Grizzlies at NAU for Big Sky championships
2/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
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The University of Montana indoor track and field teams will be in Flagstaff, Ariz., this weekend for the 2009 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The two-day meet opens Friday morning with the multi-events and wraps up Saturday afternoon with the men???s and women???s 1,600-meter relays.
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The Grizzlies will have 23 men competing in 15 of the meet???s 17 men???s events and 18 women competing in 15 of 17 women???s events.
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The Grizzlies were picked for sixth-place finishes in both the men???s and women???s preseason coaches??? polls.
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The women tied for fourth in 2008, the team???s best finish in over a decade, while the men were sixth.
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Both teams are without their top point scorers from a year ago. Loni Perkins-Judisch, who scored 22.5?? of UM???s program-record 94 team points, graduated last spring. Chris Hicks, who scored nine points in the heptathlon and triple jump, is redshirting this indoor season.
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Montana???s top returning indoor scorers are sophomore Katrina Drennen, who placed third in the mile and fourth in the 3,000 meters and ran the 1,600-meter leg of UM???s winning distance medley relay to score 13.5 points, and senior Dennis Brands, who is coming off a six-point championships a year ago with a third-place finish in the 800 meters.
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Sacramento State swept the team titles in 2008, edging out Weber State by a point on both the men???s and women???s sides. The Hornets were picked to repeat in the women???s race in 2009, while Northern Arizona was the favorite in the men???s race.
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Montana director of track and field Brian Schweyen is taking his first team to a Big Sky championships event, though he spent 10 years (1998-2007) as an assistant coach under previous head coach Tom Raunig.
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???A good meet for us would be everybody coming out of the championships healthy and everybody having the best performance of their lives,??? Schweyen said. ???If that happens, the points will take care of themselves and we???ll be extremely happy.
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???If we go down there and don???t have very many good performances, I don???t care where we place because that would be a disappointment.
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???I want these guys to be more mentally prepared and excited than any meet they???ve ever been in. If that???s the case, performances should take care of themselves and we???ll have a great meet.???
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The meet opens Friday morning at 9:15 a.m. with the first event of the two-day men???s heptathlon. The women???s one-day pentathlon starts at 9:45 a.m.
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The heptathlon features the 60 meters, long jump, shot put and high jump Friday, then concludes Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meters.
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The pentathlon includes the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 meters.
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Montana will have five of the 13 women competing in the pentathlon, with senior Amber Aikins, juniors Danica Bates and Megan Betz and freshman Melissa Mauro all qualifying automatically during the season. Freshman Jessica Leslie was an at-large selection.
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Idaho State junior Sydney Wendt, last year???s runner-up in the pentathlon, had the Big Sky???s top point total during the season by nearly 300 points, totaling 3,819 at ISU???s Mountain States Invitational in early February.
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Aikins, who placed seventh last year with 3,404 points, enters the championships ranked second with her career-best 3,534 points from Montana State???s multi-events meet in mid January.
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Mauro ranks seventh. She scored 3,265 points at Montana State last month in her first collegiate multi-events.
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???I???m hoping the women, especially the young girls, hit the marks they are capable of hitting,??? Montana multi-events coach Adam Bork said. ???They???re going to be nervous, but if they can put it all together I think they can do great things.
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???Amber is definitely ready. She cleared 5-4 in the high jump yesterday, which is a new PR for her, she???s been going over 35 feet in the shot, her hurdles have been looking incredible and I know she can run a tough 800 meters if she has to.
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???If she can have some solid marks, I expect her to PR and challenge for the top spot.
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???Melissa has been high jumping well, she???s been looking better on her long jump approaches, she???s been throwing two or three feet farther than she has ever thrown in the shot put this week and she???s getting more confidence in the 800 meters, which is an event she was terrified of before.
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???I expect her to do really well and make the top five. I know everyone steps it up at conference, but I expect her to do the same thing and even more than the rest of the competition.???
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Aikins and Mauro are also highly ranked in individual events.
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Aikins, who finished fourth in the event last year, ranks third in the 60-meter hurdles, just five one-hundredths of a second off the league???s top time this season.
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Mauro ranks third in the high jump with a season-best mark of 5-6.
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Segota, who ranks 13th and is still considered only probable, is Montana???s lone entrant in the pentathlon. A knee injury has kept Segota from competing since the Idaho State meet the first weekend of February.
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Segota did not compete in the heptathlon last year but has indoor championships experience with a ninth-place finish in the high jump and 10th-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump in 2008.
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???With Christian???s injury and his time off from training, it???s going to be tough for him to challenge for points,??? Bork said. ???He???d been making improvements in the pole vault, but now he hasn???t done that in a month. He???s solid in the other events, but if you???re vaulting 10 feet and the rest of the competition is vaulting 14 or 15 feet, that???s essentially an additional event worth of points you???re giving up.???
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Montana has eight top-five rankings in the women???s field and running events and five top-five in the men???s.
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Senior Jesse Loether and Drennen both enter the championships with No. 1 rankings. Loether, who is competing in his fourth Big Sky indoor championships, has the conference???s top altitude-adjusted 800-meter time of 1:52.51. He is one of only three athletes who have season-best times under 1:53.
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Loether is a two-time All-Big Sky Conference performer, placing third in the 800 meters at last spring???s outdoor championships and running the 1,200-meter leg of Montana???s second-place distance medley reley team at the 2007 indoor championships.
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Drennen, an All-Big Sky performer in her first two cross country seasons, has the league???s top mile time entering the championships. Her altitude-adjusted time of 4:50.25 is over two seconds faster than NAU???s Veronica Pohl (4:53.00), who won the 2008 Big Sky cross country championship over the third-place Drennen.
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Drennen also ranks fifth in the 3,000 meters. The top five in the women???s 3,000 meters is the same top five from last November???s Big Sky cross country meet.
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Junior Kara DeWalt, who scored 7.5 points at last year???s indoor meet, ranks third in the mile behind Drennen and Pohl (and ranks sixth in the 3,000 meters behind No. 5 Drennen).
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DeWalt, the Montana record-holder in the steeplechase, ran the 1,200-meter leg of last year???s winning distance medley relay team and finished a spot behind Drennen in the mile in fourth.
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Drennen and DeWalt will make up half of this year???s distance medley relay team, along with junior Brooke Andrus and sophomore Shannon Sullivan. DeWalt will open with the 1,200 meters. She???ll be followed by Sullivan in the 400 meters, Andrus in the 800 meters and Drennen in the 1,600 meters.
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Montana???s final top-five athletes are sophomores Emily Eickholt and Courtney Kosovich, who both rank fourth in their respective event.
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Eickholt, who has an altitude-adjusted time of 2:14.46 from Montana State two weeks ago, is one of four Big Sky athletes with 800-meter times faster than 2:15.
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Kosovich, who was third at last year???s indoor championships with a height of 12-5.5, ranks fourth this year with her season-best height of 12-7.5 from Eastern Washington???s meet in early December.
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Montana has at least one athlete competing in every women???s event but the long jump and weight throw. The Grizzlies will feature multiple athletes in eight events, with three in the 60-meter hurdles, mile and high jump.
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Montana???s women???s entrants are split evenly, nine apiece, between upper and lowerclassmen, though only two of UM???s nine upperclassmen are seniors: Aikins, who is also competing in the high jump and triple jump in addition to the pentathlon and 60-meter hurdles, and Abbey Effertz, who ranks seventh in the shot put.
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In addition to Loether???s top ranking in the 800 meters, the Montana men have four other athletes who will enter the championships with top-five rankings: seniors Dan Bingham and Dennis Brands and juniors Landon Bowery and Chris Hellekson.
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Bingham, the 2006 Big Sky steeplechase champion who will be competing at his fourth straight indoor championships, ranks third in the mile with his altitude-adjusted time of 4:07.34. Weber State???s Steve Shepherd and Jace Nye rank one-two with times of 4:04.03 and 4:04.06.
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Bingham ran the mile in 2006 and the 3,000 meters in 2007 and ???08, earning all-conference honors with a third-place finish in the 3,000 in 2007. He also ran the 1,600-meter leg of Montana???s second-place distance medley relay team in 2007 and the 1,200-meter leg of UM???s fourth-place DMR in 2008.
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Brands, who is also competing at his fourth indoor championships, ranks fifth in the mile with an altitude-adjusted time of 4:10.76. Brands was a two-time All-Big Sky performer in 2008, placing third in the 800 meters at the indoor championships and third in the 1,500 meters at the outdoor championships.
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He???ll also run the 1,600-meter leg of Montana???s distance medley relay team.
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Bowery, who struggled with injuries in 2008 after placing second in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2007 outdoor championships as a freshman, ranks third in the 60-meter hurdles with a seed time of 8.20.
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Sacramento State???s Ronald Brookins, who placed third last year, has the event???s top time of 7.96, while Weber State???s Tyler McBee is just ahead of Bowery at 8.18.
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Bowery will help close out the championships by running a leg of Montana???s 1,600-meter relay.
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Hellekson ranks third in the shot put (and sixth in the weight throw). His season-best throw of 54-8 is a little more than a foot off Montana State???s Casey Clausen, who has a throw of 55-11.25. Clausen finished fifth in 2008.
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Hellekson is coming off his most successful championships. He scored points in three throwing events at last spring???s outdoor championships, finishing fifth in the discus, seventh in the shot and eighth in the weight throw.
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Montana has at least one athlete competing in every men???s event but the long jump and triple jump. The Grizzlies will feature multiple athletes in nine events, with three in the 60-meter hurdles, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters and shot put.
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Montana???s men???s entrants are slightly top heavy, with 13 of 23 coming from its junior and senior classes. The Grizzlies have seven seniors competing, six juniors, seven sophomores and three freshmen.
