Griz back in action Monday at Montana State
1/4/2015 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 be back in action Monday and Tuesday when the Grizzlies' multi-event athletes compete at the Montana State Combined Event Dual at MSU's Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
The women's pentathlon will begin at 1 p.m. Monday, followed by the start of the men's heptathlon. The heptathlon will conclude Tuesday starting at 10 a.m.
Montana will have four athletes competing in the pentathlon: redshirt senior Shayle Dezellem, sophomores Lakyn Connors and Nicole Stroot and freshman Erika McLeod.
Montana State will counter with three pentathletes, headlined by senior Carley McCutcheon, who has a pentathlon PR of 3,618 and advanced to the NCAA championships during the 2014 outdoor season in the heptathlon.
Stroot led a tight pack of Montana finishers at Eastern Washington's pentathlon in early December with a second-place showing and a career-best score of 3,348. Dezellem was third with 3,304 points, McLeod fourth with 3,300 points and Connors fifth with a career-best 3,278 points.
Stroot, Dezellem and McLeod all reached the Big Sky Conference qualifying standard of 3,300 points.
Connors did not hit the standard, but she had PRs in the shot put and long jump and led the eight-athlete field going into the final event, the 800 meters.
"Lakyn had a nice all-around meet, and I think that helped her regain some confidence," said UM multi-events coach Adam Bork. "She was disappointed to not win."
Connors ran a solid 2:32.61 in the 800 meters at Eastern Washington, but that wasn't fast enough to hold the lead against a fleet-footed field.
Dezellem (2:24.97), EWU's Jozie Kimes (2:25.38), who won the pentathlon by 11 points over Stroot, McLeod (2:26.49) and Stroot (2:26.74) all broke 2:27, which is noteworthy for such a small meet so early in the indoor season.
"I was really happy with how all the girls ran the 800 meters," said Bork. "I think that's one of the strongest 800s we've started with as a group.
"That should help their confidence going into that event Monday, because the 800 can be scary and affect the rest of your day. When you should be thinking about the high jump or shot put, thoughts of the 800 can start creeping into your head."
In the men's heptathlon, Montana will have just a single competitor, freshman Charlie Bush of Poway, Calif. He will be making his collegiate multi-events debut.
Bush joined Montana with some quality jumping bona fides as a high school athlete. He had prep marks of 6-7 in the high jump, 22-3.5 in the long jump and 15-9 in the pole vault.
The Big Sky Conference qualifying standard for the heptathlon is 4,700 points.
"I expect a lot from Charlie," said Bork. "I expect him to do really well in some events, like the high jump and pole vault, and then there will be a few that he probably won't do so well in, just because he hasn't had the opportunity to practice them, like the hurdles and shot put.
"This will be a learning experience for him, but I think he'll put together a respectable score."
Sophomore Mason Storm, who has a heptathlon PR of 4,500, will compete for Montana State, as will four other MSU athletes in order to reach the NCAA minimum of six for a countable meet.
The meet likely will be the final opportunity for Montana's multi-event athletes to post a score before next month's Big Sky Conference indoor championships, which will be held Feb. 26-28 at Flagstaff, Ariz.
Players Mentioned
