Hunter Shanks
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- Height:
- 6-1
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- Weight:
- 165
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- Hometown:
- Bennington, Neb.
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- Year:
- Jr.
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- High School:
- Bennington High School
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- Events:
- Middle Distance
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- Major:
- Biochemistry
Bio
Awards & Honors
- GPAC Indoor All-Conference (2023)
- 800m School Record Holder (2023)
- 2x GPAC Outdoor All-Conference (2023)
- Daktronic/NAIA Scholar-Athlete Track & Field (2023)
HUNTER SHANKS STATS
TRACK & FIELD-
Junior Outdoor (2023): Competed in six meets...earned All-Conference honors in both the 800m with a career-best and fourth all-time finish of 1:56.33 and the 4x800 relay team that crossed with the second fastest all-time mark of 7:50.66 at the GPAC Outdoor Championships (5/5-6/23)...credited with a third place finish behind a career-best finish of 53.45 in the 400m at the Red Raider open (4/21-22/23).
Junior Indoor (2022-23): Competed in six meets...broke a school record in the 800m with his time of 1:57.88 at the SDSU Indoor Classic (2/10-11/23)...earned All-Conference honors in the 800m with his time of 1:58.06 that got him a fourth place finish at the GPAC Indoor Championships (2/17-18/23)...recorded the sixth fastest all-time finish in the 1000m with a time of 2:37.95 at the DWU Alumni Meet (2/4/23)...had the seventh fastest all-time mark in the 600m with a time of 1:27.31 at the Dordt Open (1/14/23).
Sophomore Outdoor (2022): Competed in four meets...had a sixth place finish in the 1500m at the NSU Dewey Donat Classic (4/22-23/22) & BVU Early Bird Invite (3/26/22).
Sophomore Indoor (2021-22): Competed in six meets...had a career-best finish in the mile with a time of 4:44.04 at the SDSU D2 Open (1/21/22)...recorded a career-best time of 1:27.12 in the 600m with a third place finish at the Lancer Last Chance (2/12/22).
Freshman Outdoor (2021): Raced in seven meets for DWU … competed in the 800-meter and 4x800-meter relay at the 2021 GPAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships … career-best and ninth-place finish in the 800-meter at the Northern State University Spring Open (2:00.18) … season best in the 1500-meter at the South Dakota Challenge Invite (4:25.95).
Freshman Indoor (2020-21): Raced in six meets … competed in the 800-meter and 4x800-meter relay at the 2021 GPAC Indoor Track and Field Championships … placed ninth in the 800-meter at the championship event (2:03.71) … All-GPAC (7th) performance in the 4x800-meter relay at the indoor championships (8:42.17) … season best in the 600-meter at the Dordt Open (1:28.71).
CROSS COUNTRY-
Junior (2022): Competed in six meets...had a career-best finish of 27:10.1 in the 8k at the Defender Holiday Inn Express Classic (10/8/22)...recorded a career-best in the 4M at the Augustana Twilight XC Meet with a time of 23:34.7 (9/2/22).
Sophomore (2021): Competed in five meets...recorded a season-best time of 29:21.3 in the 8k at the Mount Marty Invite (10/23/21).
Freshman (2020): Competed in six meets...had season-best finish of 28:31.8 in the 8k at the Briar Cliff Invite (10/3/20).
High School: Participated in track and field and cross-country for four seasons … placed third in his conference with a mark of 2:01.7 minutes in the 800-meter run … was part of a 4x800-meter relay team that placed first in their district and third at state … earned cross-country Academic All-State and All-Conference honors in consecutive seasons … a member of the honor roll for six semesters.
Parents: Rich and Marian Shanks
News mentions
The Tiger track teams had strong showings and results at the GPAC Championships with nine All-Conference marks/finishes at the GPAC Championships meet and three athletes qualified for Nationals in Brookings, S.D. The four competing in Brookings will be Wyatt Baldauf, Caleb Sayler and Lila Gronseth.
The Dakota Wesleyan track teams had a very strong showing across the board at the home DWU Alumni Meet. The Tigers set multiple PR’s, had nine finishes or marks that cracked the top-10 all-time record books and again Wyatt Baldauf set a school record in an indoor distance event. This time Baldauf and Caleb Sayler both broke the record for the 1000m indoor event that was set by Jeremiah Panec in 2017. Baldauf now owns the mile, 1000m, 3000m and 5000m record at DWU. Sayler is right behind cracking top-5 all-time in those events as well. Darby Deffenbaugh had a very strong showing in the weight throw reaching a mark of 14.95 which is now 3rd all-time in DWU history. Cale Strong cracked the top-10 all-time list in two events today with his 6.75m mark in the long jump (7th) and 4.05 in the pole vault (3rd).
The Dakota Wesleyan men and women’s track team faced tough competition in the SDSU D2 invite with a lot of the schools being D2 programs. Wyatt Baldauf was the headliner breaking yet another school record in the 5000m. Baldauf ran a 14:55.97 which shattered the 15:05.02 record. Wyatt now owns the mile, 3000m and 5000m record at DWU. Caleb Sayler was right behind Wyatt coming in at 15:14.11 and claiming the 3rd fastest all-time finish in DWU history. The Tigers as a whole earned 43 points with Lila Gronseth being the top for the women with eight and Cale Strong on top for the men with 11 total points. DWU had seven personal records in the meet as well.
The Dakota Wesleyan Men and Women’s track team posted multiple personal records as well as breaking an almost 50-year-old record. Wyatt Baldauf ran a 4:18.84 which is now the top mark in the mile run beating Gerry Boyle’s 4:24.14 time. Caleb Sayler also broke the record with his 4:22.94 finish and is now second all-time just behind Wyatt’s time today. Barrett Nielsen beat his previous finish of 9.72 with his 9.71 time today to keep him at 10th all-time in DWU history in the 60 hurdles.
