Grizzlies in California for 2008 Big Sky Championships
5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
The University of Montana will compete at the 2008 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday at Sacramento State's Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. Since its refurbishing in 2000, the complex has hosted the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000 and 2004 and the NCAA Championships in 2003 and 2005-07.
The Grizzlies will have 25 men competing, the maximum allowed under Big Sky rules, and 19 women. The men will have athletes in 16 of the 18 individual event areas, the exceptions being the 400 meters and javelin. The women will have at least one athlete in all 18 individual events.
Twenty of the men and 17 of the women were automatic qualifiers. The others were either at-large selections from the Big Sky Conference depth list or coaches' wild card picks (guaranteed entries for two men and two women).
The men's deepest event areas are the throws, with six athletes competing in the discus and four in the shot put. The Grizzlies also have three athletes in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.
The women's deepest events are the 400 and 800 meters, both of which have three entries.
For a full listing of Montana's entries, see the attached PDF file.
The Montana women tied for fourth at the 2008 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, while the men were sixth. The men finished fourth at the 2007 conference outdoor meet, the women eighth.
UM Women: Quality Over Quantity: The Montana women have just five performances from the 2008 outdoor season that rank in the top five on the final Big Sky Conference performance lists, but three of those five rank No. 1. Senior Loni Perkins-Judisch has the Big Sky's best 200 meter (23.95) and 400 meter (54.31) performances this season, while freshman Courtney Kosovich ranks No. 1 in the pole vault with her mark of 12-7.5 from the Spokane Falls Invitational.
Junior Abbey Effertz ranks fourth in the shot put and sophomore Kara DeWalt fifth in the steeplechase.
"We haven't had the best spring to post our best marks, so that has kept our (pre-meet) point totals down," Montana coach Tom Raunig said. "But that also means we have the ability to score as many as 20 points more this weekend than we have on paper. It's hard to get your confidence when you haven't had good weather to train or race in, so the warmth down there should be good for us.
"The key will be getting people out of the prelims and into the finals that first day. Instead of having athletes finishing ninth, we need to be eighth and competing again Saturday. Then you're scoring points and taking points away from other teams. That's what hurt us indoors. We had too many ninth-place finishes."
UM Men: Throwers the Key: Montana had three top-five performances in the middle-distance and distance events (senior Jesse Loether, fourth in the 800 meters; senior Dennis Brands, fifth in the 1,500 meters; freshman Lynn Reynolds, fifth in the steeplechase) on the final Big Sky performance list, but it's the throws where the Grizzlies are projected to score most of their points.
On paper, Montana has four of the top eight shot putters and two point-scorers in the discus and hammer. Senior James Stanton ranks second in both the shot and discus, sophomore Chris Hellekson ranks third in the shot and seventh in the hammer, senior Curtis Bean ranks fourth in the hammer, senior Jake Stevens ranks fourth in the shot, junior Dan Beaudin ranks fourth in the discus and senior Evan Wilson ranks eighth in the shot.
Junior Logan Labbe, an NCAA Midwest Regional qualifier, ranked No. 2 in the Big Sky in the javelin, but he'll miss the Championships with an injury.
"They are a confident group. The shot and discus both have the potential to be big for us," assistant coach Harry Clark said. "The biggest thing is they are really consistent right now. During the indoor season, they would hit a big throw every once in a while. Now they are hitting those marks every week, which gives them the mindset that they can do that any time and don't have to pull out something big at conference.
"If they can hit their normal marks early, then they can go for it big after that."
"The men have had a bit better of a spring than the women," Raunig said. "With 25 men going, we are going to have a lot of bodies, which gives us better potential to score.
"I'm hopeful our sprint group will thrive in the heat down there, and our middle distance athletes are really looking strong. We've just got to take advantage of the opportunity. It's a fast track and we're going to have good weather."
Up Next: Montana currently has six athletes qualified for the 2008 NCAA Midwest Region Championships, which will be held May 30-31 in Lincoln, Neb.: seniors Curtis Bean in the hammer, Loni Perkins-Judisch in the 400 meters and James Stanton in the shot, junior Logan Labbe in the javelin, sophomore Kara DeWalt in the steeplechase and freshman Courtney Kosovich in the pole vault. All six are from Montana.
Additional athletes can qualify this weekend in Sacramento either by hitting the NCAA regional standard or winning Big Sky titles.
The Grizzlies will have 25 men competing, the maximum allowed under Big Sky rules, and 19 women. The men will have athletes in 16 of the 18 individual event areas, the exceptions being the 400 meters and javelin. The women will have at least one athlete in all 18 individual events.
Twenty of the men and 17 of the women were automatic qualifiers. The others were either at-large selections from the Big Sky Conference depth list or coaches' wild card picks (guaranteed entries for two men and two women).
The men's deepest event areas are the throws, with six athletes competing in the discus and four in the shot put. The Grizzlies also have three athletes in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles.
The women's deepest events are the 400 and 800 meters, both of which have three entries.
For a full listing of Montana's entries, see the attached PDF file.
The Montana women tied for fourth at the 2008 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, while the men were sixth. The men finished fourth at the 2007 conference outdoor meet, the women eighth.
UM Women: Quality Over Quantity: The Montana women have just five performances from the 2008 outdoor season that rank in the top five on the final Big Sky Conference performance lists, but three of those five rank No. 1. Senior Loni Perkins-Judisch has the Big Sky's best 200 meter (23.95) and 400 meter (54.31) performances this season, while freshman Courtney Kosovich ranks No. 1 in the pole vault with her mark of 12-7.5 from the Spokane Falls Invitational.
Junior Abbey Effertz ranks fourth in the shot put and sophomore Kara DeWalt fifth in the steeplechase.
"We haven't had the best spring to post our best marks, so that has kept our (pre-meet) point totals down," Montana coach Tom Raunig said. "But that also means we have the ability to score as many as 20 points more this weekend than we have on paper. It's hard to get your confidence when you haven't had good weather to train or race in, so the warmth down there should be good for us.
"The key will be getting people out of the prelims and into the finals that first day. Instead of having athletes finishing ninth, we need to be eighth and competing again Saturday. Then you're scoring points and taking points away from other teams. That's what hurt us indoors. We had too many ninth-place finishes."
UM Men: Throwers the Key: Montana had three top-five performances in the middle-distance and distance events (senior Jesse Loether, fourth in the 800 meters; senior Dennis Brands, fifth in the 1,500 meters; freshman Lynn Reynolds, fifth in the steeplechase) on the final Big Sky performance list, but it's the throws where the Grizzlies are projected to score most of their points.
On paper, Montana has four of the top eight shot putters and two point-scorers in the discus and hammer. Senior James Stanton ranks second in both the shot and discus, sophomore Chris Hellekson ranks third in the shot and seventh in the hammer, senior Curtis Bean ranks fourth in the hammer, senior Jake Stevens ranks fourth in the shot, junior Dan Beaudin ranks fourth in the discus and senior Evan Wilson ranks eighth in the shot.
Junior Logan Labbe, an NCAA Midwest Regional qualifier, ranked No. 2 in the Big Sky in the javelin, but he'll miss the Championships with an injury.
"They are a confident group. The shot and discus both have the potential to be big for us," assistant coach Harry Clark said. "The biggest thing is they are really consistent right now. During the indoor season, they would hit a big throw every once in a while. Now they are hitting those marks every week, which gives them the mindset that they can do that any time and don't have to pull out something big at conference.
"If they can hit their normal marks early, then they can go for it big after that."
"The men have had a bit better of a spring than the women," Raunig said. "With 25 men going, we are going to have a lot of bodies, which gives us better potential to score.
"I'm hopeful our sprint group will thrive in the heat down there, and our middle distance athletes are really looking strong. We've just got to take advantage of the opportunity. It's a fast track and we're going to have good weather."
Up Next: Montana currently has six athletes qualified for the 2008 NCAA Midwest Region Championships, which will be held May 30-31 in Lincoln, Neb.: seniors Curtis Bean in the hammer, Loni Perkins-Judisch in the 400 meters and James Stanton in the shot, junior Logan Labbe in the javelin, sophomore Kara DeWalt in the steeplechase and freshman Courtney Kosovich in the pole vault. All six are from Montana.
Additional athletes can qualify this weekend in Sacramento either by hitting the NCAA regional standard or winning Big Sky titles.
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