The time has nearly arrived for history to be made in the DakotaDome.
The Dome will play host Sunday and Monday to the Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. It is the first Division I championship to ever be decided in the state of South Dakota.
Not only is it a historic meet for the Dome and for the Coyotes, it’s also a meet that will be well represented. The GWC is home to a range of teams that nearly spans the entire nation. The conference includes Chicago State, North Dakota, the University of Texas-Pan American, Houston Baptist, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Utah Valley and USD.
Dave Gottsleben, USD men’s track and field coach, said the GWC Indoor is a chance for the Coyotes to get a taste of what it means to officially be at the D-I level.
“It’s our dipping (of) our toes into the pool of D-I athletics,” Gottsleben said. “The efforts have been put forth because this is the first (D-I championship in South Dakota). This isn’t the North Central Conference anymore.”
Gottsleben said for the men’s team to be in contention for the conference crown, USD athletes are going to have to go above and beyond their usual performances.
“The things we’re good at, we’ve got to be good at,” Gottsleben said. “The things it doesn’t look like we’re real good at, we have to step up and be better.”
There will be 17 events contested for both the men and women. The Coyote men are expected to do well in the sprinting events, as junior Dominic Artis is the conference leader in the 60- and the 200-meter dashes. In addition, senior Preston Scott leads the GWC in the weight throw and freshman Cody Linder heads up the conference list in the triple jump.
Artis said he is willing to do anything to help the team bring home the conference crown.
“That’s going to be the biggest (indoor) meet and I’m going to be ready for that,” Artis said. “I’m going to bring everything out of the bag.”
Gottsleben said the Coyote men are capable of putting up big numbers in events they are perhaps not expected to score highly in. Ultimately, Gottsleben said he thinks the men’s title will come down to Utah Valley and USD. The final event, the 4x400-meter relay, could decide the conference crown. The Coyotes happen to have the best time in the conference in that event as well.
If history has any say in the matter, the USD men wouldn’t mind if it came down to that final race. Two years ago, the Coyotes beat Minnesota State University-Mankato in the DakotaDome in the 4x400 to capture the North Central Conference crown by 1.5 points.
The USD women’s team is also looking for a repeat performance. Last year, the Coyote women pocketed the final NCC women’s indoor and outdoor team titles.
The USD women appear to be primed for a run at a GWC indoor title this year. Junior Ramsey Fitzsimmons will lead the Coyotes. The distance runner holds the conference lead in three events: the mile run, the 3,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run.
Fitzsimmons said the team has done all it can to gear up for the conference meet.
“The hay’s kind of in the barn training-wise,” Fitzsimmons said. “There’s really not much more you can do to get better in a week. We’re always just kind of waiting for the conference meet to start, trying to stay calm and just getting mentally prepared to go out and give our best performance.”
The advantage also appears to rest with USD in the jumping events. Sophomore Amber Hegge, who redshirted for the women’s basketball team this season, leads the GWC in all three jumps: the triple jump, the high jump and the long jump.
USD women’s coach Lucky Huber said it’s important for the team to stay healthy in preparation for the conference meet.
“With the flu bugs and all that kind of stuff going around, we have to avoid that if we can,” Huber said. “We feel pretty confident that our kids are going to be able to perform at a pretty high level.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams can only take 22 athletes each from their rosters for the conference meet. Huber said making those decisions are gut wrenching for him. The decisions can also be based on what the other teams are going to bring. So, it becomes a sort of chess match between the coaching staffs, Huber said.
“It keeps you awake at night,” he said. “You’re going through, looking at every possible scenario. Not only who our kids are and how they’ll do, but what will the other schools do?”
The GWC Indoor will begin Sunday at 10 a.m. with heptathlon events. The individual events will begin Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and will go until about 6:30 p.m. Then, on Monday, the individual events will continue at 9:30 a.m. and the meet will wrap up around 1:15 p.m. with the award ceremonies.
When Monday afternoon rolls around and the meet is wrapping up, Huber said he hopes the team had a great experience in its first D-I conference meet.
“Conference meets for our kids are really a lot of fun,” Huber said. “Whether you win or lose, that’s not really the key. It’s getting out there and competing hard. We’re winding up and ready to go.”
Coyotes Welcome D-I to the Dome
Published: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
 "Photo: Brian Broekemeier, The Volante")
Brian Broekemeier, The Volante
Coaches Lucky Huber (left) and Dave Gottsleben (right) will lead the Coyotes into the Great West Championships March 1-2.
 "Photo: John Larson, The Volante")
John Larson, The Volante
Freshman Caleb Peters competes in the high jump in the Graphic Edge Open last month. Peters and the Coyotes will take part in this weekend’s Great West Conference Championships against six other teams.
2 comments