Hall dominant in collegiate debut
12/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
University of Montana freshman Lindsey Hall scored 3,618 points to win the women???s pentathlon Friday at Eastern Washington???s Candy Cane Invitational in Cheney, Wash. Hall not only qualified for the Big Sky Conference championships with her score, she came within 69 points of the Montana pentathlon record in her first collegiate meet.
Sophomore Melissa Mauro joined Hall as an early Big Sky qualifier, finishing second with 3,266 points.
Hall and Mauro both met the Big Sky qualifying standard of 3,100 points.
Freshman Kourtney Danreuther, who had a no-height in the high jump, placed fifth with 2,440 points. Senior Megan Betz scratched from the meet.
Hall jumped to a big lead from the opening event, running an 8.24 in the 55-meter hurdles.
She matched Mauro with a 5-5 in the high jump, then went 28-7.75 in the shot put before gapping the competition with a long jump of 18-4.5.
Mauro???s long jump of 16-2.25 was the day???s second-best distance.
Hall, who would have placed second at last winter???s Big Sky Conference indoor championships with her score, closed out her victory with a 2:33.31 in the 800 meters, second only to Danreuther???s winning 2:25.32.
???A freshman coming in and putting up that kind of a score shows the talent she has and how good she???s going to be,??? second-year track and field program director Brian Schweyen said. ???But she???s got a lot of room for improvement, which is the most important thing you can say at this point.???
Mauro went 8.64 in the hurdles, had the day???s best effort of 30-7.75 in the shot put and closed with a 2:38.10 in the 800.
Danreuther went 9.04 in the hurdles before no-heighting in the high jump, then posted marks of 27-8 in the shot and 15-0 in the long jump before running the day???s fastest 800 meters.
Through four of seven events in the men???s heptathlon, three Grizzlies are within 81 points of each other in the five-athlete field.
Senior Michael Blanchard is sitting in second with 2,501 points, junior Evan Stokken is third with 2,480 points and junior Chris Hicks is fifth with 2,420 points.
Everyone is chasing Eastern Washington???s Kersee Lind, who scored a day???s-best 2,723 points.
Stokken???s 6.92 in the 55 meters was Montana???s only winning performance in the opening four events. Lind won both the long jump (21-4.25) and high jump (6-4.75), while teammate Tim Armstrong won the shot put.
The heptathlon concludes Saturday morning with the 55-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meters.
The Big Sky Conference qualifying standard is 4,500 points.
