Griz back in Bozeman for second indoor meet
1/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Jan. 23, 2014
The Montana track and field teams will continue their indoor season Friday evening when the Grizzlies compete at the Montana State Double Dual I in Bozeman. The one-day, three-team meet will be held at MSU's Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
Events begin at 4:30 p.m., and Montana will be scored in duals against both Montana State and Idaho State. The Grizzlies were picked behind the Bobcats in both the men's and women's preseason coaches' polls and ahead of the Bengals.
"Our goal Friday is to go in and beat the teams we're competing against," UM coach Brian Schweyen said. "In the past we've looked at getting better every week. Now we've developed both teams to the point where they're a lot more competitive in this conference, with the opportunity to be really good.
"The next step this program has to take to climb higher in the conference is to look at everyone you're competing against and want to beat them. Then learning that you can beat people and start picking them off until you get to the top, and then there's no one else to beat.
"And then you go to the next level, like regionals or nationals, and you do it again."
Montana had athletes competing at Eastern Washington in early December and a handful of multi-event athletes at Bozeman in early January. Last Friday's Montana State Open was the Grizzlies' first opportunity this season to compete as a full team.
With five weekends of meets remaining before the Big Sky Conference championships in Pocatello, the Montana women have seven athletes holding 10 automatic qualifications in eight events. The men have six athletes with 10 qualifications in six events.
Redshirt senior Lindsey Hall leads the women's team with qualifications in the 55-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and pentathlon. Redshirt senior Austin Emry has the same qualifications, with his multi-events being the heptathlon.
Women's Notes
* Redshirt senior Kourtney Danreuther ran an altitude-adjusted 2:12.35 in the 800 meters last Friday in her first attempt at that distance since competing in the pentathlon her freshman season in 2010. Her time leads the Big Sky Conference. She'll be back to the 200 and 400 meters on Friday.
* Freshman Reagan Colyer's adjusted 800 time last Friday of 2:14.16 just missed the Big Sky standard of 2:14.00, but her time still ranks fourth in the conference. She is competing again in the 800 meters on Friday.
* Redshirt junior Keli Dennehy, who ran an adjusted time of 4:59.54 last Friday, is one of three Big Sky athletes under five minutes in the mile so far this season. She'll get another crack at the event Friday, with an eye on her career best of 4:56.49.
* Hall ranks first in the pentathlon, third in the hurdles and high jump and fifth in the long jump. The top threat to Hall winning her third pentathlon title next month is Southern Utah senior Shaye Maurer, who leads the Big Sky in the hurdles, is tied with Hall in the high jump at 5-7 and ranks seventh in the long jump. The event in which Hall has a big edge is the shot put. She'll be competing in that event on Friday and going for her third mark over 40 feet this indoor season. Her PR entering the season was 36-9.5.
* Somebody from the following list is going over 18 feet in the long jump on Friday: sophomore Tess Brenneman, freshman Nicole Stroot, freshman McKenzie Weber.
* Senior Kellee Glaus (39-3) and sophomore Sammy Evans (38-6.25) rank first and second in the triple jump.
* Sophomore Samantha Hodgson ranks third in the shot put at 46-8.25. She has bigger, much bigger, marks in her near future, but will it be enough to reach Southern Utah senior Kayla Kovar, who leads the Big Sky by more than four feet at 52-8?
* Senior Shayle Dezellem ranks fourth in the pentathlon. She finished eighth in the multi-events at last year's indoor championships.
Men's Notes
* Friday will mark the season debut of redshirt freshman Jake Wiley and junior David Norris. Wiley, the former Griz basketball player, will compete in the 200 meters and 4x400-meter relay, and Norris, who spent the fall studying abroad in Australia, will race the 800 meters. Norris finished sixth in the 800 meters at the 2012 Big Sky indoor championships.
* No Big Sky athlete has yet cracked the 400-meter standard of 49.10. Sophomore Dylan Reynolds might be the first. He ran an adjusted 49.64 last Friday and could be sub-49 seconds this week.
* Junior Jacob Leininger may have the misfortune of racing the hurdles in Emry's shadow, but his times shouldn't be overlooked. He ran a PR last Friday and ranks fifth in the Big Sky.
* Junior Ben Williamson, who attended Colorado the last two years (but did not run with the Buffaloes), has been described as `hungry' by assistant coach Collin Fehr. Williamson's adjusted times of 4:12.38 in the mile and 1:56.79 in the 800 meters rank second and third in the Big Sky.
* Emry ranks first in the heptathlon, second in the hurdles and long jump and fourth in the high jump. There are other heptathletes out there who have yet to compete in a multi-events, but for now, nobody has come within 800 points of Emry's score of 5,554 at Eastern Washington last month.
* The Big Sky's top four athletes in the high jump are back this year. Northern Arizona junior Deante Kemper has gone 7-2.25 this season, Northern Colorado junior Trevor Evanson 6-11.5. Evanson got the better of Kemper at both the 2013 indoor and outdoor championships, with Montana junior Lee Hardt finishing third at the indoor championships and tying with Kemper for second outdoor. Emry was fourth indoor and sixth outdoor after winning the decathlon. Hardt, at 6-11, currently ranks third in the Big Sky, Emry, at 6-9.75, which he reached last Friday, ranks fourth.
* Hardt went 46-0.75 in the triple jump last Friday, just two inches off his PR. He ranks third in the Big Sky.
* Redshirt senior Keith Webber, at 16-10.75, is the only pole vaulter to go over 16 feet this season. He is a lock to make it 17 feet, hopefully as early as Friday. He had good attempts at 17-1 last Friday. Senior Kaleb Horlick ranks second in the event with his 15-11 at Eastern Washington.
Players Mentioned
