Hall sitting second after opening day
5/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
University of Montana freshman Lindsey Hall had outright victories in the opening two events and finished the first day of the heptathlon at the 2010 Big Sky Conference championships in Ogden, Utah, in second place. The heptathlon wraps up Thursday afternoon with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
Senior Megan Betz is in fifth place through the opening four events. Senior Amber Aikins is sitting ninth.
Hall didn???t waste any time going to the top of the leader board Wednesday, running a season-best 14.05 in the 100-meter hurdles, the fastest time among the heptathlon???s 15 entered athletes.
Hall increased her overall lead with a season-best effort in the high jump of 5-7.25. Hall cleared both 5-5 and 5-6.25 on her first attempt, then made 5-7.25 after one miss. Hall missed on her three attempts at 5-8.5.
Idaho State fifth-year senior Cassie Merkley, the 2008 heptathlon champion and February???s indoor pentathlon champion, finished fourth in the hurdles (14.18) and tied for third in the high jump (5-5).
Merkley, as expected, took the overall lead by dominating the shot put, finishing more than four feet better than anyone else with a distance of 43-5.25.
Hall???s season-best mark of 33-1.75 ranked 10th and dropped her into second place overall.
Merkley and Hall finished fourth and fifth in the 200 meters to wrap up day one???s events. Merkley ran a 26.07 to finish fourth in the faster opening heat. Hall ran a 26.38 to win the second heat.
Merkley will go into day two with 3,282 points. Hall has 3,138 points, Portland State sophomore Joenisha Vinson 3,052 points and Sacramento State junior Naima Goodwin 3,042 points.
???Lindsey had a really good first day. She came out flying,??? UM track and field program director Brian Schweyen said. ???That wasn???t a surprise. She doesn???t back down to anyone and isn???t afraid to compete against anyone.
???Just a fantastic first day.???
Hall is the top-ranked long jumper among the athletes in the current top four. Merkley is one of the Big Sky Conference???s best javelin throwers.
???Merkley has a pretty good lead at this point,??? Schweyen said. ???Lindsey will probably leapfrog her in the long jump, but she???ll need a huge performance in the javelin to have a shot going into the 800.
???At this point we???re mainly worried about Lindsey getting some solid marks and giving herself a shot at going to nationals. She would have a pretty good shot with 5,250 points. If she hits 5,300 it should be almost automatic.???
Betz has three eighth-place indoor pentathlon finishes to her credit, with a career-best heptathlon finish of 12th at last year???s outdoor championships.
Wednesday she used fifth-place finishes in the high jump (season-best 5-3.75) and shot put (34-10) to finish with 2,900 points. She is sitting fifth, but Idaho State junior Sasha Buylova (2,898), Weber State senior Michaela North (2,888) and Montana State sophomore Sarah McGree (2,887) are all hovering just a handful of points back.
???Megan did a great job today,??? Schweyen said. ???To have a senior go out and compete like that in her last opportunity is what you want to see.???
Aikins, who???s been competing on a limited basis all season because of injuries, not only survived the opening day, she posted a pair of career bests along the way. She went 5-2.5 in the high jump to finish sixth and 33-11 in the shot put to finish ninth.
Aikins also went 14.68 in the 100-meter hurdles and 27.74 in the 200 meters.
???Considering how Amber???s calf has been and her upper hamstring, she is doing really well,??? Schweyen said. ???For her to have a chance to PR with the condition she???s in, wow.
???The only disappointing part of her day was that she was in the slower of the two 200-meter heats. A few more points in that event and Amber would be right up there in the group that Megan???s in.
???With some more good events tomorrow, she should move up some spots and give us three scorers.???
In the men???s decathlon, Montana???s threesome sits between ninth and 13th place after five of 10 events.
Junior Evan Stokken, who was seventh in last year???s decathlon, is sitting in ninth place with 3,299 points, freshman Seth Wright is 10th with 3,297 points and senior Michael Blanchard, who finished eighth last year, is 13th with 3,250 points.
Stokken and Wright are both within just 24 points of Montana State freshman Jeff Mohl, who sits in seventh with 3,321 points. Idaho State senior Corby Kiler has 3,303 points for eighth place.
Portland State senior Nick Trubachik, the 2008 champion and 2009 runner-up, is running away with the decathlon. He won the first three events ??? the 100 meters, long jump and shot put ??? outright, tied for first in the high jump and finished fourth in the 400 meters.
Trubachik, who scored 3,869 points, is nearly 300 points clear of senior teammate Vince Kinney, who???s second with 3,572 points.
Northern Arizona freshman Dominic Giovannoni rounds out the top three with 3,555 points.
Collectively the Grizzlies had their best performance in the high jump, with three career bests.
Wright had the group???s best overall finish, tying with Trubachik and Idaho State freshman Justin Critser for first in the high jump at 6-8.75. Wright made 6-7.5 after one miss, hit 6-8.75 after two misses, then had three misses at 6-10.
Blanchard went a career-best 6-2.75 to tie for sixth, while Stokken went a career-best 6-1.5 to finish ninth.
Blanchard also had the day???s fourth-best long jump, going 21-1.5.
???The guys had an up and down day,??? Schweyen said. ???They were mostly solid all day, not great, with a few really nice events. The high jump, in particular, was good for us across the board.
???I think they???re all sitting in pretty good position to move up tomorrow. I can???t say I???m expecting it, but I???m hopeful all three get in the points.???
The decathlon concludes tomorrow with the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters.
