Hall's points put Montana women in second
2/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Freshman Lindsey Hall scored 12.5 points in three events Friday to lead the University of Montana women???s track team to a second-place standing after day one of the two-day Big Sky Conference indoor track and field championships. The meet is being held in Bozeman, Mont.
Hall started her day with a fourth-place finish in the pentathlon, then placed fifth in the long jump and tied for fifth in the high jump Friday evening.
Hall, who will compete in Saturday???s triple jump, also advanced out of the 55-meter hurdles preliminaries Friday afternoon with the day???s fifth-fastest time.
The Grizzlies also earned 16 points in the distance events, winning the distance medley relay for the third straight year and getting a third-place finish from junior Katrina Drennen in the 5,000 meters.
Freshman Gwenn Abbott entered the championships ranked eighth in the high jump but had an impressive tied-for-third finish Friday to score 5.5 points.
Montana???s other day-one point came from senior Megan Betz, who placed eighth in the pentathlon.
The UM men sit in seventh after the opening day with seven points. The Grizzlies got four points from senior Michael Blanchard???s fifth-place finish in the pole vault and three from the distance medley relay team???s sixth-place finish.
Hall started her day in title contention in the pentathlon but got tripped and sent to the track in the day???s final event, the 800 meters, to drop to fourth.
Hall held the lead after the opening two events, the 55-meter hurdles and high jump, going a season-best 8.05 in the former and 5-6 in the latter. She had the day???s second-fastest hurdles time and tied for the best high jump.
As expected, Hall dropped to third after the shot put despite going a season-best 30-1.5.
Two-time Big Sky pentathlon champion Cassie Merkley, a fifth-year senior from Idaho State, won the event by over three feet to take the three-event lead.
Hall, one of the top long-jumpers in the Big Sky, fouled on her first two of three attempts in the event but came up with an 18-5.25 under the pressure of her third jump to get back into contention. It was the day???s second-best jump.
Going into the 800 meters, Sacramento State???s Naima Goodwin held a slim lead with 3,033 points. Merkley and Hall narrowly trailed with 3,026 and 3,023 points, respectively.
???We told Lindsey going into the 800 just to sit behind Merkley and make her move at the end,??? Montana director of track and field Brian Schweyen said. ???She was doing perfectly, but Merkley slowed a little, and when Lindsey went to make a move to the outside she got tripped from behind and went down on all fours.
???By the time she got back up, she was off the back.
???It was pretty disappointing, so it was awfully impressive that she came back the way she did tonight. She advanced in the hurdles, went 5-6 again in the high jump and went a season best (19-0.5) in the long jump.???
The Grizzlies won the distance medley relay for the third straight year, with senior Kara DeWalt running the 1,200 meters, senior Erin Clark the 400 meters, senior Brooke Andrus the 800 meters and sophomore Kesslee Payne the 1,600 meters.
Actually, due to an officials??? mistake, Andrus ran 600 meters and Payne 1,800 meters, but it still resulted in a title.
DeWalt has run a leg of all three championship distance medley relays. Andrus has been involved in the last two.
Drennen, who???s ranked No. 1 in the event going into Saturday afternoon???s 3,000 meters, finished third in the 5,000 meters behind Weber State???s Natalie Haws and Sarah Callister.
Haws ran a Brick Breeden Fieldhouse-record 17:00.61 to win, followed by Callister???s 17:11.94 and Drennen???s 17:14.51.
Abbott scored the most surprising points for Montana, going 5-6. Abbott didn???t go over 5-3 this season until qualifying for the championships at Montana State two weekends ago with a jump of 5-4.25.
Friday she went 5-6, as did all the top six finishers. Abbott tied for third with Merkley, while Hall, who also went 5-6, tied for fifth with Montana State???s Jessica Greany.
Blanchard, who also competed in the opening four events of the heptathlon Friday, matched a career best with a pole vault of 15-6.25.
The Grizzlies??? sixth-place distance medley relay team was 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.
In addition to Hall advancing in the 55-meter hurdles, Montana had a pair of athletes move on in the sprints.
Sophomore Jabin Sambrano advanced to the finals of both the 55 and 200 meters. He was sixth in both with two career bests, running a 6.52 and 21.86.
Freshman Chantelle Grey advanced to the finals of the 400 meters, running a season-best 57.41 to place eighth.
Senior Brooke Andrus and sophomore Emily Eickholt, who rank fifth and sixth in the event, both advanced in the 800 meters. Andrus was third in Friday???s preliminaries in a time of 2:14.70. Eickholt was fifth in a time of 2:15.76.
Friday was also the first four events of the seven-event heptathlon. Scoring through four events was not made available as of 11:30 p.m. Friday.
Junior Chris Hicks was 12th in the 55 meters (7.07), fourth in the long jump (21.4.25), sixth in the shot put (39-7.25) and third in the high jump (6-4.75) to presumably finish the day among the top five or six overall.
Blanchard went 7.02 in the 55 meters, 20-3.5 in the long jump, 39-1.25 in the shot put and 6-3.5 in the high jump.
Junior Evan Stokken went 6.85 in the 55 meters, 20-11.75 in the long jump, 31-4.75 in the shot put and 5-7.25 in the high jump.
Sacramento State holds the day-one lead over Montana with 57 points to UM???s 35. The Hornets and Grizzlies are followed by Weber State (31), Idaho State (28.5), Northern Arizona (38), Montana State (22.5), Eastern Washington (22), Portland State (9) and Northern Colorado (1).
Behind a big day from its athletes in the 5,000 meters, pole vault and long jump, Montana State holds the day-one lead in the men???s race with 54 points. The Bobcats are followed by NAU (52), ISU (27), EWU (20.5), SAC (16), WSU (12), UM (7), UNC (4) and PSU (2.5).
Saturday???s schedule opens with the finish of the heptathlon. Finals in six field events begin at 11:30 a.m., while the running event finals start at 1:55 p.m.
