Rookie, heptathletes steal the show
4/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
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The University of Montana had three heptathletes and one decathlete post Big Sky Conference qualifying scores Friday afternoon on the second day of the Montana Open multi-events at Dornblaser Field. Sophomore Evan Stokken qualified in his first career decathlon, while juniors Megan Betz and Danica Bates and freshman Melissa Mauro qualified in their lone heptathlon-qualifying opportunity of the spring.
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Junior Chris Hicks, who was already qualified, scored a decathlon-winning 6,801 points to improve his season mark to the second best score in the conference behind Portland State???s Nick Trubachik???s 6,872 points. Trubachik won the Big Sky decathlon title last year with 7,058 points, topping runner-up Hicks by 81 points.
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Betz, Mauro and Bates all scored between 4,446 and 4,556 points, which puts all three in the top seven in the conference. Betz???s winning total of 4,556 points puts her fourth in the Big Sky.
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With the absence of junior Michael Blanchard, who competed Thursday but was unavailable to compete Friday, Hicks and Stokken went head to head in the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters Friday.
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Hicks topped Stokken in four of the five events, with a career best in the javelin by over 14 feet. Hicks posted marks of 16.33 in the hurdles, 121-11 in the discus, 14-0 in the pole vault, 183-6 in the javelin and 4:37.94 in the 1,500 meters.
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Stokken, a converted hurdler, went 15.74 in the hurdles, 104-10 in the discus, 13-0.25 in the pole vault, 170-5 in the javelin and 5:10.60 in the 1,500 meters to score 6,108 points, well over the 5,500-point Big Sky qualifying standard. His decathlon-debut score puts him at No. 6 on the current Big Sky Conference performance list.
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???Over 6,100 points? That???s pretty impressive for someone???s first multi-event competition of their life,??? multi-events coach Adam Bork said. ???And that???s without putting in a lot of work in some of the events. If we keep working with Evan these next few weeks, he should be able to put up another 500 points and place at conference.
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???He wasn???t really pleased with a number of his marks, and that???s good for me to see. I know he can do a lot better, and it???s nice to see he knows he can do a lot better.???
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Stokken mainly hurdled as a freshman, with some sprints and jumps on the side, then added the pole vault during this winter???s indoor season. He scored points at February???s indoor championships with an eighth-place showing in the 60-meter hurdles.
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???The coaches thought I could be a lot better decathlete than just a hurdler,??? Stokken said about his transition to multi-event athlete. ???In high school I was doing five different events at every meet, so it???s what I???m used to. This was actually the funnest meet I???ve done in college.
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???I was disappointed in some of my jumps and my hurdles time wasn???t that great, but I was happy to get over 6,000 points. I know that I can definitely improve on that.???
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Hicks scored 3,435 points Thursday, then added 3,366 more Friday to come within 200 of his personal best of 6,977, which he scored at last May???s Big Sky championships.
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???I think Chris and I are both pretty happy with 6,800 points this early in the season,??? Bork said. ???It shows us his training is paying off. He???ll need to get closer to 7,100 points to win at conference, but he just scored 6,800 when he really didn???t have any great marks. He???s definitely capable of a lot more in all the events.???
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Hicks is closing in on the NCAA provisional mark of 6,900 points. The NCAA???s automatic qualifying standard is 7,500 points.
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???This really improves my confidence,??? Hicks said. ???I didn???t hit a lot of the marks that I wanted to reach, but conference is still three or four weeks away. I???ve got time to improve on my marks in the open meets, then when conference gets here my confidence should be at an all-time high.???
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Betz not only qualified for her second straight Big Sky Conference championships in the heptathlon, she smashed her previous career best of 4,134 points by over 400 points.
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Betz opened her day by long-jumping 16-10.5, a career best by over seven inches. After a javelin throw of 86-10, she took nearly nine seconds off her 800-meter career best by running a 2:28.71 in the heptathlon???s final event.
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???It???s all about having more experience, that???s all there is to it,??? said Betz, who placed 13th at last May???s outdoor championships with 4,134 points. ???Last year I really had no idea what was going on, but the more you work at the events, the better and more comfortable you???re going to get.
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???This score just does so much for my confidence. I???ve already hit some of my goals that I set for the year, so now I need to shoot for some higher goals. And it wasn???t just me. Everybody did well today. By conference, when we???re fresh, this group is going to kick some butt.???
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???This is a huge jump for Megan,??? Bork said. ???With experience you just get more comfortable. In the throws and the jumps you only get three attempts, so it???s easy for people to get tight. It can be hard to stay relaxed and confident. That???s getting easier for Megan to do.
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???We try to get our athletes to set their goals high, but until they have that little bit of success, they really don???t know how good they can actually be. This was her meet when she can say, Wow, I can do this. Now she???s going to push harder and work harder and just go up from here. She???s still got a lot more in her than she showed today.???
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Mauro and Bates, who were in second and third behind Betz after day one, both qualified in the pentathlon during the indoor season.
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Mauro went 16-10.75 in the long jump Friday, then finished second among the group in both the javelin (97-6) and 800 meters (2:25.76).
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Bates went 16-2.25 in the long jump, had the day???s best javelin throw (117-5) by nearly 20 feet and finished the day off with a 2:28.22 in the 800 meters.
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???Putting up these types of scores three of four weeks out from conference and seeing them compete at this level, they???re seeing that their training is paying off,??? Bork said. ???We had some heptathlon PRs, but within that there were a number of event PRs. I know they???re happy, and I???m definitely happy with the way everyone performed.
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???Doing this at this facility, I know they???re going to be ready once conference rolls around.???
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Freshman Asia Graham scored 4,065 points to come within 35 points of the Big Sky???s qualifying standard of 4,100.
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Freshman Jessica Leslie, who had the day???s best long jump (16-11.5) and 800 meters (2:24.10), finished with 3,915 points.
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DAY ONE RECAP: Betz and Hicks take early multi-event leads
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Juniors Megan Betz and Chris Hicks each grabbed opening-day leads in the heptathlon and decathlon at the Montana Open multi-events on a cool, sunny Thursday afternoon at Dornblaser Field in Missoula. Both multi-events will conclude Friday afternoon, with the main Montana Open meet taking place Saturday.
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Betz scored 2,839 points through the opening four events of the heptathlon, taking the lead over her four teammates. Freshman Melissa Mauro trails in second with 2,672 points, junior Danica Bates is in third with 2,604 points, freshman Asia Graham is in fourth with 2,415 points and freshman Jessica Leslie is in fifth with 2,296 points.
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The heptathletes will have the long jump, javelin and 800 meters Friday to reach the Big Sky Conference qualifying standard of 4,100 points.
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???Across the board I think everyone came out and put up some good marks,??? multi-events coach Adam Bork said about the heptathlon. ???Everybody???s sitting in pretty good position to get qualified.
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???We trained through this week with some hard efforts on Monday and Tuesday, so we???re not nearly as fresh as we could be, and we haven???t spent a ton of time yet in some of the events because of the weather, so I???m happy with all these marks.???
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Betz had the best opening day of her career, posting outdoor career bests in three of four events. She opened with the day???s fastest 100-meter hurdles, running a career-best 15.20, then went 5-1.75 in the high jump. She just missed on her final attempt at 5-3.
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Betz beat the rest of the field by over three feet in the shot put, posting an outdoor career-best distance of 36-0.75. She finished off her day with a career-best 26.80 in the 200 meters.
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Betz???s career-best heptathlon score of 4,134 was set at last spring???s Big Sky Conference championships. She had a day-one score of 2,642 at that meet, 197 less than Thursday???s effort.
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???I came in with a positive attitude today and had a really good feeling,??? Betz said after the 200 meters. ???It???s definitely nice competing at home, even if we didn???t have any outside competition. It???s only going to help us down the road because this is where conference is.
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???We???ve been doing a lot of technique work, and Adam???s really been pushing us with some hard workouts these last few weeks between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
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???I was aggressive right from the start today in the hurdles, I high-jumped pretty well and I was able to stay relaxed in the shot. Nobody likes running the 200, but I think we all had pretty good times.???
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Mauro stumbled over a hurdle midway through the opening event and finished nearly a second and a half off her usual hurdles time, but she came back to post the day???s best height in the high jump (5-3) and the day???s fastest 200 meters (26.35).
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Mauro and Leslie, who both competed in the pentathlon during the indoor season, are competing in their first collegiate heptathlon, while Graham is competing in her first collegiate multi-events.
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Senior James Brown joined the decathletes in the day???s opening event, the 100 meters, then it was Hicks, junior Michael Blanchard and sophomore Evan Stokken through the remaining four events.
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Blanchard will miss Friday???s events for an ROTC commitment, leaving just Hicks and Stokken for the final five events.
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Hicks scored 3,435 points Thursday to take a 318-point lead over Stokken, who scored 3,117 points in his first collegiate multi-events. Blanchard scored 3,013 points.
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Hicks and Blanchard have both posted Big Sky-qualifying decathlon scores. Hicks scored 5,769 points in Mesa, Ariz., last month, while Blanchard scored 5,704 points last month in Spokane, Wash.
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Both have day-one totals beyond what they scored last month. Hicks posted a 3,200 and Blanchard a 2,946.
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???The biggest thing I saw today with Chris and Mike is that they???re getting better in all their events across the board from their decathlons last month,??? Bork said. ???Both their 100s were faster, their long jumps were better, their shot puts were good, their high jumps were good and their 400s were pretty good.
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???They had hard workouts Monday and Tuesday, so they weren???t feeling really fresh today, but they???re both getting a lot better technically. And we didn???t have any big letdowns from anybody, which is the biggest key to success in decathlon.???
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Hicks had marks better than last month???s decathlon in four of five events Thursday, including a huge career best in the shot put. Outside of finishing second to the interloping Brown in the 100 meters, Hicks had the day???s top mark in every event.
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???Chris wanted to be closer to 3,500 today, but with the workouts we???ve done this week I???m not surprised he didn???t quite reach it,??? Bork said. ???He wanted to go a little higher in the high jump and run a little bit faster 400, but he???s still on pace to get close to 6,900 by tomorrow, which would give him the best mark in the conference.???
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Hicks, who was second in the decathlon at last spring???s Big Sky championships, ran an 11.70 in the 100 meters, then approached a career best in the long jump with a third-jump effort of 21-10.25. He went 39-5.25 in the shot put, a career best by over three feet, then posted marks of 6-0.5 in the high jump and 52.09 in the 400 meters.
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???I think the difference between today and the meet in Arizona was just the mental side of things,??? Hicks said after running the 400 meters. ???Coming into the outdoor season, especially early down in Arizona, I wasn???t really watching a lot of video and I wasn???t really mentally prepared.
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???I???ve rethought a lot of the things that happened in Arizona. Since then I???ve been watching a lot of video and going through a lot more visualization to become more comfortable with every event. It???s just increased confidence that came through today.???
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Stokken placed just behind Hicks in four of Thursday???s five events. His 3,117 points have him on his way to hitting the Big Sky Conference qualifying standard of 5,500 points.
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Stokken went 11.72 in the 100 meters, 20-6.25 in the long jump, 34-5.75 in the shot, 5-8.75 in the high jump and 53.32 in the 400 meters.
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???This was the first time Evan has ever tried this, and his marks were solid through every event,??? Bork said about the hurdler. ???He???s going to be very comfortable opening tomorrow with the (110-meter) hurdles and he should be fine in the other events.???
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The decathlon starts at noon Friday and will feature the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters. The heptathlon starts at 12:15 p.m. and will close with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
