Griz splitting between Eugene and Spokane
4/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
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The University of Montana outdoor track and field teams will be split between two meets this weekend. Eight athletes will be in Eugene, Ore., Friday and Saturday for the Oregon Relays. The rest of the team will be in Spokane, Wash., for Saturday???s Duane Hartman Invitational.
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This weekend marks the middle of the Grizzlies??? pre-championships season. After this weekend, Montana will host the annual Griz-Cat Dual at Dornblaser Field on Saturday, May 2, and then compete at the Montana State last chance meet on Friday, May 8, before hosting the Big Sky Conference championships at Dornblaser Field Wednesday through Saturday, May 13-16.
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The eight athletes competing at Oregon will be seniors Allie Brosh, Duncan Hendrick and Jesse Loether, juniors Mac Bloom, Sean Clark, Kara DeWalt and Chris Hellekson and sophomore Katrina Drennen.
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Brosh and Drennen will run in the A section of the 5,000 meters Friday night, DeWalt will compete in the only section of the steeplechase Friday evening, Hendrick and Bloom will race in the B section of the 5,000 meters Friday afternoon, Loether will run in the A section of the 800 meters Saturday afternoon and Clark will compete in the B section of the 800 meters Friday afternoon.
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Oregon???s Andrew Wheating, who represented the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and placed second in the event at the 2009 NCAA indoor championships, will be running against Loether in the 800 meters.
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Hellekson will compete in the A section of the shot put Saturday afternoon and the B section of the discus Friday afternoon. He will also compete in the B section of the hammer if an additional heat is added.
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???This meet will be a nice change of pace for our runners,??? Montana distance coach Courtney Babcock said. ???They???ll get to go up against better runners than they typically compete against and people they don???t see all the time. By running against faster runners you???re generally going to get pulled through to better times.
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???And running in Eugene is always a big deal since it is hallowed ground for track and field. That alone should get them excited. You want to do well in that atmosphere.???
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Drennen ran her first outdoor race of the season last Saturday at the Montana Open, running an altitude-adjusted 4:34.18 to place third in the 1,500 meters. Drennen was the Grizzlies??? top point scorer at February???s Big Sky indoor championships, scoring 14.5 of UM???s 39 points with a runner-up finish in the mile and a fifth-place showing in the 3,000 meters in addition to anchoring Montana???s Big Sky champion distance medley relay team.
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DeWalt, the Montana record holder in the steeplechase, has three Big Sky qualifications to her credit through two spring meets. She won the steeplechase at the Al Manuel Invitational on April 4 and won the 1,500 meters last Saturday. Her steeplechase time from earlier this month also gave her a 10,000-meter qualification.
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Loether has earned All-Big Sky Conference honors in the 800 meters at the last two Big Sky championships. He ran a 1:54.84 to place third at the 2009 indoor championships in February and a career-best 1:51.59 last May to place third at the 2008 outdoor championships. Loether won the 800 meters by a wide margin at the Al Manuel Invitational earlier this month, running a season-opening altitude-adjusted 1:53.82.
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???Katrina, Kara and Jesse are probably the three that are going to Eugene that will benefit the most,??? Babcock said. ???Katrina has never run a 5k, so this will be a good place to start because she won???t have to run by herself. Kara is going to see some good competition in the steeple, and Jesse has some Olympians in his heat, so he won???t have to lead the whole way.
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???That type of atmosphere should help all of them raise their games.???
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Hellekson currently ranks third in the Big Sky Conference in the discus, fourth in the hammer and seventh in the shot put. He placed between fifth and eighth to score points for Montana in all three events at last May???s outdoor championships and is coming off a fourth-place showing in the shot put and seventh-place finish in the weight throw at February???s indoor championships.
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???Between the atmosphere at Oregon, seeing some different people and competing in a bigger arena, all that added together is going to be big for Chris,??? assistant coach Harry Clark said. ???It should get him pumped up for his competition and pay off with some big marks. That???s the whole goal of going down there.???
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When asked about Hellekson???s versatility across all three throwing events, Clark said, ???The main thing he has going for him is that he???s a good athlete. Some athletes struggle with the hammer and its faster turns and they???ll struggle going back and forth between the events, but Chris is an athletic big guy with great feet. He can really get things done in the ring.
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???Chris not only wants to do all three events, he wants to do them well. That???s the big thing. Some kids want to specialize in just one of the throws, but Chris is willing to work a little bit harder than most of the throwers in the conference. It???s why we can have a goal like finishing in the top three at the Big Sky meet in all three events.???
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The Duane Hartman Invitational, which is hosted by the Community Colleges of Spokane and held at Spokane Falls Community College, starts at 10 a.m. (PT) Saturday with the men???s hammer kicking off the field events. The running events begin at 11 a.m. (PT) with the women???s steeplechase.
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Montana will enter the meet with 35 automatic qualifiers to the Big Sky meet next month. The UM women have 18 athletes with 27 automatic qualifications in 14 different events. The Griz men have 17 athletes with 20 automatic qualifications in 13 different events.
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???We???re hoping for some continued nice weather that will be conducive to putting up some great marks Saturday,??? track and field coach Brian Schweyen said. ???We???d like to see some additional conference qualifiers and our current conference qualifiers improve their marks across the board.
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???At this point our numbers are good for conference qualifiers, but that can be deceiving because we don???t have a lot of athletes in the top three or four in their events. That???s a big difference. I want athletes on this team, who when they talk about qualifying mean regionals and nationals, not conference. Qualifying for conference should be a foregone conclusion.
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???When we start getting regional and national qualifiers, then those athletes will be in the top three at conference in their events. That???s what we need. That???s what our aim is.???
