South Dakota Track Quickly Becoming a National Player [AUDIO]

When freshman Meghan Dennis heads down the javelin runway Wednesday night at the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, she'll be continuing the quick rise of the South Dakota women's track program to national prominence.

Dennis is one of four Coyotes field events athletes taking part in the meet, along with pole vaulters Bethany Buell and Emily Grove, and high jumper Megan Glisar.

For most schools the size of USD, getting four athletes to nationals is an accomplishment, to do it in just the Coyotes fourth season of D-1 eligibility is impressive.  Head Coach Lucky Huber is enjoying the ride.

South Dakota is in Eugene this week looking to improve on last season's 34th place finish at nationals, as three athletes (Buell, Grove, and hurdler Alexa Duling) represented the Coyotes in Des Moines.

USD's women are ranked 31st in the nation coming into the meet, the fifth best among non-BCS conference schools.

This year's Coyote squad has a chance to make some real noise in Eugene as Buell and Grove qualified 1-2 in the pole vault, Glisar (the 2012 NAIA indoor champ) 13th in the high jump, and Dennis 17th in the javelin.

Glisar says success is contagious at USD these days.

For Grove and Buell, the credit for the success on the track in Vermillion all goes to Huber and his staff.

Huber believes that in order to attract the best talent to Vermillion, his staff needs to provide the best instruction possible.

For Grove and the other USD athletes, this run of success is making this mid-major upper Midwest school feel like the big time.

Dennis competes in the javelin Wednesday at 7:15pm Central, Buell and Grove go in the pole vault Friday at 5:15pm, Glisar in the high jump Saturday at 2:45pm.