Leischner headed in to Saturday with the leading time in the 400-meter dash and Foote had the second fastest time. Both seniors were looking to make some noise in the 400-meter dash one last time. Sophomore Levi Winkels also was in the race as the seven seed.

At 1:25 p.m. the trio made their way to their starting spots and were ready to go. Just 47.80 seconds after the starting gun went off a smiling Leischner crossed the finish line in first.

A little over a second later Foote (48.48) joined him across the line finishing third. Winkels ended the race in seventh with a time of 51.12.

With the 400-meter past them Foote, Lesichner and Winkels still had work to do later in the day. They were three members of the 4x400-meter relay team that were seeded with a time of 3:16.44. Justin Carson was the fourth member of the team.

The time came for the Jackrabbits to compete in the 4x400-meter relay and all eyes were on the track.

Carson started the race and Winkels was second in line. If the Jackrabbits were going to win it was going to be up to the two seniors. Foote got a clean handoff from Winkels, ran a lap and handed the baton to Leischner. Lesichner rounded the final turn while the Jackrabbit fans cheered him on and the coast was clear. He crossed the line with his hands in the air and a smile on his face.

This was the first 4x400-meter relay win for the Jackrabbits since 2010. The posted a final time of 3:14.63.

After the race, Leischner noted, “It was a good day, pretty bittersweet, it was the last conference meet for us. It was just awesome.”

“It was a pretty good day. I felt pretty good in that 400. It was a great 4x4 to end the day,” said Foote. Foote also added,“The two best memories (of being a Jackrabbit) will be the two 4x4s that we won.” 

Foote and Leischner also ran in the 4x100-meter relay as well.

In the pole vault event, Ryan Schaefer took fifth and set a new personal best of 15' 00.25” in the process.

Two Jackrabbits made the top-ten in the discus throw. Cullen Mack claimed fourth with his distance of 159' 8.00” and Ryan Ackman finished seventh with his toss of 153' 3'00”.

Jake Sanderson and Jeremiah Ary finished fourth and fifth in the triple jump, respectively. Sanderson jumped 47' 3.75”, while Ary went 47' 2.25”. Sanderson's distance is a new personal best for him.

The team of Leischner, Dom Wright, Foote and LeAndre Kennedy finished third in the 4x100-meter relay. They had a time of 42.03.

Trent Lusignan added to his 10,000-meter run win on Thursday with 5,000-meter run victory on Saturday. Lusignan ran a time of 14:29.42. Anthony Bongard finished the race in 14:42.88 to claim fourth. Michael Krsnak was the third Jackrabbit to finish in the top-ten. He finished seventh with his time of 14:56.99.

In the 1,500-meter run, Joel Reichow was the lone SDSU runner to finish in the top-ten. Reichow took eighth with a time of 4:00.16.

Phillip LaVallee and Dylan Slaba competed in the 800-meter run. Lavallee ran a time of 1:54.31 to end in fifth, while Slaba finished seventh with a time of 1:55.52.

Carson finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with his time of 53.85. His time is a new personal best for him, which was set at last year's championships.

The Jackrabbits finished in third place with 133 points.

SDSU had ten athletes named to the All-Summit Team.

Full Results:

North Dakota St. 249
South Dakota 168
South Dakota St. 133
UMKC 121
Western Illinois 82
Oakland 35
IUPUI 23

Men's Newcomer of the Championships: Christian Nielson, South Dakota
Men's Coach of the Year: Don Larson, North Dakota State
Men's Field Athlete of the Year: DC Okonta, Kansas City
Men's Track Athlete of the Year: Travis Fitzke, North Dakota State

Next up for the Jacks is the NCAA West Regional on May 23-25 in Austin, Texas. The top-48 individual events will qualify and the top-24 relay teams will also make the cut.