Evans named Big Sky Athlete of the Week

Fifth-year senior Sammy Evans is a four-time Big Sky Conference champion. She holds three Montana records in the jumps. She has twice gone to regionals during the outdoor season.

And after finishing first in the long jump, second in the triple jump and seventh in the high jump at the Big Sky outdoor championships last May at Greeley, Colo., she was named the meet's Most Valuable Athlete.

But Evans, who was quite aware of the shutout streak, had never earned indoor or outdoor Big Sky Athlete of the Week honors during her career. Until Monday.

Evans swept the long and triple jumps on Saturday at Eastern Washington's Candy Cane Invitational to finally earn the Big Sky's approval. She was named women's field Athlete of the Week.

Evans went 19-6 to win the long jump, an indoor PR that broke her own school record of 19-4.75. She also won the triple jump at 41-7, just off her record of 41-8.5.

The Havre native redshirted last year's indoor season and had a successful outdoor campaign despite being less than 100 percent.

"Last year was an awful year for me. My body was all broke," she says. "My main goal this year was to keep my body healthy. Our athletic trainer has probably seen way too much of me, and our strength program is really good, so my body is staying healthy.

"I've also gotten better about knowing that sometimes doing less helps you more."

Now that she's crossed Athlete of the Week off her to-do list, that pretty much leaves just one final item: going to nationals for the first time. She was two inches short at regionals in May of advancing in the triple jump.

She's off to a strong start. Consider: In her most recent indoor season competing as an attached athlete, in 2015, Evans opened with marks of 18-7.25 and 39-6 at the Candy Cane. She didn't hit 41 feet in the triple jump until mid-February that season and didn't crack 19 feet until the Big Sky championships.

"Those have normally been the kind of marks I'm getting close to conference or at conference," said Evans. "To do that at the first meet maybe means I'll finally make my first trip to nationals."

Evans and Montana's full team won't be back in action until the Montana State Open on Jan. 13. The Big Sky Championships will be held the final weekend of February at Pocatello, Idaho. Two weeks after that the NCAA Championships will be held at College Station, Texas.

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