Griz open indoor season this week at Candy Cane VII
12/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
The Montana track and field teams will open their indoor season this week at the seventh annual Candy Cane Invitational at Cheney, Wash. The two-day meet is hosted by Eastern Washington and held at EWU's Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse.
The meet opens Friday with the multi-events. The women's pentathlon and men's heptathlon begin at 11:30 a.m. (MT). The heptathlon concludes Saturday morning.
The rest of the meet will take place Saturday afternoon. The field events begin at noon (MT), the running events, which include only the 55 meters, 55-meter hurdles and 600 meters, at 1:30 p.m. (MT).
Montana won't have any athletes competing in the heptathlon, but the Grizzlies will have five athletes in the one-day pentathlon. Redshirt senior Shayle Dezellem will be joined by sophomores Lakyn Connors, Maggie Hering and Nicole Stroot, and freshman Erika McLeod, of Butte.
Dezellem finished eighth in the pentathlon at the 2013 Big Sky indoor championships and was seventh last year. Stroot finished 13th last winter after joining the team as a long jumper. Stroot and Connors both competed in the heptathlon last spring at the outdoor championships.
"It's a good group," said UM coach Brian Schweyen, who for the first time since 2009 will not have seven-time Big Sky champion Lindsey Hall on his roster.
"Two things are really encouraging about this group. First, there is a lot of talent there. Second, it's a group that can push each other on a daily basis and in competition, which is good."
She has yet to compete for the first time in college, but McLeod, who scored 48 of Butte High's 50 points at last spring's Class AA state meet, with victories in the 200 meters, 300-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump, might one day near some of the totals Hall posted in her decorated career.
But before that can happen, McLeod has to compete in her first collegiate multi-events. Then the career projections can be started.
"She's very talented and picks things up quickly. But for this meet, I'm more interested in seeing how she competes. That's the unknown right now. I anticipate she'll compete very well, but that's what we have to assess before we go from here," said Schweyen.
McLeod is one of 18 true freshmen on Montana's roster. A number of them will be impact performers in their opening season of collegiate competition.
Morgan Sulser, of Billings, is the Montana all-class record-holder in the 100-meter hurdles, an event she dominated in the state the last three years; Hana Feilzer, of Missoula, won the discus and added runner-up finishes at the 2014 state meet in the high jump and shot put; and Claire Dalman, of Crystal Lake, Ill., joins the program with a prep best of 12-3 in the pole vault.
"It's a really good group. We're excited about the freshmen on the girls' side," said Schweyen.
One of the Grizzlies' returning headliners who will be competing Saturday will be junior Sammy Evans in the jumps. Evans won Big Sky triple jump titles at both the 2014 indoor and outdoor championships. In 2015 she will be attempting to become an all-around jumping force.
She's gone 18-2.5 in the long jump in her career and 5-3.25 in the high jump. Both events should have notable improvements this winter and spring.
"Sammy has made a point to focus on being a three-event athlete," Schweyen said. "She has a lot of speed, so she should be able to long jump a long ways. And she should be able to improve her high jump as well as improve on what she's done in the triple jump."
Freshman Charlie Bush is the only multi-event athlete on the men's roster. He won't be competing in the heptathlon this week, but he will be part of an event that Montana may be dominating for the near future: the pole vault.
"That's what we're hoping for," said Schweyen. "It's realistic that that's what we're hoping for, and beyond that, it might be something we should even be expecting. It's a good enough group that that should happen for us."
Keith Webber won Big Sky titles in the event at both the indoor and outdoor championships last year. He's gone, but the cupboard is far from empty.
Bush, of Poway, Calif., was a 15-9 vaulter in high school, freshman Jakob Alme a 15-6 vaulter. They join redshirt freshman Riley Neville, who went 15-11 last year during the outdoor season and redshirt freshman Peter Sirmon, who's debut campaign never got rolling because of a lingering foot injury.
Sophomore Pierce Frazier went 14-11 last year, and freshman Brett Dringman, of Billings, had a prep best of 14-7.
"Peter would have gone really high last year had his foot not been bothering him. That's finally feeling good, and that's great for us, because he has a lot of talent," said Schweyen.
The Montana men have 13 newcomers, some of whom won't be heard from until the outdoor season, when the javelin can finally be thrown (name to remember: Jensen Lillquist).
Local sprinters Alex Mustard and Sterling Reneau signed with Montana, and Matt Quist, of Bigfork, is a 6-9 high jumper.
For this week's meet, Schweyen is ready to watch Kerson Lubin, of Federal Way, Wash., and Logan Laird, of Billings. Lubin had prep bests at Todd Beamer High of 10.9 in the 100 meters and 22.2 in the 200. Laird had bests at Billings West High of 22.3 in the 200 and 49.7 in the 400.
"I'm interested to see what Kerson does. He's fast and quick, so the 55 and 60 meters might be right in his wheelhouse. He might really fly, but mostly I want to see how he competes," said Schweyen.
"And Logan is really doing some nice things. I'm curious to see what he can do in the 600 this week and down the road in the 400. I think he's going to surprise some people."
Montana won't compete again until the Grizzlies' multi-eventers travel to Montana State Jan. 5-6. The full team, distance athletes finally included, won't compete until Jan. 16 at Montana State.
"We used to say the Candy Cane is a nice reward for a fall of hard work, but I'm not looking at it anymore as a reward," said Schweyen.
"I'm expecting us to go and compete and put up some big marks. I want to see some marks that are bigger than expected and have those carry into January."
Players Mentioned
