Hockey team members and their friends will be out in force this Saturday, Hobo Day, in an effort to keep beverage containers out of the waste stream.

“I was completely appalled at the extreme waste going on,” hockey team member and adviser Christa Friedrich said. She and her teammates were cleaning up the Backyard tailgate area Oct. 15 to raise funds for the club sport. Friedrich, a passionate recycler, began picking cans out of the trash.

SDSU women’s hockey player Christa Friedrich, left, hands a recyling flyer and bag to her sister-in-law, Jenna Friedrich, at the Jackrabbit football game against North Dakota State Oct. 22. The hockey team has initiated a recycling program for tailgating areas this season.

She also contacted SDSU Athletic Department Facilities Manager Doug Hagman, who gave his blessing for Friedrich to start a tailgate recycling program.

So for the Oct. 22 game against North Dakota State University, team members handed out clear, 33-gallon garbage sacks to use for recycling items. Friedrich, a graduate student, was impressed with the results. Afterwards, players collected 100 of the 225 garbage sacks they handed out and turned in 123 pounds of cans. The amount of goodwill generated was priceless.

The sacks were wrapped with a recycling flyer that contained the team’s schedule, secured by a ribbon.

The team paid for the schedule printing and the ribbon, but more than met those costs by redeeming the cans at a recycling center. Hagman was willing to have the Athletic Department foot the cost of the bags for that game as well as Hobo Day, when a black trash sack and a clear recycling sack will be given out to tailgaters.

“Some people were using clear sacks for trash, which completely defeated the purpose,” said Friedrich, who plays wing and is the club’s adviser.

This Saturday the team will again focus on face-to-face interaction with Jackrabbit fans. “We could have just hung up bags around. But handing them out individually, finding a can to put in their bags, was really important,” said Friedrich, a 2009 human development and family studies major pursuing the same topic in her master’s program.

The recycling program was the first major recycling project she has undertaken, but she has set up recycling points in her campus work.

“If people know there is a recycling option, they’re willing to do it. You just have to make it convenient for them,” Friedrich said. Toward that aim, players will be standing with clear recycling bags at all exits to tailgating areas when they shut down a half-hour before the kickoff for the homecoming game.

Friedrich was joined by a dozen hockey players for the Oct. 22 game and plans to have 15-20 players and friends on recycling patrol this Saturday.

“The team received many thank-yous from fans who were in support of recycling and appreciative of the effort being put in to encourage recycling at tailgating,” Friedrich said. “It was one opportunity to, hopefully, make a difference. It was a good way to get the word out about our team and good for the environment.”

On the night of Hobo Day, the team will go back to cleaning up on their opponents. The club hosts Minot State at Larson Ice Arena at 7 p.m.

Friedrich hopes fans will support the team and the recycling effort.

About South Dakota State University
Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from eight different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Cooperative Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

South Dakota State University student-athletes and coaches will kick off their community service events for the 2011-12 season with the annual Paint the Falls Blue event Aug. 22 in Sioux Falls.
 
Throughout the day, Jackrabbit student-athletes and coaches plan to visit local schools, hospitals and nursing homes. More than 100 Jackrabbit student-athletes participated in the second annual event last year.

“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity for our student-athletes to be able to promote the spirit of SDSU athletics while we are in Sioux Falls,” Athletic Director Justin Sell said. “This event is very rewarding for our student-athletes and gives Jackrabbit fans in the area a chance to interact with their favorite student-athletes and coaches.

The public is invited to attend a free social that evening from 5:00-7:30pm at the First Financial Center in Sioux Falls. The First Financial Center, located at 110 S. Phillips Ave., also is the location of the SDSU Foundation offices. Hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages will be served while fans have the opportunity to mingle with student-athletes, coaches and athletics staff. Yard signs and team schedule posters will also be distributed. Fans can sign up for a door prize raffle to win Jacks gear and memorabilia.  

The Paint the Falls event kicks off a busy week in Sioux Falls for the Jackrabbits. The SDSU Alumni Association and Sioux Empire Staters will be hosting the annual Jackrabbit Shootout golf event on Thursday, Aug. 25 at Spring Creek Golf Club near Harrisburg.

A group of about 35 South Dakota State University student-athletes and coaches assisted in sandbagging efforts in Pierre and Fort Pierre on Thursday in preparation for flooding along the Missouri River.

Click on the links below for television coverage of the Jackrabbits lending a helping hand.

KDLT Television Coverage

KSFY Television Coverage

The Jackrabbits won the title with 97.5 points as the top four teams were separated by a mere 3.5 points. Oakland took second place honors with 97 points, followed by North Dakota State (95 points) and Oral Roberts (94 points). Fifth place went to Southern Utah with 85 points, while UMKC earned a sixth-place finish with a total of 83.5 points. IPFW placed seventh with 71 points, ahead of IUPUI’s 67.5 points. Western Illinois (66.5 points) and Centenary (23 points) rounded out the field.

Of its 18 eligible sports, South Dakota State finished in the top five in 12 of those en route to capturing the Commissioner’s Cup. The Jacks won the men’s cross country title and finished second in women’s soccer, women’s swimming & diving, men’s indoor track & field, men’s outdoor track & field and baseball. The Golden Grizzlies won five league titles in the sports of women’s cross country, women’s soccer, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving and men’s basketball.

ORU earned the men’s all-sports award after capturing the regular season title in baseball and placing second in both basketball and tennis. On the women’s side, NDSU had three first-place finishes in volleyball, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. The Bison also captured second place in soccer and softball to win its second-straight women’s all-sports title.

The Commissioner’s Cup is given annually to the member institution that collects the most combined points in relationship to placement in league-sponsored sports between its men’s and women’s athletic programs, while the All-Sports Awards are given to the institutions that accumulate the most points in men’s sports and women’s sports. The men’s award is named for former Valparaiso Director of Athletics Dr. William Steinbrecher, who guided the Crusaders from 1979-2004, while the women’s award is named for former Western Illinois Director of Athletics Dr. Helen Smiley, who headed WIU’s athletic program from 1994-2001.

Standings for the 2010-11 Commissioner’s Cup and the Dr. William Steinbrecher Men’s All-Sports and Dr. Helen Smiley Women’s All-Sports Awards can be found below. The breakdown of each institution’s points and finishes within each sport can be found on the attached PDF document found below.

SIOUX FALLS – The fifth-seeded South Dakota State men used an early 13-0 run to take the lead from No. 4 seed IPFW in Sunday’s quarterfinal matchup at The Summit League Basketball Championships in Sioux Falls, and then held off a late Mastodon assault to hang on for an 85-75 win in front of 6,436 fans at the Sioux Falls Arena. 

The Jackrabbits improve to 19-11 with their third win over the Mastodons this season, and advance to play top-seeded Oakland in the tournament semifinals on Monday at 6 p.m. IPFW ends its season with an 18-12 overall record.

Nate Wolters led the Jackrabbits with 30 points in the win, adding seven rebounds and five assists. Dale Moss scored a season-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Clint Sargent finished with 14 points. Jordan Dykstra scored 10 points in his first-ever postseason game, and added five rebounds before fouling out with under a minute to play.

Frank Gaines led IPFW with 21 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds to complete the double-double. Ben Botts and Trey McCorkle both added 16 points and John Peckinpaugh 11 points in the loss.

IPFW scored first on its first possession, but the Jacks answered with the 13-0 run, prompting not one, but two timeouts from the Mastodon bench within the first three and a half minutes of the game.

The Jacks would extend their lead to as many as 20 points in the first half, before IPFW cut it to 43-29 at halftime.

The Mastodons would continue chipping away at the lead, cutting it to as few as four points on three occasions, but the Jacks made their free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Summit League single session tickets are available at Ticketmaster, Lewis Drug in Brookings or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. For viewing options, click here.

Complete tournament brackets and information can be found by clicking here. For more information about Jackrabbit action at the Summit League Basketball Champions, visit GoJacks.com.

Source: SDSU Sports Info

SIOUX FALLS – The Jackrabbit women defeated North Dakota State 62-51 in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Basketball Championships on Sunday afternoon at the Sioux Falls Arena.

The third-seeded Jackrabbits (17-13 overall) will meet second-seeded IPFW (20-9) in Monday’s semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Top-seeded Oral Roberts (21-9) and No. 4 seed Oakland (19-11) will open the session at noon.

The Jackrabbits, winners of nine of their last 10 games, went on a 30-7 run over the final 14:30 of the first half to defeat the Bison on Sunday.

NDSU got off to a good start, opening a 13-6 lead as Janae Burich (six) and Katie Birkel (five) combined for 11 points. Trailing 15-9, the Jacks erupted for a 14-0 run, starting with a layup by Leah Dietel and ending six minutes later with a layup by Jen Schuttloffel.

Then, leading 27-20, the Jackrabbits launched a 9-0 run, pushing their lead to 36-20 on two free throws by Kristin Rotert with two minutes left in the half. It was 39-22 at the break.

NDSU stayed within striking distance, trailing 45-34 after a layup by Danielle DeGagne with 13:13 to play. But the Jacks had one more run left, scoring 13 unaswered points, opening their biggest lead at 60-36 on Dietel’s layup with 6:40 to play.

Sophomore Katie Lingle led SDSU’s balanced offense with 15 points as she hit 7-of-9 from the field. Jill Young added 12. Ten of the Jackrabbits’ 11 players to see action scored, with SDSU holding a 16-7 advantage in bench points.

SDSU shot 56 percent in the first half and finished the game at 47 percent, going 25-of-53, including 6-of-14 from three-point range. At the line, the Jackrabbits made 6-of-10 attempts.

NDSU shot 36 percent, 20-of-55, including 3-of-15 from deep. The Bison converted 8-of-12 free throw attempts, 66.7 percent.

Each team had 33 rebounds as freshman Hannah Strop led the Jacks with six, while Abby Plucker led the Bison with nine. Burich led NDSU with 18 points, hitting 7-of-10 from the field, while Birkel added 13 and Plucker scored 10. NDSU ends its season 13-16.

Summit League single session tickets are available at Ticketmaster, Lewis Drug in Brookings or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. For viewing options, click here.

Complete tournament brackets and information can be found by clicking here. For more information about Jackrabbit action at the Summit League Basketball Champions, visit GoJacks.com.

Source: SDSU Sports Info

Nagy and his wife Jaime, who were both adopted as children, adopted their daughter Naika from Haiti, so they saw first-hand the struggles of the Haitian people, which was only compounded by last week’s devastating earthquake.

The ESPN article also caught the attention of other media outlets throughout the country, including WCCO Radio in Minneapolis, where Nagy spoke with host Michelle Tafoya, and AM 700 WLW, in Cincinnati, where Nagy was scheduled to appear Jan. 19 at about 6:05 CT.

In addition to the radio interviews ESPN asked Nagy to appear on “Outside the Lines” on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 2 p.m. CT.

Nagy also appeared on KELO-TV on Wednesday, Jan. 20.  Click here to watch.

“Having been to Haiti and seeing the plight of those people, I thought it would be a good idea for me to get involved (with Samaritan’s Feet) and get my team involved,” said Nagy while speaking to Tafoya on WCCO Radio on Tuesday.

Already scheduled to coach barefoot on Saturday the Jacks home game against Oakland to raise awareness, money and shoes for children all over the world, Nagy shifted his focus to the relief effort in Haiti once the earthquake struck.

Anyone interested in donating can simply text SHOES to 85944, which automatically adds $5 to your next phone bill. Donations from the 605 area code go specifically to Haiti for earthquake relief efforts. Donations can also be made online at SamaritansFeet.org or at any Finish Line store throughout the country.

The Jackrabbit Athletic Department and some of its sponsors also got involved in the relief effort in conjunction with Saturday’s basketball doubleheader with Oakland. A portion of Saturday’s ticket sales, along with donations from Aramark, Coke and First Bank & Trust will all be donated to the relief effort.

“The situation in Haiti really hits close to home for this department,” said SDSU director of athletics Justin Sell. “I think it’s important that we try to help Scott, his family and the Haitian people in any way we can. That’s one thing I really like about this department and the state of South Dakota – we’re all a family – and we have an obligation to do whatever is necessary to help our family when they are in need.”

Nagy’s Jackrabbits tip-off against Oakland on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Frost Arena, following the SDSU vs. Oakland women’s game at 5 p.m.