Aikins gets Grizzlies off to solid start
2/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
University of Montana senior Amber Aikins placed third in the pentathlon Friday afternoon, scoring six points for the Grizzlies in the first scored event of the 2009 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz. Junior Megan Betz added another point for Montana with her eighth-place showing.
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Idaho State???s Sydney Wendt won the pentathlon with an NCAA provisional mark of 3,835 points, winning two of the five events and placing second and third in two others. She was followed by Weber State???s Holly North, who scored 3,589 points, and Aikins, who scored a career-high 3,550.
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ISU, which also took fourth and fifth, had three of the top five finishers.
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Betz was eighth with 3,356 points, freshman Melissa Mauro ninth with a season-best 3,302 points, freshman Jessica Leslie 11th with a season-best 3,108 points and junior Danica Bates 12th with 3,048 points.
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It was Aikins??? third time scoring points at indoor championships in the pentathlon. Aikins, who earned her third career All-Big Sky Conference honor with her placing, finished seventh as a freshman in 2006 and seventh again last winter as a junior.
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Aikins, who is one of the favorites to win the 60-meter hurdles this weekend, took the early lead Friday morning when she posted the day???s fastest 60-meter hurdles time of 8.85. It gave her an early 35-point lead over Wendt, who finished third in 9.02.
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Wendt and North both moved past Aikins after the high jump. Wendt tied for first with a height of 5-8.5, while North was third at 5-7.25. Aikins tied for eighth with a jump of 5-1.25.
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Wendt???s 11th-place finish in the shot put allowed North and Aikins to both pull within 100 points, but Wendt put herself out of reach in the long jump, where she went more than a foot farther than any other competitor and scored nearly 100 more points.
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Aikins was second in the shot put with a distance of 35-8, a career best by over nine inches. Betz won the shot with a career-best effort of 36-1.5, improving upon her career mark by nearly six inches.
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Though the field dropped well behind Wendt after the long jump, Aikins??? third-place finish at 17-9.5 allowed her to move into second place with a 35-point lead over North, who went 16-11.5.
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North retook second place and bumped Aikins to third when she ran a 2:27.04 800 meters, the day???s third-fastest time in the pentathlon???s final event. Aikins was sixth in 2:32.95.
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Wendt placed second in the 800 meters in a time of 2:26.61, coming in behind teammate Sasha Buylova, who ran a 2:23.89 to move into fourth overall.
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Betz placed in the top five in two of five events. She won the shot put and tied for fourth in the high jump with a height of 5-3.75. She went 9.49 in the hurdles, 16-7.75 in the long jump and 2:36.57 in the 800 meters.
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Mauro also placed in the top five in two events. She tied for fourth in the high jump with Betz at 5-3.75 and ran a season-best 2:31.93 800 meters to place fifth. Mauro???s other marks were 9.38 in the hurdles, a season-best 31-11.5 in the shot and 16-0.5 in the long jump.
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Leslie placed fourth in the long jump (17-6.25) and tied for sixth in the high jump (season-best 5-2.5) and posted marks of 10.25 in the hurdles, 27-1.75 in the shot and 2:33.73 in the 800 meters.
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Bates had efforts of 9.59 in the hurdles, 4-9.75 in the high jump, 31-6 in the shot, 16-6 in the long jump and 2:37.71 in the 800 meters.
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Aikins??? championships continue with entries in the 60-meter hurdles, high jump and triple jump. Mauro will also compete in the hurdles and high jump. Betz will be UM???s third entrant in the high jump.
