Hoopes cleared 15 feet, 5 inches in the pole vault on Saturday while making his college debut with the Eagles at the Yellow Jacket Holiday Classic hosted by Black Hills State University. The old CSC record of 15-3 was set by James Hobson in 2001.

Hoopes is a 23-year-old redshirt freshman who graduated from Niobrara County High School at Lusk, Wyo., in 2008 but then spent 2 years on a Mormon Church mission.

He enrolled at Chadron State last fall and practiced with the Eagle track team, but did not compete while chipping away the rust from being away from athletics.

The men’s pole vault was one of 15 events that the Eagles won during the meet, which included athletes from  South Dakota Mines and Montana State-Billings as well as CSC and host Black HIlls State.

A Chadron State athlete also won the women’s pole vault when senior Kaelie Jelden exceeded her previous career best by two inches by clearing 11-5 ¾.

Junior Alyssa Norton also had a career-best while winning the shot put with a throw of 46-5. That’s more than two feet farther than her previous best, which came three years ago. Norton also was second in the 20-pound weight throw at 51-7 ¼.

Several other Chadron State athletes also had some excellent marks Saturday.

For instance, sophomore Charith Kapukotuwa won the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 59-4 ¼. That’s two feet, 10 ½ inches farther than his previous best. The only Chadron State athlete with a better mark is Doug Lytle, who set the school record of 60-1 ½ in 1996.

In addition, CSC junior Alex Graham won the 60-meter dash in 6.75 seconds, just one-hundredth of a second shy of the school record he set last winter.

The Eagles also won five more men’s events on the track. The winners were Dean Francis, 200; Xavier Kvistad, 400; Alex Johnson, 800; Lanar Newman, 60 high hurdles; and the 4×400 relay team.

Newman also was second in the long jump with a mark of 22-5 ¼.

CSC senior Trae Patch won both the women’s 60 and 200-meter dashes to emerge as the meet’s only double winner.

Jazz and Shelby Bozner, siblings from Rock Springs, Wyo., were on Chadron State’s list of event winners.  Jazz won the men’s heptathlon and Shelby captured the women’s pentathlon.

Shelby also ran on the Lady Eagles’ first place 4×400-meter relay and was third in the high hurdles.

CSC will return to Spearfish for the Dave Little Invitational Meet on Jan. 26 for its next action.

Con Marshall, Information Services
The CSC placewinners at Black Hills State follow:
Women’s Results
60—1, Trae Patch, 7.92; 6, Meagan Nahrwold, 8.60.
200—1, Trae Patch, 26.57; 4, Nikki Glasson, 28.11
400—2, Meagan Nahrwold, 1:00.80; 3, Michaela Odenbaugh, 1:02.98
800—1, *Ashley Riesen, 2:27.10; 3, Teren Hanson, 2:33.03.
Mile—2, *Ashley Riesen, 5:26.93.
3000—5, Jayme Nunes, 11:53.44.
60 hurdles—3, Shelby Bozner, 9.89; 5, Josie Pehringer, 10.11.
4×400 relay—1, Chadron State (Shelby Bozner, Nikki Glasson, Meagan Nahrwold, Trae Patch), 4:08.80.
Shot put—1, Alyssa Norton, 46-4; 3, Mel Herl, 43-1 ½; 4, Cyndi Thomas, 40-9 ½.
Weight throw—2, Alyssa Norton, 51-7 ¼; 3, Mel Herl, 47-9; 5, Cyndi Thomas, 42- ¾.
Long jump—5, Aria Hughes, 16-3 ¼.
Triple jump—4, Aria Hughes, 33-6; 6, Liz Ellicott, 32-5 ¾.
Pole vault—1, Kaelie Jelden, 11-5 ¾; 3, Josie Pehringer, 10-11 ¾; 6, Leah Uhlir, 9- ¼.
Pentathlon—1, Shelby Bozner, 3,082 points; 6, Sami Schmit, 2,670.
Men’s Results
60—1, Alex Graham, 6.75; 2, Cody Roberts, 6.94; 3, Dean Francis, 7.07; 4, Brandon Segelke, 7.08.
200—1, Dean Francis, 22.37; 2, Brandon Segelke, 22.81; 3, Cody Roberts, 23.09; 5, Matt Mathiason, 24.01.
400—1, Xavier Kvistad, 51.15; 2, Gavan Archibald, 51.18.
800—1, Alex Johnson, 2:01.27; 5, Nathan Faulkner, 2:04.82l 6, Fred Culp, 2:07.37.
Mile—6, Nathan Faulkner, 4:39.01.
60 hurdles—1, Lanar Newman, 8.53; 2, Matt Mathiason, 8.77
4×400 relay—1, Chadron State (Ryan Ackerman, Fred Culp, Xavier Kvistad, Brandon Segelke).
Shot put—1, *Cody Hunt, 59-5 ¼; 3, Charith Kapukotuwa, 47-7.
Weight throw—1, Charith Kapukotuwa, 59-4 ¼; 3, Tanner Rein, 50-3 ¼.
Long jump—2, Lanar Newman, 22-5 ¼; 3, *Barrett Browne, 22-3 ½; 4, Donnie Butler, 21-6; 5 tie, Jacob Brunette, 20-11 ¼.
Triple jump—2, Donnie Butler, 43-5 ¾; 3, Xavier Kvistad, 42-10 ¾; 4, Jacob Brunette, 41-9 ¾.
Pole vault—1, Skylar Hoopes 15-5; 3, Joe Hoffman, 14-11; 4, Steven Richendifer, 14-5 ¼.
Heptathlon—1, Jazz Bozner, 4,566 points, 4, Hunter Dittbenner, 4,191; 5, Greg Rodriguez, 4,111; 6, Sean Munger, 4,101.
*CSC athletes who competed unattached.