Big Sky indoor championships this weekend
2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
The University of Montana track and field teams will compete this weekend at the 2010 Big Sky Conference indoor track and field championships in Bozeman, Mont. The two-day meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Montana State???s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
Both Griz teams will be trying to improve upon their seventh-place finishes the Big Sky coaches predicted for Montana in their preseason polls.
Northern Arizona, which swept the men???s and women???s titles last year at the championships at Flagstaff, Ariz., is the favorite in both again this year.
2010 Big Sky indoor championships storylines:
A home away from home: Counting the Montana State multi-events competition in early January, the championships will be Montana???s fifth meet at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in the last two months.
Sixteen of Montana???s season-best qualifying marks this season have come while competing in Bozeman.
???We compete over there a lot, so it definitely feels like our home away from home for the indoor season,??? UM director of track and field Brian Schweyen said. ???We???re comfortable with that facility, and it???s a nice, easy trip. There shouldn???t be any excuses coming out of this meet about anything having to do with travel or other arrangements.???
Team breakdowns: The Grizzlies will be represented by 21 women and 21 men. Eleven of the women will be competing in multiple events, while eight of the men will be doubling or tripling up.
???I think we???re where I kind of saw us at this point before the season began,??? Schweyen said. ???I don???t really see a lot of big surprises out there.???
Of the development of his women???s team, Schweyen said, ???I???d say (freshman) Lindsey Hall is probably our biggest surprise, because I didn???t know how fast she???d come along. She definitely has made some fantastic strides.
???I think Brooke Andrus and Emily Eickholt in the 800 are doing a fantastic job, and of course Katrina Drennen, Kesslee Payne and Kara DeWalt are doing their normal thing, which is great. I think we anticipated the distance girls running well, but some of them are doing even better than we anticipated.
???I think our girls??? team is looking pretty darn good.
???On the men???s team, we???re down a little bit. We just need to get more talent in the program, but the talent we currently have is performing. Hopefully we???ll have a surprise or two on the men???s side that will help us out.???
Griz lacking full representation: Of the championships??? 34 events ??? 17 for the women, 17 for the men ??? Montana does not have an entry in five. No Grizzlies will be represented in the women???s 200 meters, the men???s 55-meter hurdles, mile, 3,000 meters or long jump.
???Not having athletes in an event bugs me like you wouldn???t believe,??? Schweyen said. ???When I look at the list of entries and see events that we don???t have kids in, that???s just inexcusable on our part as coaches.???
Recent history: The Montana men placed seventh and the women eighth at last February???s indoor championships. The women???s distance medley relay team was the Grizzlies??? lone champion, winning the event for the second straight indoor championships.
Earning individual All-Big Sky Conference honors were Drennen, second in the mile, Amber Aikins, third in the pentathlon, and Jesse Loether, third in the 800 meters.
Montana women???s preview
With 11 top-five Big Sky Conference individual rankings, the Montana women are in a position to exceed their projected No. 7 finish. Much of the Grizzlies??? success will be reliant on the weekend performances of junior Katrina Drennen, sophomore Kesslee Payne and freshman Lindsey Hall.
Hall will be competing in four open events, plus Friday???s pentathlon. She enters the championships ranked tied for first in the high jump, second in the pentathlon, fifth in the long jump, tied for sixth in the 55-meter hurdles and tied for ninth in the triple jump.
Hall scored 3,618 points in the pentathlon at Eastern Washington in early December. That mark stood as the best in the conference until Idaho State senior Cassie Merkley scored 3,834 points earlier this month.
Merkley, who redshirted last indoor season, was the 2007 and ???08 Big Sky pentathlon champion and the runner-up in 2006.
Merkley has the Big Sky???s top 55-meter hurdles time this season and is tied for No. 1 with Hall in the high jump.
Merkley has gone over 43 feet in the shot put this winter to Hall???s season best of 28-7.75, but Hall has approached 19 feet in the long jump while Merkley has a season best of 17-2.
???I think it will take career bests across the board for Lindsey to win, but I think she???s ready to do that,??? UM multi-events coach Adam Bork said. ???She looked incredible in her hurdles yesterday, the best she???s looked all season. If she hurdles like that, she should be right with Cassie.
???When she opens with that good race Friday morning, it should really motivate her for the high jump. This week she barely missed 5-7 in a practice setting without any competition, so that was great to see.
???Cassie???s going to get her by a lot in the shot put, but Lindsey???s long jump should be at a season best because she???s starting to feel rested, fresh and fast.
???We know that the big score Cassie put up isn???t as good as she can do either. Cassie???s a really good competitor, so she is going to raise her game as well.
???If Lindsey can take care of her events and not worry too much about what Cassie is doing, she definitely has a shot at winning. It???s going to be a really fun battle to watch.???
In addition to the one-day, five-event (55-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 meters) pentathlon, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Friday and goes through the late afternoon, Hall will have the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles plus the high jump and long jump Friday late afternoon and evening.
???She???s going to have a really busy day, and it???s going to be hard on her. Depending on how the schedule works out, she???ll probably end up running the prelims of the 55-meter hurdles before the 800 meters of the pentathlon.
???Then the high jump and long jump take place at the same time (Friday evening). Our plan is to pop something over 19 feet early in the prelims of the long jump, then have her scratch the rest of her jumps and hope that gets into finals.
???She needs to be as fresh as she can be and bring as much as she can to the high jump, because she has a chance of being at the top of that event. But she???s a competitor, and she???s in good shape, so she won???t allow her body to dictate to her mind that it???s tired. Her mind is stronger.???
Drennen will be seeking the 3,000-5,000-meter double when she races in the latter Friday evening and the former Saturday afternoon.
She is currently ranked first in the Big Sky in the 3,000 meters with her time of 9:32.01 from Washington???s meet two weekends ago. Drennen???s teammates ??? Payne and DeWalt ??? rank second and fifth in the event.
Weber State???s Natalie Haws, one of Drennen???s primary Big Sky rivals in track and cross country, ranks third in the 3,000 meters and will also be doubling up with the 5,000 meters.
Neither Drennen nor Haws has run a 5,000 meters this winter.
Haws??? teammate, WSU freshman Sarah Callister, has the Big Sky???s top 5,000-meter time of (an altitude-adjusted) 16:55.83. Drennen???s outdoor career best in the 5,000 meters is 16:49.22.
???The 3,000 and 5,000 should be pretty good races,??? UM distance coach Courtney Babcock said. ???The 5k-3k is not an easy double, but Katrina really put in a lot of work over Christmas. I think she has the base strength to do it. That???s really going to come into play, especially in Saturday???s 3k.
???She knows that just because you have the fastest time going in, anything can happen the day of the race, whether it be tactically or something else. Everything else gets washed away when you get to the start line. You have to race all over again for first.???
After missing almost all of the 2008-09 cross country and track seasons with injuries, Payne has come on strong in 2009-10. She earned All-Big Sky Conference honors with a seventh-place finish at last October???s Big Sky cross country championships and enters this weekend???s championships ranked No. 2 in the 3,000 meters (just over two seconds ahead of Haws) and No. 3 in the mile behind Montana State???s Heather Haug and Weber State???s Laken Skidmore.
Payne will be anchoring the 1,600-meter leg of the distance medley relay team Friday night, then racing the mile at 2:25 p.m. and the 3,000 meters at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.
???I think coaches and other runners around the conference know Katrina and Kara, but because Kesslee was hurt a lot of last year, she???s kind of coming in as the underdog,??? Babcock said. ???But her confidence is really coming around, and she???s been running really well.
???Heather Haug beat Kesslee earlier this year (at Montana State by just over two seconds on Jan. 29). She is really fired up to not let that happen again.
???Our goal for the 3,000 meters is to get Katrina, Kesslee and Kara all in the top three, and I think that???s a realistic goal. And that could come in any order.???
One other area where Montana has scoring depth is in the 800 meters, where senior Brooke Andrus and sophomore Emily Eickholt rank fifth and sixth with their times of 2:12.42 and 2:12.73.
Sacramento State junior Lea Wallace, who ranks nationally with her season-best time of 2:06.31, is probably off everyone???s radars, but seeds two through five are all within Andrus???s and Eickholt???s reach.
???I think Brooke and Emily are both capable of going sub-2:10,??? Babcock said. ???I think 2:06 might be a little far-reaching right now, but the goal all year has been 2:09.
???Brooke and Emily are ready to take that next step, and they???ve got two Weber girls in the 2:11s right in front of them. They could definitely move up from fifth and sixth. It???s pretty wide open right above them.???
In other pre-championships top-five rankings, senior Megan Betz, who scored in both events at last year???s indoor championships, ranks fourth in the pentathlon and is tied for fifth in the high jump.
Freshman Anika Green is seeded fifth in the 55-meter hurdles.
Making up Montana???s distance medley relay, which will be going for its third straight title, will be DeWalt in the 1,200 meters, senior Erin Clark in the 400 meters, Andrus in the 800 meters and Payne in the 1,600 meters.
Clark, sophomore Melissa Jenkins, junior Jennifer Walter and freshman Chantelle Grey will run Saturday???s 4x400-meter relay.
Montana men???s preview
With only four athletes holding five top-five rankings entering the championships, the Griz men have a much smaller margin of error than the women should they have hopes of surprising anyone this weekend. The key will be holding onto the points the team has on paper and getting season-best performances from those ranking just outside the top eight.
???We cannot have any slips on the men???s side, that???s for sure,??? Schweyen said. ???Through conversations we???ve been having with the athletes the last couple of weeks, I anticipate our men going out there and performing the way they are capable of.
Two important factors will be the two Chrises, those being senior Chris Hellekson and junior Chris Hicks.
Hellekson, who finished fourth in the shot put and seventh in the weight throw at last winter???s indoor championships, currently ranks third in the shot and fifth in the weight.
Like the women???s 800-meter runners, Hellekson has targets just ahead of him, especially in the weight throw, where two athletes have season-best throws less than six inches ahead of Hellekson???s 58-2.5 from Washington two weekends ago.
???Chris just needs to compete at a controllable level, and he???ll do fantastic,??? Schweyen said. ???If he tries to go crazy in the ring, it could be really good or really disastrous, and that???s not a line I want to ride.
???I want him to go in there and be the confident Chris Hellekson that we see in practice every day, and he???ll have the best meet he???s ever had.???
With Hellekson setting the tone in Saturday???s shot put, Montana could have its highest scoring event of the championships.
Sophomore Caleb McSurdy ranks right behind Hellekson in fourth, junior Bryan Slingsby ranks ninth and this week???s Big Sky Conference men???s field athlete of the week, sophomore Joey Frank, ranks 11th.
Junior Richard Brumbaugh, who ranks 16th, was also an automatic qualifier, giving Montana five of the event???s 18 entries.
???The shot put could be a very good event for us,??? Schweyen said. ???The way I look at the shot put is that none of those kids has had their best throw yet. I anticipate them going to Bozeman and having their best throws Saturday afternoon, and that could be a lot of points for us in that event.
???Of course that???s best-case scenario. The reality is that one or two of them will probably do really well and the others just okay. That???s usually how things shake out. But I do know that none of them has had their best throw yet this year.???
One potential area of success where Montana usually doesn???t see a lot of points is in the men???s 55 meters. Juniors Don Danns and David Carcamo, both transfers out of California, Danns from Riverside Community College and Carcamo from Modesto Junior College, are ranked tied for third and tied for eighth going into the meet.
The preliminaries of the 55 meters will be held Friday afternoon, the finals Saturday afternoon.
???Our sprinters have gotten in some good workouts on the outdoor track the last couple of weeks,??? Schweyen said. ???And that makes a big difference.
???At our indoor practice sites, our sprinters just can???t get up to speed. When they got outside, they were able to get in some flat-out sprinting. Being able to get them to open up is going to be big for them when this weekend rolls around.???
And that brings us to the second Chris, Chris Hicks, the wildest of the wild cards entering the meet.
The 2008 Big Sky decathlon runner-up, Hicks has been in a heptathlon funk all winter. He scored 4,491 points at Eastern Washington in early December, nine below the Big Sky qualifying standard and well below his heptathlon best of 5,015.
Hicks no-heighted in the pole vault at both Montana State???s and Washington State???s multi-events in January, resulting in a 3,821-point finish at MSU and a DNF at WSU.
But a week off from everything track and field has put Hicks back on schedule to do what no one outside of the program is even considering a possibility at this point: Chris Hicks, heptathlon champion.
???Chris has come three years in the last three weeks,??? Schweyen said. ???His confidence was so far down. He took a week off, and when he came back his confidence and swagger both returned as well.
???I expect him to do some really big things this weekend. I think it???s going to be an exciting meet for him.
???I think he???s going to be a surprise to some people in the heptathlon. People are going to wonder where he came from. I can see him going in and even winning it, he???s on that much of a roll.???
Five athletes have posted scores of 5,000 points or better this winter. Montana State junior Asa Staven has scored 5,364 points, while last spring???s decathlon runner-up Nick Trubachik of Portland State ranks second at 5,307.
???It all comes down to if Chris can do what he???s been doing in practice,??? Bork said. ???If he does, he could be right up there. I???m actually going to be surprised if he doesn???t go top three. If he has a really good meet, he could win it.
???He wants success more than anyone, so he puts a ton of pressure on himself to perform well. He works so hard that I think he kind of got beat down.
???I think taking a week off and stepping away from things, just relaxing a little bit, he was able to come back and hit a couple good marks and things have just snowballed from there.
???He???s completely flipped a 180.???
In addition to the two-day heptathlon, Hicks will also be competing in Saturday???s triple jump, an event in which he has three indoor and outdoor All-Big Sky Conference finishes.
His 2010 season best of 47-2.5 ranks fourth entering the championships. The two seeds just ahead of Hicks have gone over 48 feet this year. The Big Sky leader, NAU freshman Edgar Panford, has gone 49-1.5.
Hicks???s indoor career best is 48-3.25.
Montana???s distance medley relay team will be made up of freshman Cody Lund in the 1,200 meters, sophomore Case Parker in the 400 meters, freshman Max Hardy in the 800 meters and junior Collin Fehr in the 1,600 meters.
The meet???s final event will be the men???s 4x400-meter relay, which will take place at 5:10 p.m. Saturday.
Montana will have Parker, junior Sean Clark and sophomores Bevan Taylor and Casey Weinman competing.
