2015 Trojan Cross Country for Immediate Release

Sept. 3, 2015 2015 Trojan Cross Country For Immediate Release

GENERAL INFORMATION CROSS COUNTRY HISTORY Location: ...... Madison, S.D. Men: Founded/Enrollment ...... 1881 (3049) South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Champions Affiliation ...... NAIA ...... 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996 Nickname ...... Trojans/Lady T’s Dakota Athletic Conference Champions ...... 2009 Colors ...... Yellow and Reflex Blue North Star Athletic Association Champions ...... 2014 Conference ...... North Star Athletic Association NAIA National Meet Place Finisher: President ...... Jose-Marie Griffiths, Ph.D. 1996 ...... 17th Place Director of Athletics ...... Jeff Dittman 2009 ...... 16th Place

Women: TEAM INFORMATION South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Champions Men: ...... 1986, 1997 2015 NSAA Conference Preseason Poll ...... 3rd NAIA National Meet Place Finisher: 2014 NSAA Conference Finish...... 1st 1997 ...... 23rd Place

Women: FOLLOW THE TROJANS 2015 NSAA Conference Preseason Poll ...... 4th Twitter: @GoDaSUAthletics 2014 NSAA Conference Finish...... 4th Facebook: DSUTrojanAthletics Instagram: dsu_athletics 2015 SCHEDULE

Date Meet Location Time/Results Sept. 4 Augustana (S.D.) Twilight Yankton Trials/Sioux Falls, S.D. 8:30 p.m.

Sept. 11 Herb Blakely Invitational Madison Country Club/Madison, S.D. 10:30 a.m.

Oct. 4 SDSU Classic Edgebrook Golf Course/Brookings, S.D. 10 a.m.

Oct. 11 Briar Cliff (Iowa) Invitational Adams Preserve/McCook Lake, S.D. 10 a.m.

Oct. 24 Mount Marty (S.D.) Invitational Human Services/Yankton, S.D. 10:30 a.m.

Nov. 7 NSAA Conference Meet Madison Country Club/Madison, S.D. 11 a.m.

Nov. 21 NAIA XC National meet Charlotte, N.C. TBA

DAKOTA STATE CROSS COUNTRY/1 TROJAN NOTES The Dakota State University (S.D.) men’s and women’s cross country teams kick off their 2015 season Friday evening. The Trojans will run in the prime-time Augustana (S.D.) Twilight meet. About Augustana (S.D.) Twilight The Augustana (S.D.) Twilight meet will be in their fifth straight year, which is held at the Yankton Trails in Sioux Falls, S.D. The women’s are scheduled to run at 8:30 p.m., followed by the men’s at 9 p.m. A total of 24 collegiate men and women’s cross country teams from across the Midwest, including last year’s men’s team champions, The Uni- versity of Nebraska (NCAA Division I). There will be a high school race with 31 schools from across the Midwest, starting at 7:30 p.m. There will be lights, music and food trucks at this cross country meet in Sioux Falls. Follow live scoring results on http:// timerhub.com/eddea82ad2755b24c4e168c5fc2ebd40.html and http://dt.timerhub.com/ xc (unofficial time). 2014 In Review—Men’s capture NSAA conference title The Dakota State University men’s cross country won the first-ever North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) conference title in Billings, Mont., running in conjunction with runners from the Frontier Conference. The Trojan men’s cross country, with four runners placing in the top 10 in the NSAA conference portion, was the first sport to win a North Star Athletic Association Conference title. The Trojans finished the NSAA conference meet with 41 points. On the women’s side, Dakota State finished fourth with 87 points. 2015 Roster Breakdown All men’s runners are returning back from last season’s NSAA Cross Country Champi- onship team. The Trojans have three men’s seniors this season—Taylor Hauge, Jared Sutton and Jared Truman. Michael Carson, Caleb Hemphill, Alan Janisch (redshirt), Mark Moeller, Steve Selchert and Claudio Tejada will also return this season. Corey Hermann is the newcomer to the DSU men’s cross country team. Anastasia Gentles will be a senior on the Trojan women’s cross country team. Four DSU women’s runners—Justine Comption (redshirt), Tyra Laws, Victoria Sopko and Samantha Thomp- son—return from last year’s team. Lindsey Bohl and Karen Mayfield (transfer from Mount Marty, S.D.) are the newcomers to the DSU women’s cross country team. An- thony Drealan is entering his third season as Trojan Cross Country head coach, assist- ed by Cody Foreman. 2015 Schedule Overview Dakota State (S.D.) will be competing in five regular-season cross country meets in 2015. The DSU’s cross country schedule also included hosting a pair of home meets, the Herb Blakely Invitational on Sept. 12 and the North Star Athletic Association conference meet on Nov. 7 at the Madison Country Club. The Trojans will also run in the Au- gustana (S.D.) Twilight meet, South Dakota State Classic, Briar Cliff (Iowa) Invitational and the Mount Marty (S.D.) Invitational during their 2015 cross country schedule. With the addition of NSAA’s newcomers Viterbo (Wis.) and Waldorf (Iowa), the NSAA will have an automatic team bid (conference winner on Nov. 7) to the NAIA Cross Country National Championship meet to be held in Charlotte, N.C. on Nov. 21. A Look Ahead Dakota State (S.D.) returns home on Saturday, Sept. 12 as they host the Herb Blakely Invitational. The meet is in honor of Trojan long-time coach Herb Blakely, who coached at General Beadle/Dakota State for numerous years. The women’s 5K race is scheduled to kick off at 10:30 a.m., with the men’s 8K race expected to start at 11:15 a.m. The races will be held at the Madison Country Club, located west of Madison, S.D. on highways 34 and 81.

DAKOTA STATE CROSS COUNTRY/2 2015 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll—Aug. 26, 2015 Rank LW^ Institution (First-Place Votes) Total Points 1 2 Southern Oregon (17) 528 2 3 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) (2) 513 3 8 St. Francis (Ill.) 489 4 5 Aquinas (Mich.) 477 5 9 Carroll (Mont.) 464 6 12 Indiana Wesleyan 436 7 10 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 435 8 13 Morningside (Iowa) 406 9 15 Taylor (Ind.) 379 10 16 Indiana Tech 366 11 14 Saint Mary (Kan.) 341 12 18 The Master’s (Calif.) 336 13 21 College of Idaho 334 14 17 Shawnee State (Ohio) 327 15 24 Oregon Tech 268 16 21 Northwestern (Iowa) 254 17 25 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 235 18 19 Columbia (Mo.) 232 19 RV Marian (Ind.) 223 20 RV Milligan (Tenn.) 201 21 11 Tennessee Wesleyan 166 22 RV Goshen (Ind.) 150 23 NR Vanguard (Calif.) 146 24 RV SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 132 25 RV Dordt (Iowa) 129

Other receiving votes: Northwest Christian (Ore.) 110; William Carey (Miss.) 92; Dalton State (Ga.) 55; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 43; Cornerstone (Mich.) 38; Concordia (Neb.) 23; Westmont (Calif.) 21; Baker (Kan.) 16; Bethel (Ind.) 12; Eastern Oregon 9; Biola (Calif.) 7; St. Ambrose (Iowa) 6; Campbellsville (Ky.) 6; Dickinson State (N.D.) 4.

^Based off 2014 Postseason Coaches’ Poll (Dec. 3, 2014) Next Poll: Sept. 14, 2015 2015 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll—Aug. 26, 2015 Rank LW^ Institution (First-Place Votes) Total Points 1 3 Northwest Christian (Ore.) (14) 495 2 4 Carroll (Mont.) (4) 485 3 2 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 445 4 9 Aquinas (Mich.) 436 T5 5 Dordt (Iowa) 435 T5 13 The Master’s (Calif.) 435 7 8 Westmont (Calif.) 394 8 11 Oregon Tech 389 9 10 Taylor (Ind.) 375 10 12 Shawnee State (Ohio) 348 11 20 St. Francis (Ill.) 334 12 17 College of Idaho 327 13 19 Indiana Wesleyan 291 14 18 Southern Oregon 274 15 16 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 272 16 22 SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 239 17 RV Milligan (Tenn.) 230 18 21 Biola (Calif.) 222 19 24 Benedictine (Kan.) 210 20 25 Tennessee Wesleyan 183 21 23 St. Ambrose (Iowa) 182 22 RV Hastings (Neb.) 168 23 RV Indiana Tech 162 24 NR Great Falls (Mont.) 104 25 NR Texas Wesleyan 79

Other receiving votes: Concordia (Neb.) 68; Spring Arbor (Mich.) 55; Dalton State (Ga.) 54; Mount Mercy (Iowa) 45; Cornerstone (Mich.) 41; Trinity Christian (Ill.) 35; Cum- berlands (Ky. 31; Northwest (Wash.) 23; Columbia (Mo.) 14; Wayland Baptist (Texas) 14; Doane (Neb.) 14; Saint Mary (Kan.) 12; Huntington (Ind.0 10; USC Beaufort (S.C.) 3.

^Based off 2014 Postseason Coaches’ Poll (Dec. 3, 2014) Next Poll: Sept. 14, 2015

DAKOTA STATE CROSS COUNTRY/3 Anthony Drealan Head Coach Third Season Dakota State University

Anthony Drealan is entering his third year as Dakota State University head cross country coach and his second year as DSU's head track and field coach.

In 2014, Drealan guided his men’s cross country squad to their first-ever North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) conference team champions. The Trojan men’s cross country team was the first sport at Dakota State University to win a North Star Athletic Association conference team title.

In the past four years, Drealan’s distance runners enjoyed terrific success at the national level. Under Drealan’s guidance, Andy Coy was a national cham- pion at the 2012 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 1000-meter run. Coy also set a South Dakota Collegiate record with that two minutes and 24.94 seconds 1000-meter clocking. Coy capped off his track campaign with a fourth-palce finish in the 1500-meters at the 2012 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, running a 3:47.66 DSU record time. Drealan also helped Matthew Fideler become a national runner-up at the 2012 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the mile run with a DSU record time of 4:06.64.

Coy came back in 2013 to finish as runner-up in the 1000-meter run at the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Drealan’s 4 x 800-meter women’s relay team had great success as well, qualifying for the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships, and breaking the indoor and outdoor 4 x 800- meters school records. Nic Penning capped his career by becoming the national runner-up in the marathon in a DSU school record time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 30.90 seconds at the 2013 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In 2014, Drealan coached another NAIA All-American runner Mi- chael Hoffman to a seventh-place finish in the men’s marathon at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National meet.

Most recently, Drealan guided Mark Moeller to an NAIA All-American after finishing fifth at the 2015 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. Moeller was fifth in the men's 800-meter run after a thrilling semifinals race that had to be decided by .004 seconds for the final spot in the finals race.

In all, Drealan’s athletes have earned one individual national championship, three individual national runner-ups, seven NAIA All-American honors and have broken 11 DSU school records.

Drealan is originally from Fulda, Minn. and graduated in May 2011 from Dakota State University with a degree in Business Education. While at Dakota State, Drealan competed for the Trojan cross country and track teams. Drealan holds numerous school records, including the indoor and outdoor Distance Medley Relay (DMR), as well as the outdoor 5000-meters record. Drealan was a two-time NAIA All-American, once as a part of a national runner-up DMR squad at the 2010 NAIA National Indoor Track & Field Championships, and also at the 2009 NAIA National Cross Country Championships. Drealan also helped DSU win its first-ever Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) championship in cross country during the fall of 2009.

Drealan received his master’s degree in Health and Human Performance through Adams State University in June 2013. He resides in Madison, S.D. with his wife Samantha Drealan (Warnke).

Cody Foreman Assistant Coach

DAKOTA STATE CROSS COUNTRY/4