Montana
Montana State (multi-events)
Bush wins heptathlon at MSU Combined Events Dual
1/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Results
Montana freshman Charlie Bush won the heptathlon Tuesday at the Montana State Combined Events Dual at Bozeman in his first collegiate multi-events competition. He finished with a score of 4,533 to edge MSU's Mason Storm by 48 points.
Bush scored 2,502 points on Monday in the 60 meters, long jump, shot put and high jump and ended the day trailing Storm by 91.
He fell 251 points behind Storm after Tuesday's opening event, the 60-meter hurdles. Storm clocked a time of 8.58, Bush a 9.30.
The meet swung in the pole vault, one of Bush's strongest events. Bush cleared 14-9 while Storm failed to break 10 feet, and the difference put the Grizzly on top of the overall standings by 152 points.
Bush held his lead through the heptathlon's closing event, the 1,000 meters, with a time of 3:07.80. Storm won the event in a time of 2:57.02. MSU's Luke Middelstadt was second in 2:59.67.
Bush's total was 167 points shy of the Big Sky Conference qualifying standard of 4,700 but should be enough to earn him an at-large spot to next month's Big Sky indoor championships at Flagstaff, Ariz.
"This was a good place for Charlie to start," said UM track and field coach Brian Schweyen. "He got through it clean, he competed well, and he enjoyed it. And he's got a lot of room to improve, which is encouraging.
"He should be able to pick something up in all his events over the next seven weeks, and by the conference championships he should be in good position. I think a good goal for this season would be to get over 5,000 points."
Montana's Austin Emry won the 2014 Big Sky heptathlon title with 5,568 points. The top five heptathletes at last year's indoor championships all reached 5,000 points.
Players Mentioned
