo on their court for theregional championship.

“Grethe [Bornhoft] and I were the onlyseniors. We decided we wanted to keep going.”

SDSU won in five games, rallying from a2-1 deficit to close out with 30-27, 15-13wins. “The whole five-game series was justincredible. It kind of gives you goose bumpsthinking about it,” Brockmann says in aninterview more than eight years later.

“We had prepared for [a national title run]the entire season. In a way, we knew we could”get past NDSU.

‘Match belongs to you’“We knew we weren’t done. That was the

single best match I’ve ever played in. I justremember the team all came together. Duringthe final timeout, Coach Palileo looked at us

and said, ‘Grethe [Bornhoft] and Shauna, thismatch belongs to you.’ We kept saying we justhave to believe,” Brockmann says.

Right before the final point against NDSU,“I was in the front row with Angie Rime andKelly Hoemann. We just looked at each otherand said ‘We’re going to beat these guys,’”Brockmann says.

While some parts of her volleyball career“feels like forever ago, I remember this like itwas yesterday. Somebody on their back rowhit an overpass and it was coming to me. Ikilled it and we won,” Brockmann says of thematch that sent a faithful following into afrenzy and her team to Allendale, Michigan,for the Elite Eight.

Sanders, team riseabove past struggles to new heights

Nothing motivates like the knowledgeyou’re down to your last chance.

“I played my senior year knowing this isit, there was no tomorrow. This was mychance to leave a mark,” recalls Arika Sanders,a 1998 graphic design graduate from Tracy,Minnesota, who lead SDSU to its firstpostseason NCAA volleyball tournament.

“That filtered down through the whole team and we wanted to let people know SDSUvolleyball was a force to be reckoned with,” she added.

Indeed the team was. The Jackrabbitsfinished 26-9, beating Augustana in its firstmatch at the North Central Regional Tournamentin Sioux Falls, and then losing to a University ofNebraska-Omaha team that finished fifth in thenation in Division II competition.

Overcoming the pastSDSU’s 1997 emergence mirrored the

development of Sanders.In her freshman year (1994), SDSU finished

18-15 and the next season was 17-16. By herjunior year, State was a respectable 21-14.But coming into the 1997 season, “It wasn’t

like we expected to get anywhere or doanything phenomenal. In the past it had beensuch a difficulty to get it going or keeping itgoing,” Sander says.

Sanders had her own struggles in the past,particularly in regards to getting playing timeand in her relationship with Coach Mary Byrne.

Although Sanders played in almost everygame during her first three seasons, she didn’tstart until her senior year. “From the time I wasfreshman it was just such a frustrating battle forme to sit on the sidelines. I would come in andserve out the game and I still wouldn’t get to start.

“It was frustrating for my family too. MyDad stopped coming to the matches early inthe career,” Sanders says.

A marked changeSo as the 1997 season approached, she

had no lofty all-American goals for herself.“My biggest goalwas to be able toplay. My goal wasdon’t look back anddo everything I canto keep my spot.

“It was afterbattling throughfrom my freshmanseason to my senior

year, the pieces fell into place. We had a lot oflaughs, both on the court and afterwards. Itwas one of those years when Mary [Byrne]just did a wonderful job of bringing ustogether as a group, knowing who played besttogether,” Sanders says.

Those players included Rose Ebnet, afirst-team all-American in 2000 and afreshman in 1997; Roxie Rath, a first-teamall-American in 1998; and Julie Nihart, whograduated as State’s set assist leader.

Sanders was determined not to let team orindividual struggles of past seasons taint hersenior year.

“Midway through our year we startedlooking more at the scores and our recordand thinking this could be it. But beingsuperstitious, we didn’t want to jinx anything”by talking about the possibility of becoming

It was a season to remember

“Being a secondteam all-Americanwas something I never dreamedand there I wasliving it.” Arika Sanders

WOMEN’SSPORTSHISTORY

RABBIT TRACKS22

Closing a careerThere, SDSU avenged a regular season

defeat to Truman State and whippedGrand Valley State 3-0.

At that point, “Grethe and I looked ateach other and we said we did it. We madeit as far as we could. We just wanted to giveit everything we had for the championship.Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.Barry was pretty good,” Brockmann says.

Barry cruised to the national title 30-19, 30-21, 30-25.

Her younger teammates went on toanother regional tournament (the last theteam would have until the 2007 season) andBrockman, a consumer affairs graduate, begana career with Dacotah Bank in Aberdeen.

DAVE GRAVES

the first team to reach NCAA postseasonvolleyball play.

Emotional memoriesEarly in the season, her dad returned

to the stands. “To me that was just a bigone,” she says, still choked by emotion ofthe moment eleven years ago.

The season didn’t end the way the teamhoped, ‘but we also looked at where wehad come from our freshman year. Iremember seeing my high school coachesand my family in the stands. It made mefeel so proud, so blessed,” Sanders says ofher final match.

In the postseason, Sanders becameSDSU’s first volleyball all-American,earning second team honors.

She and her boyfriend flew to LosAngeles and attended the Division IInational championships, where the all-American awards were presented. Sandersrecalls, “I sat there thinking ‘Man, wecould have been there if this play or thatplay had gone differently.’

“It was really cool to just beacknowledged. Being a second team all-American was something I neverdreamed of and there I was living it.”Editor’s note: Sanders now lives the

life of an independent graphic designer,working out of her Brookings home, whereshe also cares for her son.

DAVE GRAVES

Whoever first said “familiarity breeds contempt”didn’t know about engineering Professor MyloHellickson and his thirty-two-year relationshipwith the SDSU Athletic Department.

Ever the multitasker, when it comes toJackrabbit athletics Hellickson is a fan, awatchdog, and a benefactor.

Hellickson’s first sporting interest was asa participant. He played baseball at NorthDakota State University and coached localbaseball teams near his western NorthDakota hometown of Medora.

Hellickson and his wife came toBrookings in 1969 when he started teachingin the Department of AgriculturalEngineering. When Title IX was signed in1972, Hellickson was asked to chair a studythat looked at where SDSU was in relationto compliance with the law and where itshould be. Hellickson says the studybecame a model that was used nationwide.

Faculty representative since 1977

After the study, President Sherwood Bergasked Hellickson in 1977 to be the facultyathletics representative. According to Hellickson,the job requires representing faculty intereststo the NCAA and the athletic conference.

“It’s their responsibility to assure that the‘student’ part of ‘student-athlete’ is frontand center,” Hellickson explains.

As an example, faculty representativeswill look at the missed class policy andathletic schedules to gauge how much timeathletes will be away from the their studies.Hellickson says it’s particularly tough tomanage the baseball schedule because of allthe bad weather in the spring.

Hellickson also serves on a complianceteam at SDSU representing the NCAA’s interestin external control of athletic departments.

Rules, rules, rulesHellickson explains that the compliance

team may check whether rules have beenfollowed regarding phone records or officialvisits. They may critique the student-athletehandbook, checking to see if there’sinformation about access to mentoring,help with learning disabilities, or resourcesfor minority athletes.

“If we find a violation, it automaticallygoes to the NCAA,” Hellickson says, notingthat they have not found any complianceviolations at SDSU.

As a long-time observer ofintercollegiate athletics, Hellickson says hehas noted that NCAA violations are usuallya matter of “who’s paying attention.”

Hellickson’s long service in athletics madehim the natural choice to serve as interimathletic director from mid-January throughMay during the time between the retirementof Fred Oien and the hiring of Justin Sell.

Four-and-one-half month career

Hellickson’s tenure as interim athleticdirector was short but fulfilling. “It was agreat experience,” he says. “It taught mehow hard people work to try to do it right.”

As an example he noted that while somestudent-athletes had midterm deficiencies,all teams met their academic performancerate standards by the end of the semester.

“It’s a credit to the coaches,” Hellicksonsays, “it’s a credit to how they recruit, andit’s a credit to the kids.”

Putting money where heart isJust as the switch to Division I has called

for more oversight, it has also sparked anincrease in scholarships. Since the switch,SDSU has gone from ninety-two athleticscholarships to 209, a jump from $800,000to $2.5 million per year.

Hellickson and his wife Lillian, who isretired from SDSU, are also responsible fortwo endowed scholarships, one each formen’s and women’s basketball.

The Hellickson’s reasoning for theirgenerosity is simple: “If you believe in it,support it.

DANA HESS

Mylo and Lillian Hellickson take a break fromcheering on the SDSU women’s basketball teamat the NCAA tournament in Lubbock, Texas, inMarch long enough to get their picture taken.

Hellickson invests in programhe’s monitored for decades

FALL 2009 23

FOOTBALLThe Jacks, who opened the season with

successive home wins against GeorgiaSouthern in the Cereal Bowl and IndianaState in the Beef Bowl, will make a littlehistory October 24 when they host NorthernIowa for Hobo Day.

It marks the first time SDSU hasentertained the Panthers for homecomingin a series that dates back to 1935 whenNorthern Iowa was known as Iowa TeachersCollege. They will meet for the forty-fourthtime with most encounters in the old NorthCentral Conference. Now both schools arein the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

SDSU filled holes offensively with mostof its defensive unit returning from a squadthat finished 7-5 in 2008, including a 6-2third-place mark in the Missouri Valley underhead coach John Stiegelmeier, who rankssecond in career wins with a 75-56 record.

The biggest gap on offense was finding areplacement for quarterback Ryan Berry,who set numerous career and single-seasonrecords in his senior season. Senior RyanCrawford, the only one of four candidates tohave attempted a pass in a Jacks’ uniform,got the starting nod.

Senior Kyle Minett headlines thebackfield after rushing for 1,289 yards lastyear, while senior Glen Fox tops the

receiving corps aftercatching sixty-sixballs for 792 yardsand ten touchdownsa year ago.

Defensively, the Jacks returned their top-eight tacklers, including senior defensiveend Danny Batten, who earned all-conference honors last year after tallyingseventy-five tackles and eight quarterbacksacks. All three linebackers are back, led bysenior Jimmy Rogers, who has been theJacks’ top tackler the past two seasonsregistering ninety-three in 2008.

SDSU’s last home game isNovember 7 against SouthernIllinois, followed by roadgames at the University ofMinnesota and WesternIllinois. The Jacks will be looking fortheir first win against Minnesota, aschool they haven’t played since 1933. TheGolden Gophers of the Big Ten Çonferencehold a 6-0 series lead.

VOLLEYBALLNana Allison-Brewer began her second

season as head coach after posting a 10-17mark in her first year.

After a 1-12 start against a difficultnonconference schedule, SDSU came onstrong winning nine of the final fourteenmatches for an 8-8 Summit League finish.

The Jacks have only two starters back,but that’s offset by ten returningletterwinners. The biggest loss was outsidehitter Mackenzie Angner, who tallied 504kills in 2008 for the third most in leaguehistory. Her 5.09 kills per set was thesecond-best ratio in NCAA Division I.

Leading the charge this year will beEllyce Youngren and Kelli Fiegen. Thesophomores ranked second and third inkills in 2008 with 256 and 191, respectively.Junior Ashley Kathol notched 103 kills,while junior setter Nicole Peters deliveredthe second-most set assists with 97.

The Summit League Tournament isNovember 21-22 in Fargo, North Dakota.

SOCCERWhen SDSU opened Summit League

play October 2 at Centenary College, theJacks had already played a demandingnonconference schedule.

SDSU faced three Missouri Valleyschools (Northern Iowa, Drake, Creighton),two from the Big Ten (Minnesota, Iowa),and two from the Big 12 (Kansas, IowaState). Kansas and Minnesota advanced tothe NCAA College Cup in 2008.

The Jacks, who host The Summit LeagueTournament November 6-8 at FishbackSoccer Park, return good experience withfour starters back: senior Jessica Heine;junior Danni Healy; sophomores StephPeterson and Kelsey Ferguson.

SDSU was 15-5-1 last season earning ashare of the league title. The Jacks won the

league tournament to automaticallyqualify for their first-ever trip to the

NCAA College Cup. They defeatedColorado in the first-round forSDSU’s first NCAA postseason win.Lang Wedemeyer, the program’s

only soccer coach in its ten-year history,owns a career record of 78-72-17.

CROSS COUNTRYThe SDSU women seek to defend their

Summit League championship, while theJackrabbit men look to improve on last year’sfifth-place finish when the league meetunfolds October 31 in Cedar City, Utah.

KYLE JOHNSON

The 2009-10 season marks amilestone in SDSU’s athletic history.It was 120 years ago when the

school first engaged in intercollegiatecompetition. In 1889, colleges fromBrookings, Vermillion, Yankton, and Sioux Falls established the South Dakota Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Teams gathered in May of that year for contests in baseball, football, track andfield, bicycle races, tennis, and a tug of war. Up until then, there were no coachesor organized teams.Although coaches come and go, venues change, and uniforms evolve, the spirit

of competition has remained constant in the years that followed those firstathletic events.With that in mind, let’s take a sneak look at how the fall season shapes up for

the Jackrabbits in football, volleyball, soccer, and cross country.

120YEARSSDSU observes anniversary of first athletic competition

FALLPREVIEW

RABBIT TRACKS24

There are many aspects of working in athletics thatmake it seem logical for coaches to break down filmuntil the wee hours of the morning; to make fansscream until they lose their voices at athleticcompetitions; to consider a grass field a sanctuary; or for a student to find six friends, paint their bodiesblue and line up in correct arrangement of G-O-J-A-C-K-S. Athletics provides a venue that individuals can strive to achieve greatness and an avenuethat can teach its participants about life in general. In the words of Vince Lombardi,“The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.”

Jackrabbit student-athletes are extremely committed and—win or lose—will always strive for excellence while maintainingintegrity and good sportsmanship. For that, we are blessed.

Someone recently asked me what is the most rewarding part of working in athletics. My answer: STUDENT-ATHLETES.They never cease to amaze and impress. There are many aphorisms that coaches use to motivate their teams on a daily basis.Today, the one that sticks out is that of football Coach John Stiegelmeier: “Make a difference.” Knowingly or not, it’s exactly whatour student-athletes do.

They make a difference on the court, field, course, or pool by pushing their teammates to become better and by giving it theirall to compete at the highest level. They make the loyal Jackrabbits proud by preparing in the off-season and by continuallystretching themselves to the limits. Win or lose, they are in it together and they make a difference.

They make a difference in the classroom. With an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.1, they have shown thatacademics are a priority and that “student” comes before the “athlete” as a Jackrabbit student-athlete. They help one another outwhile studying on road trips and balance the academic demands with the time commitments of being an athlete. Upongraduation, they make a difference.

They make a difference in the community by visiting hospitals and grade schools or by collecting coats for kids or shoes forthose that are less fortunate. They serve food at soup kitchens, clean up parks, and get involved with a variety of other philanthropicefforts to help make a difference. They are able to have an impact on the community that is so generous to us; one that supportsthe University both financially and in spirit.

They make a difference by impacting others. With a smile, with a compliment, with a helping hand or by serving as a rolemodel they make a difference. They play college athletics the way it’s supposed to be played—the love of the game and with anemphasis on sportsmanship and ethical conduct.

Having said this, there is another part of my job that I treasure almost as much as working for and with student-athletes. That part is listening to the stories of past administrators, donors, and fans that have been associated with SDSU for so many

years. Tradition-rich, black-and-white photos accompany the stories they share of games in the Barn or of student-athletes thatleft for the war.

The endless stories are wholesome and heartfelt, but they all seem to have a common theme. They’ll start with where thestudent-athlete came from and what they accomplished during their time at SDSU and then explain where they are now, andmost notably, how good of a person he/she is or was—how they made a difference.

Yes, we’re lucky. To associate with such a great University and to know how many great people came before us to establish thetradition. We’re lucky to witness the great memories that go along with each new day and each new season, and to see the visionof what South Dakota State can and will be. We are lucky to have a chance to continue building that program and being part ofsomething special.

As Stig says, “Make a difference.” Thanks for all you continue to do for the yellow and blue.Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

Mike BurgersASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Follow Stig’s advice: make a difference.

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SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITYAthletics DepartmentBox 2820Brookings, SD 57007-1497

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

AbOvE: The south entrances of Frost Arena were rebuilt during the 2008-09 school year. The concrete steps had deteriorated on the twenty-six-year-oldgym so Dean Kattelmann, director of facilities and services at SDSU, designed upgraded entrances. Thousands of fans will be pouring into the gym forcontests this fall. For ticket information, call 688-5422 or 1 -866-GO-JACKS.