Final pre-championships meet Friday at Montana State

Final pre-championships meet Friday at Montana State

5/7/2015 6:50:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana track and field teams will compete one final time before next week's Big Sky Conference championships when the Grizzlies travel to Bozeman for Friday's Tom Gage Classic.

The meet begins at 3 p.m. and will include athletes from Montana, Montana State and Carroll, plus some unattached competitors.

The Big Sky championships will begin Wednesday at Cheney, Wash., and run through Saturday. Athletes who advance to regionals will compete at Austin, Texas, the last weekend of May.

Making matters more challenging for Montana, as happens every year, is that finals for the spring semester are next week as well, meaning the Grizzlies are preparing to have the meet of their lives at the same time they are trying to wrap up their academics as strongly as possible.

"It's always a tough two weeks for our athletes, between trying to do well in finals and trying to compete at the highest level they ever have. It's a lot to ask," said coach Brian Schweyen.

"Because of that we'll leave some athletes home this week for their mental and physical health. We want to make sure they are staying healthy for conference and make sure they are getting everything taken care of for their classes."

With the start of the Big Sky championships less than a week away, Montana is performing better than it has all year, dating back to the indoor season.

The Grizzlies had nearly three dozen season, career or lifetime bests last week at the three-day Montana Open at Dornblaser Field.

Montana, with 26 qualifications between its men's and women's teams, ranks in the bottom half of the league by that measurement, but teams that are stocked with youth are still peaking at the right time.

"We've got a lot of athletes who are really performing. Some of our young athletes who struggled early are really coming around, and a lot of our older ones are steady and doing great," said Schweyen.

"We had almost three dozen bests last week. Now we just need to steamroll with that into conference."

The Hot List (pre-championships edition)

* If the season ended today and entries followed the current NCAA West Region performance list, Montana would have four athletes competing at regionals at the end of the month in Austin.

Three of those would be in the javelin. Freshman Jensen Lillquist ranks 34th on the men's list with his throw of 208-9 at the Oregon Relays. Junior Stephanie Wells ranks 28th on the women's list with her 153-8 at the Montana State Open. Senior Nycole Devers ranks 44th with her 145-8 at the Griz-Cat Dual.

Wells and Devers both have competed twice at regionals. Devers finished 16th at regionals in 2013, Wells was 13th, one spot from making nationals, last May.

Montana's only other current entry would be senior Drew Owens, who ranks 44th in the 400-meter hurdles with his adjusted time of 52.19 Saturday at the Montana Open. Owens is trying to make it to regionals for the fourth time in his career.

* The closest athlete outside of the top 48 in their event is senior Caitlin Caraway in the hammer throw. She ranks 55th with her top mark of 187-9. The Montana record holder at 194-2, Caraway would lock up a spot to regionals if she approaches her record either Friday or next week at conference.

* Freshman Emily Cheroske four times this outdoor season has run in the 2:15s in the 800 meters. She'll attempt to break 2:15 for the first time Friday on MSU's track. She'll likely need to break 2:15 to make next week's championships.

* Freshman Hana Feilzer added almost 17 feet to her season best in the hammer throw Friday. She jumped from 157-4 to 174-0 and now ranks 14th in the Big Sky.

* Junior Amanda Foley had career bests Saturday in both the 100 (12.82) and 200 meters (26.59).

* Freshman Erika McLeod has not yet reached the Big Sky standard of 1:02 in the 400-meter hurdles, but only seven athletes have. Her adjusted time of 1:02.45 ranks eighth on the performance list.

* Freshman Morgan Sulser is running wild. She cut her season best in the 100 meters from 12.89 to 12.43 Saturday and dropped her season best in the 100-meter hurdles down to 14.40. She ranks 12th in the Big Sky in the hurdles.

* Sophomore Nicole Stroot and freshman Madison Page have not met the Big Sky standards in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, but both are sitting in the top 10 in their events. Stroot, at 18-8, ranks ninth in the long jump. Page, at 37-5.25, ranks eighth in the triple jump. Both had their season bests at the Oregon Relays.

* Junior Samantha Hodgson ranks sixth in the Big Sky in both the shot put (47-1.5) and discus (157-1). She competed at regionals in 2013 in the discus and in 2014 in the shot put.

* Montana has three of the top nine throwers in the Big Sky in the women's javelin. Wells ranks third, Devers fifth and junior Lindsey Dahl ninth at 140-5.

* Sophomore Dominique Bobo has had a raw time of 21.5 or faster in his last three 200 meter races. He ranks fourth on the Big Sky performance list.

* Sophomore Nick Jackson took his career best in the hammer throw from 170-2 to 179-9 at the Griz-Cat Dual, then upped it to 184-3 last week at the Montana Open. He ranks ninth in the Big Sky.

* Freshman Alex Mustard, at 10.88, broke 11 seconds for the first time in the 100 meters in his college career Saturday. His lifetime best is 10.85. His 22.25 in the 200 meters Saturday also was a collegiate best.

* Senior David Norris's adjusted 800 meters time of 1:52.04 from Saturday has him ranked fifth in the Big Sky. Junior Cody Curtis ran a 1:52.78 in the same race and is ranked 10th.

* Freshman Matt Quist has gone 6-6.75 three times in the last four meets, which has him tied for seventh in the Big Sky.

* Freshman Sterling Reneau has gone sub-49 in the 400 meters the last three meets. Reneau is one of 21 athletes who have met the Big Sky standard of 49 seconds. The men's 400 matches the men's 800 as the events with the most automatic qualifiers on the men's and women's performance lists.

* Junior Tyler Van Oort made a huge jump in his shot put PR Saturday, going from 50-2.75 to 52-1. His new mark has him ranked 10th in the Big Sky.

* Owens is the defending Big Sky champion in the 400 hurdles, but he'll go into next week's championships as the underdog. Idaho State senior Logan Henderson has run an adjusted 51.76 this season. Of course Henderson is the Big Sky's top-ranked decathlete, so it's likely he won't be at his sharpest for the hurdles after competing in the decathlon Wednesday and Thursday.

* Montana has four of the top 11 throwers in the Big Sky in the men's javelin. Lillquist ranks third, freshman Luke Hilmes fourth (200-5), sophomore Nate Deming ninth (193-7) and junior Henry Lilly 11th (188-9).