Griz men finish second at outdoor championships

Wednesday, May 11

Greeley, Colo.

Montana

Big Sky Conference Championships

5/14/2016 6:40:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Montana Sports Information

Results

The Montana men's track and field team, with five top-three finishes Saturday, scored 63 final-day points to claim second place at the Big Sky Conference outdoor championships at Greeley, Colo.

It's just the fourth time since Montana won its lone Big Sky title in 1972 that the Grizzlies have placed second, matching their runner-up finishes in 1973, 1975 and 2002.

"I don't know if our men could have done any better. They performed today like the women did yesterday. It was fun to watch," said coach Brian Schweyen, whose men's team was picked eighth in the preseason coaches' poll.

Montana scored 89.5 points at the four-day championships, the most for the program since 2007, to finish second behind Northern Arizona, which won its 21st outdoor championship with 187 points. Southern Utah was third with 84.

"When you look at NAU and what they have and what they do, second place for our men almost feels like a conference championship," said Schweyen. "NAU is a powerhouse, and our men's team was better than any other team in the conference this year. That's impressive."

The Montana women's team, with 60 points, was in first place after Friday. The Grizzlies needed their expected points on Saturday and then some if they wanted to hold on for a top-three finish.

Despite runner-up finishes from Sammy Evans, who was named the meet's Most Valuable Athlete, in the triple jump and Lindsey Dahl in the javelin, Montana could only muster 24.5 more points on Saturday and drifted down to fifth in the final standings with 84.5 points.

Northern Arizona scored 90 final-day points and 120 for the championships to give the Lumberjacks a sweep of the team titles. Sacramento State, with 96, was second, Eastern Washington, with 94.5, was third, North Dakota, with 85, was fourth.

It was the sixth time in eight years Schweyen's women's team has placed in the top five at the outdoor championships.

"We had a very small window to score points today on the women's side, and we just weren't able to get enough," said Schweyen, whose women's team had three individual champions, the most since 2012, and eight All-Big Sky performances. "But it was still a really good meet for the team."

The men's team scored 46 of its 63 points Saturday on the track in six different events, highlighted by Sterling Reneau and Alex Mustard, both of whom warmed up for their individual events by helping Montana's 4x100-meter relay team to a seventh-place finish early Saturday afternoon.

Reneau would finish second in the 400 meters in a career-best time of 46.84 and fifth in the 200 in a career-best time of 21.58. Mustard, who ran a career-best 20.88 in Friday's preliminaries, placed third in the 200 meters in 21.08, fourth in the 100 in a career-best time of 10.50.

Reneau later teamed with Joe Lesar, Callum Macnab and Dylan Reynolds to lead Montana's 4x400-meter relay team to a third-place finish.

"Our sprints really stepped it up this year and got points for us left and right, and that makes a huge difference," said Schweyen. "Sterling proved he's the real deal. Both of those guys came out and just had incredible meets."

Montana's other points on the track all came in the 400-meter hurdles. Reynolds, ranked first entering the championships, finished third, Macnab fourth, Jacob Leininger fifth.

In the field events, Matt Quist, the pre-championships favorite, finished second in the high jump at 6-9. Jess Beaman used a four-foot PR, going 47-2.25, to place fourth in the triple jump, and Nick Jackson, at 188-11, also had a four-foot PR to finish fifth in the hammer.

Evans, who won the long jump on Friday, was unable to do the same in the triple jump on Saturday. Portland State's Chaquinn Cook upset Evans, who hadn't lost in the triple jump in eight meets this spring, by jumping 41-2.5 to beat Montana's three-time Big Sky triple jump champion by an inch.

With her scoring performances in the high, long and triple jumps at the championships, Evans scored 20 points to earn Most Valuable Athlete honors, matching the MVA award teammate Erika McLeod won at the indoor championships.

While Evans was finishing one spot lower than projected, Dahl, ranked third in the javelin, finished one spot higher, placing second with a throw of 152-3, her first time in the 150s since the Oregon Relays in mid-April.

The rest of the team's points on Saturday came from seventh- and eighth-place finishes.

Alanna Vann finished seventh in the 100 meters, Claire Dalman tied for seventh in the pole vault. Morgan Sulser, in the 100-meter hurdles, Emily Cheroske, in the 800 meters, and Reagan Colyer, in the 1,500 meters, all had eighth-place finishes.

Montana finished half a point ahead of sixth-place Portland State, thanks to a seventh-place finish in the championships' final event, the 4x400-meter relay. Olivia Ellis, Cheroske, Nicole Stroot and McLeod clocked a season-best 3:52.81 to help the Grizzlies hold off the Vikings in the final standings, 84.5 to 84.

Next up for Montana, the NCAA West Regional, which will be held in two weeks at Lawrence, Kan. The list of athletes who make the cut to regionals will be announced by the NCAA next week.

Women's team scores
1. Northern Arizona … 120
2. Sacramento State … 96
3. Eastern Washington … 94.5
4. North Dakota … 85
5. Montana … 84.5
6. Portland State … 84
7. Weber State … 73
8. Montana State … 56.5
9. Northern Colorado … 55
10. Idaho … 37
11. Idaho State … 29.5
12. Southern Utah … 4

Women's point scorers
10, Erika McLeod, 1st, heptathlon
10, Sammy Evans, 1st, long jump
10, Kayla Holmes, 1st, discus
8, Nicole Stroot, 2nd, long jump
8, Sammy Evans, 2nd, triple jump
8, Hana Feilzer, 2nd, hammer
8, Lindsey Dahl, 2nd, javelin
6, Erika McLeod, 3rd, long jump
4, Jessica Bailey, 5th, steeplechase
2, Lakyn Connors, 7th, heptathlon
2, Alanna Vann, 7th, 100 meters
2, 4x400m relay, 7th (Ellis, Cheroske, Stroot, McLeod)
2, Sammy Evans, 7th, high jump
1.5, Claire Dalman, t-7th, pole vault
1, Morgan Sulser, 8th, 100m hurdles
1, Emily Cheroske, 8th, 800 meters
1, Reagan Colyer, 8th, 1,500 meters

Men's team scores
1. Northern Arizona … 187
2. Montana … 89.5
3. Southern Utah … 84
4. Idaho … 67
5. Montana State … 66
6. Sacramento State … 63
7. Idaho State … 61
t8. Eastern Washington … 49
t8. Weber State … 49
10. Northern Colorado … 47
11. Portland State … 40.5
12. North Dakota … 15

Men's point scorers
10, Jensen Lillquist, 1st, javelin
8, Sterling Reneau, 2nd, 400 meters
8, Matt Quist, 2nd, high jump
6, Alex Mustard, 3rd, 200 meters
6, Dylan Reynolds, 3rd, 400m hurdles
6, 4x400m relay, 3rd (Lesar, Macnab, Reynolds, Reneau)
5, Alex Mustard, 4th, 100 meters
5, Callum Macnab, 4th, 400m hurdles
5, Jess Beaman, 4th, triple jump
5, Daniel Jones, 4th, javelin
4, Sterling Reneau, 5th, 200 meters
4, Jacob Leininger, 5th, 400m hurdles
4, Brett Dringman, 5th, pole vault
4, Nick Jackson, 5th, hammer
4, Nate Deming, 5th, javelin
2, 4x100m relay, 7th (Monaco, Reneau, Macnab, Mustard)
2, Dylan Reynolds, 7th, long jump
1.5, Pierce Frazier, t-7th, pole vault