Montana
NCAA West Regional
Danreuther advances at Fayetteville, Wells just misses nationals
5/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
May 29, 2014
For the second straight year, Montana senior Kourtney Danreuther has advanced out of the preliminaries and into finals in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA West Regional. This year's three-day meet opened Thursday morning at Fayetteville, Ark.
Running in heat 4 of 6, Danreuther finished second in a time of 58.52, her second-fastest time of the season, to grab one of her heat's three automatic qualifying spots to Friday's 24-athlete final. The top 12 athletes from that race will advance to nationals, which will be held in two weeks at Eugene, Ore.
Danreuther had the 12th-fastest time overall in the preliminaries.
Just missing out on her first trip to nationals was sophomore Stephanie Wells in the javelin. Wells opened the day with a throw of 155-2, and that season-best effort had her sitting 12th going into the 16-athlete finals.
Wells did not improve on her preliminary mark with the three additional attempts, and Oregon sophomore Liz Brenner threw 169-1 on her first attempt of finals to move into the top 12 and bump Wells to 13th, which is where she finished, one spot from returning to her home state of Oregon.
Senior Lindsey Hall also competed in the javelin and finished 28th with a throw of 144-8, and senior Lukas Scherer placed 39th in the men's javelin with a mark of 190-7.
Senior Keith Webber and junior Drew Owens, both Big Sky Conference champions in their events, were threats to make nationals. Both came up short.
Webber cleared 16-3.25 and 16-9.25 on his first attempts in the pole vault, but he missed three times at 17-3, the height that ended up being the cut to make nationals. Five athletes who went 17-3 advanced, while two who cleared that height missed the cut. Webber officially tied for 20th.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Owens finished sixth in his heat with a time of 52.29, his second-best time of the year. The slowest qualifying time that made Friday's final was 51.66.
Sophomore Samantha Hodgson also competed Thursday and finished 46th in the shot put with a mark of 44-4.75. The 12th and final mark that made nationals was 52-0.
On Friday sophomore Sammy Evans will compete in the triple jump, junior Lee Hardt in the high jump, Hall in the 100-meter hurdles and Danreuther in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles.
Players Mentioned
