January 13, 2026
MADISON, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) swept the third installment of the 2025-26 Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Men's Indoor Track & Field Athletes-of-the-Week awards, announced by the conference office Tuesday.
Tysen Grinde was named as Field Athlete-of-the-Week, while
Lukas Bennett was chosen as the Track Athlete-of-the-Week.
Grinde had a monstrous meet at Mount Marty (S.D.) Opener on Jan. 10 as the Trojans returned to action from Christmas break. He won a pair of field events, winning the high jump with a tied school record clearance of 2.08 meters (6 feet, 9.75 inches).
His high jump mark ties the DSU men's indoor high jump with Doug Vlasman in 1985.
Grinde's high jump ranks No. 1 in the NAIA and the Frontier Conference as of Tuesday.
He also tied for first place in the pole vault with a 4.20 meters clearance (13 feet, 9.25 inches). He ranks third in the Frontier Conference with 4.25 meters pole vault clearance (13 feet, 11.25 inches) at the South Dakota State Holiday Open on Dec. 5.
Grinde also placed fifth in both prelims and finals of the 60-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 8.91 seconds in the prelims and 8.85 seconds in the finals.
Tysen is a native of Spring Grove, Minn., and is a junior computer science major at Dakota State University.
Bennett captured a pair of sprint titles at Mount Marty (S.D.) Opener for the Trojans. He was the only runner that hit under seven seconds in the 60-meter dash prelims and finals.
He clocked a time of 6.95 seconds in the prelims and improved to 6.88 seconds (tied his personal record) in the finals.
Bennett's 6.88 seconds tied the sixth fastest in the Trojan men's indoor track & field school record in the 60-meter dash.
He added the 200-meter dash title with a time of 22.42 seconds for DSU (his time is converted to 22.03 seconds).
Bennett is third in the Frontier Conference in both the 60-meter dash (6.88 seconds) and 200-meter dash (22.03 seconds). He also ranks seventh in the league's 400-meter dash (50.27 seconds at the Dakota Wesleyan Snow Tiger Invitational on Dec. 13).
Lukas, a native of Mitchell, S.D., is a junior physical education major at Dakota State University.
Dakota State continues their busy indoor track & field schedule Friday and Saturday as they return to Ruth Donohoe Fieldhouse in Yankton, S.D. for the two-day Mount Marty Invitational and Multi-Events. There will be multi-events (heptathlon) on Friday and Saturday.
The distance medley relay race takes place on Friday as well. The full slate of events is set for Saturday.
