Thursday, 9.3.15 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net SPORTS DEPT.: [email protected] ress akotan sports P &D PAGE 7 MMC Aims To Build On ‘14 Finish men Dustin Heiden (Jackson, Minneso- Lancer Women Targeting National Berth ta), Matt Jirele (Worthington, Minneso- BY MICHAEL HAMMOND Fischer, look to be key contributors to ta) and Nick Wixon (Centerville) will try [email protected] the team as well. to contribute in their first year. “There are eight or nine girls that I The key to Mount Marty achieving its The Mount Marty College cross think are going to help us out,” Fischer goals will be to stay healthy and work country teams look to improve their said. “We would like the team to qualify hard. finish in the Great Plains Athletic Confer- nationally, which hasn’t been done “The biggest thing is stay healthy ence (GPAC). before. and keep consistency,” Fischer said. “We “We had a pretty good season last “We are excited for the challenge.” have a lot of positive attitudes and hard year,” coach Randy Fischer said. “We On the men’s side Mount Marty workers on this team. hope to improve this year and possibly finished 10th in the GPAC a year ago and “If we can keep working as a team have a couple of national qualifiers.” its highest finisher was Gage Blaschke in our goals will fall into play for us.” The Mount Marty women’s team 50th. Blaschke, a senior, will be the top Mount Marty will open the season finished seventh in the GPAC Champion- runner for Mount Marty this year. on Sept. 4 in Sioux Falls at the Augus- ship in 2014 with their top finisher being “For the men’s team we would like to tana College Twilight. They will then Jordyn Hudelson in 16th place. The move up in the conference and hope to compete in Madison, Crete, Nebraska, team is made up of 13 runners led by peak by conference time,” Fischer said. and Sioux City, Iowa, before hosting the the seniors and captains Hudelson and “We have some pretty good freshman Mount Marty Invite on Oct. 24. The 2015 Miranda Pribil, who will have to help coming in and senior Vincent Raia will GPAC Meet will be on Nov. 7 in Crete, along the seven freshmen joining the add some leadership.” Nebraska. team. Junior Mandy O’Malley, 32nd in Sophomores Christian Petrich and P&D FILE PHOTO GPAC a year ago, and sophomore Kelsey Kyle Pardun will join Blaschke as the Follow @michaelhammond_ on Twit- Mount Marty’s Christian Petrich competes in the 2014 MMC Sutera, who has improved according to top runners on the team, while fresh- ter. Invitational. MMC opens its 2015 season on Friday.

Football I SDSU Preview Jacks Looking To Take The Next Step BY JEREMY HOECK [email protected] On to the next. If there was a kind of unofficial motto for the South Dakota State football team, it would be something like that. The Jackrabbits, coming off a third consecutive trip to the FCS playoffs, are moving on from the days of Zach Ze- nner and Austin Sumner, and can literally see the future in front of their eyes: Work continues on a new football stadium that opens next year. “It’s an exciting time for sure to be a Jackrabbit,” said sophomore defensive line- man Kellen Soulek, a Yankton High School graduate. At the same time, SDSU – ranked No. 15 and 16 in pre-season polls – realizes past success and new facili- ties don’t translate directly to wins on the field. “We try to keep the buzz at a minimum in the locker room,” Soulek said. “We just try to do our thing.” And what that’s been is forward momentum. With a number of new faces, particularly on offense, looking to carry the torch, confidence is a huge factor to any success in 2015, ac- cording to head coach John Stiegelmeier. “Number one is to believe you can do it,” he said. “They SUBMITTED PHOTO/BROOKS SCHILD need to believe they can Five former Yankton High School players, including three from the Bucks’ 2014 Class 11AA championship team, are currently competing for the South compete.” Dakota State football team: Kellen Soulek, Brady Hale, Matt Fitzgerald, Evan Greeneway and Troy Hunhoff. Having reached the sec- ond round of the FCS post- season field each of the last three years, the natural next Swashbuckling Rookie RB Zenner Has A Shot With Lions step would be the semifinals BY LARRY LAGE when Detroit (2-1) hosts the of cuts earlier this week after 50-yard touchdown. I think he selected in the NFL draft. or championship game, right? AP Sports Writer Buffalo Bills during an exhibi- zigging and zagging around ran for like 220 on us. At that Zenner provided a glimpse “We’ve set the target tion in which both teams defenders, breaking some point, I knew what kind of of what he could do in his higher,” Stiegelmeier said. ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) are planning to rest their tackles and displaying he’s player he was going to be.” first preseason game, running “We’ve talked about that — Zach Zenner has made starters. as a program, to grow as a got at least a touch of speed The Eagan, Minnesota, for 55 yards on 13 carries the most of his opportuni- Fellow rookie Amir Abdul- against some of the best foot- native was a quarterback in against the New York Jets. He football team. ties with the Detroit Lions, lah, a second-round pick “We’ve got a decent tradi- ball players in the world. high school when Vikings had 81 yards on the ground leading the league with 162 with a job secured, laments Some have been sur- star Adrian Peterson once and through the air in his tion right now.” yards rushing through three And Zenner played a key that the preseason drags prised that the player from watched his team play from second game at Washington. preseason games. along. Zenner is just looking the second-tier of college the sideline. The 5-foot-11, Playing with and against role in developing that Divi- Zenner isn’t paying atten- sion I tradition. forward to displaying his football has been effective 222-pound Zenner went on to some starters and later with tion to the relative hype he swashbuckling style at least against NFL players, includ- South Dakota State, where he reserves, Zenner had a 41- Zenner, now with the has generated. NFL’s Detroit Lions, was a one more time. ing some first-string defend- became the first running back yard run against the Jaguars “I keep my head in the “Every preseason game is ers last week in Jacksonville, in NCAA Division I history to last week and finished with three-time All-American and sand for a lot of that stuff,” he last year rushed for 2,019 very important, especially for but Abdullah has simply rush for at least 2,000 yards 85 yards on eight attempts. said in his aw-shucks fashion. a guy like me as an undrafted shrugged his shoulders. in three straight seasons. “We got a steal in Zenner,” yards and 22 touchdowns. The former South Dakota The question now for the free agent,” Zenner said. “I expected it,” said Abdul- He finished his career with said Joique Bell, Detroit’s top State star has one more shot “Those opportunities, not lah, who Detroit drafted out 6,548 yards on 1,095 carries running back. “That kid there, Jackrabbits isn’t simply how in a preseason game to show to replace those numbers, everyone gets them.” of Nebraska. “We played with 61 touchdowns, but the his numbers speak for itself. he deserves to stay with the No, they don’t. South Dakota State in 2013 Football Championship Sub- Hard running. Hard-nosed. team. He will probably get Zenner survived a wave and his first run was like a division All-American wasn’t Does everything right.” JACKS | PAGE 8 the ball a lot Thursday night Soccer: Presentation Rallies To Sweep Mount Marty ABERDEEN – Bobbye Pendleton scored twice and assisted on another as Presentation rallied from an early deficit to beat Mount Marty 3-1 in women’s soccer action on Wednesday. MMC took the lead on a Carly Ma- nahan goal in the 28th minute. Pend- leton converted a Paige Posvar pass for a goal just before halftime, then converted a Brittney Cusick pass early in the second half. Pendleton found Cusick for an insurance goal with less than five minutes remaining. Presentation had an 18-1 edge in shots on goal. Courtney True stopped 15 shots in goal for Mount Marty. MMC, 1-1, is off until a Sept. 19 match at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Men: PC 5, MMC 1 ABERDEEN – Presentation scored five unan- swered goals to claim a 5-1 victory over Mount Marty in men’s soccer action on Wednesday. MMC got on the board in the eighth minute win Renner Mickelson converted a pass from Ludwin Arana. Presentation scored the tying and go-ahead goals later in the half, with unassisted goals by Cole Lewandowski and Johnny Partida, Jr. In the second half, the Saints added three goals in a nine-minute span, with Brian Estrada, JACQUE SCOBY/ABERDEEN AMERICAN NEWS Doug Heinrich and Mason Beatty each scoring. Mount Marty goalie Rogelio Rodriguez grimaces after stopping a kick along Braedon Seelhorst, Chuy Garcia and Nathan the baseline by Presentation’s Brian Estrada in the first half of Wednesday’s Cuenca added assists. men’s soccer contest at Saints Field. JACQUE SCOBY/ABERDEEN AMERICAN NEWS Mickelson, Colin Linde and Collin Sorensen Mount Marty’s Courtney True stops a penalty kick in the waning each had two shots on goal for MMC as the Lanc- Brandt McCall stopped two shots in goal for MMC, 0-2, plays a non-league match against moments of Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Presentation. True made ers matched the Saints at 10 shots each. Presentation. Rogelio Rodriguez made six saves Briar Cliff on Saturday and Morningside on 15 saves in the match. Matt Richardson stopped seven shots and in goal for MMC. Sunday, both in Sioux City, Iowa.