The MSU track team hosted the last home meet of its indoor track season last Friday. The team boasted several personal bests among the athletes and multiple new qualifiers for the Big Sky Conference Championships next weekend. The men’s team had two new qualifiers, the women’s team had three and a previous qualifier qualified in another event.
“This was a very productive meet,” said Coach Dale Kennedy. “Although the meet was a non-scoring meet, it was pretty high key for the athletes still trying to qualify for the Big Sky Conference Championships. There were 15 women’s season bests and 10 men’s bests in this meet.”
Pentathlon athletes Carley McCutchen and Kortnee Barrett took first and second, both finishing with personal bests, qualifying scores and first and second places.
Chelsea Bourque finished first in the hurdles with an automatic qualifying time. Heather Haug had a previous qualifying time in the mile and qualified in the 800-meter, taking the gold with an indoor personal best.
Other top finishers on the women’s side included Camille Marchand in the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, as well as Lierin Flanagan, who took first in the 400-meter dash while teammate Marisssa Stanton took third. Amber Amsbaugh earned the silver in the 55-meter hurdles with a personal best time. In the 3,000-meter race, Keely West took first and ReBecca Sorenson took second. Stacey Irvine won the pole vault, tying her season best height of 12-foot 5.5 inches.
Gage Pickering and Nick Melone finished first and second in the 200-meter dash. Pickering also achieved a conference qualifying time in the 200-meter and a gold medal and best in the 55-meter dash. Forrest Jarvi ran a qualifying time in the 800-meter with a season best time. Other top finishers included Slater Powell in the hurdles and Bryce Shows in the 400-meter dash with a season best.
David Phillips took gold in the weight throw and Morgan Norgaard earned the bronze. Phillips also led the field team in their top three finishes in the shotput. Norgaard took silver and Trevor Gilreath claimed the bronze. Other bests included Eddie Stevenson and Sean Ferriter in the weight throw.
“This meet helped us tune up for the Big Sky Conference championships starting Friday morning,” said Kennedy. The Bobcats are taking 18 male and 18 female athletes to the championships.
All nine schools in the conference will be present for this meet; each school has the opportunity to take 22 male and 22 female athletes, depending on how many qualify. Athletes must either be in the top 12 in their event or must be an auto-qualifier. Montana State will also be taking some athletes who did not qualify for the championships to run in the relay races.
MSU has some tough competition in the championships. Each week the teams competing in various meets are ranked by a power scoring system to determine which teams are favored to win the conference championships. For the men, there is a four-team race between Northern Arizona, Sacramento State, MSU and Weber State. “This is a very close race and any one of the four teams could come out on top,” said Kennedy.
For the women, Sacramento State and Idaho State are in a close battle for the championship. Weber State and Montana are fighting for third and fourth, and MSU and Portland State are battling for fifth and sixth place.
“These rankings can always change,” said Kennedy. “Northern Arizona a few years ago was slated to have an easy win, and ended up beating the Bobcats by just three points in the finals.”
After the BSC Championships, the NCAA championships will be held Mar. 11 and 12. Patrick Casey is the only Montana State athlete who has qualified for the NCAA championship so far, although it is possible for other MSU athletes to qualify if they do well at the BSC championship meet.
After the indoor championships there will be no meets held in the month of March. The outdoor track and field season begins the first weekend in April.
