Montana
Big Sky Conference Championships
Emry, Webber win Big Sky titles Friday at Flagstaff
5/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
May 16, 2014
Austin Emry and Keith Webber, both fifth-year seniors, won individual titles Friday on the third day of the Big Sky Conference outdoor track and field championships at Flagstaff, Ariz.
Emry won the long jump with a season-best effort of 24-2.5 for his third career Big Sky title, and Webber added a victory in the pole vault to the gold he won at the indoor championships in February. He was the only athlete in the field to break 17 feet, going 17-0.75.
The two victories helped the Grizzlies to a 36-point day and a fourth-place standing going into Saturday. Montana State, with 50 points, leads the men's standings. The Bobcats are followed by Northern Arizona (45) and Southern Utah (39).
Fifth-year senior Lindsey Hall gave Montana 10 early points when she won the heptathlon on Thursday. She added nine more on Friday, finishing fourth in the long jump at 18-8 and tying for fourth in the high jump at 5-5.
The UM women have 34 points and also are in fourth place. Northern Arizona, with 71 points, is running away with the championships. The Lumberjacks are trailed by Montana State (39) and Eastern Washington (38).
Emry, the event favorite, went 24-2.5 on his first of six jumps, and his winning distance was actually matched by Sacramento State's Michael Turner, but Emry's second-best jump of 23-8.25 was better than Turner's, and that tiebreaker gave Emry his first conference title that wasn't in the multi-events.
His new season-best distance also gives Emry, who's been there his first three outdoor seasons, a chance at making the NCAA West Regional, which will be held in two weeks at Fayetteville, Ark. Emry's mark is tied for 49th, and the top 48 declared athletes advance.
"You can never be disappointed winning an event at a conference championship, because that's what everyone here has been striving for their entire collegiate careers, so I'm definitely happy," he said.
Webber distinguished himself as the Big Sky's top pole vaulter of 2014 during a dominating indoor season. He cemented that status Friday with an almost flawless performance.
He entered the event at 15-11 and cleared that height, plus 16-4.75, 16-8.75 and 17-0.75 with just a single miss. With everybody out by 16-8.75 and the championship secured, Webber made three failed attempts at 17-10.5 before bowing out.
"I came in later than a lot of people, so it was a long competition. I had to wait an hour, an hour and a half before my first jump," he said. "I would have liked to have jumped a little higher, but it's my fifth year, so I can't be any happier."
The men had multiple point-scorers in three different field events Friday. Freshman Dominque Bobo joined Emry in the top five in the long jump. He added nearly a foot to his PR despite a light headwind, going 23-2.5 and finishing fifth.
The javelin produced three scorers, though not as many points as Montana had on paper. Senior Lukas Scherer, ranked first, finished fourth with a throw of 195-11. Freshman Jase Buche was fifth at 194-4, and sophomore Henry Lilly was eighth at 183-2.
Webber's heir apparent in the pole vault is freshman Riley Neville, who added six more inches to his PR Friday and finished seventh at 15-11.
The Grizzlies were also successful on the track in Friday's preliminaries, with more athletes advancing to Saturday's finals than were projected based on the seeds.
Emry advanced in the 110-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 14.39, the day's third-fastest time. Junior Drew Owens and sophomore Dylan Reynolds both safely moved on in the 400-meter hurdles with times of 52.65 and 53.24, and Bobo advanced in the 200 meters with the third-ranked time of 21.59.
As it did at the indoor championships, Montana surprised in the 800 meters. The Grizzlies did not have any projected finalists, but sophomore Cody Curtis ran the day's second-fastest time of 1:53.09, and junior Ben Williamson grabbed the eighth and final qualifying spot with a time of 1:54.70.
The Montana women, behind Hall's nine, scored 21 field-event points Friday and added three more on the track.
Sophomore Samantha Hodgson was fourth in the discus at 155-11, fifth-year senior Gwenn Abbott tied for fourth with Hall in the high jump at 5-5, and freshman Nicole Stroot continued her impressive outdoor championships debut with a sixth-place finish in the long jump at 18-3.25.
The Grizzlies' three points on the track came from junior Allie Parks, who clocked an 11:14.04 in the steeplechase to finish sixth.
Montana had just four athletes advance out of the preliminaries and into Saturday's finals, a thin number that will limit the Grizzlies' point-scoring ability on the final day.
Hall, ranked first in the event, ran a career-best (though wind-aided) 13.48 to win her heat and post the second-fastest overall time in the 100-meter hurdles. Redshirt senior Anika Green, ranked eighth, used the same tailwind to run a career-best 13.68, the fifth-fastest time of the day.
Redshirt senior Kourtney Danreuther, who ran a 56.06, failed to make it out of the 400 meters despite being ranked third, but she will compete Saturday in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles after bouncing back with a 1:00.78, the day's fourth-fastest time.
Also moving on was freshman Reagan Colyer in the 800 meters. The Big Sky indoor champion ran a 2:12.06 to both win her heat and post the day's fastest time.
Saturday's schedule features eight more field events and 20 running events, all of which are finals.
Players Mentioned
