Griz sweep multi-events

Results

Brendan Thurber-Blaser won the decathlon and Nicole Stroot the heptathlon on Friday afternoon as the three-day Montana Open continued at Dornblaser Field.

Thurber-Blaser will have better scores in his career, perhaps by as much as 1,000 points, but no future performance will be as important as this week's, when he fought through the discomfort of a knee injury to post a total of 6,660 points, the top mark in the Big Sky Conference this spring.

"It's good confidence for me to finish with my hurt knee. It lets me know I can still finish a decathlon through an injury," he said, with the Big Sky multi-events starting in less than two weeks at Sacramento State.

"Hopefully I'll be able to recover these next two weeks. Mentally I know what I'm capable of, so I should be feeling confident going into conference."

Josh Riley finished second with 6,196 points, the eighth-best mark in the Big Sky. Grant Whitcutt also broke 6,000 points, at 6,001. He also cracks the top 10 on the Big Sky performance list.

All three are true freshmen.

"It's great, because they're all my best friends," Thurber-Blaser said. "We train together every day, and we're always pushing each other. We all have our different strengths, so we can all help each other out.

"I couldn't be happier with the group of guys we have."

Trailing Thurber-Blaser by 98 points going into the final five events on Friday, Riley briefly took the lead with the day's fastest 110-meter hurdles time of 15.92.

Riley's lead would be short-lived as Thurber-Blaser went 125-9.75 in the discus, 12-11.5 in the pole vault and 182-10.75 in the javelin to take control.

Whitcutt had the day's best pole vault of 13-7.25. Riley led the final four competitors in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:37.95.

It was a runaway victory in the heptathlon for Stroot, who had a 182-point PR thanks to a strong showing in Thursday's first four events.

Two scratches on her three long jump attempts in Friday's opening event forced Stroot to take a mark of 16-2.5, more than three feet short of her PR. She went 92-3.75 in the javelin and closed with an impressive 2:24.98 in the 800 meters that she clocked while running alone from the start.

Thursday's start had Stroot thinking big. The points left on the table on Friday still has her thinking big.

"Knowing I had a score in the 4,800s, with a lot of room for improvement, is a confidence boost for sure," said Stroot, whose best finish in the heptathlon at the Big Sky championships was sixth place in 2015.

"I was thinking after yesterday I could get to 5,200. I can use that to fuel my training these next two weeks and my next heptathlon. If I can keep the first day the way it was, I know I can put together a really good score."

Stroot, who now ranks sixth on the Big Sky performance list, was the only Grizzly in the top three on Friday, as Carroll's Crystal Schmidt and Bethany Lacock took second and third.

Jenna Dukovcic was the only other Montana heptathlete to finish all seven events. She totaled 4,357 points, with a PR in the 800 meters.

Erika McLeod, the defending Big Sky heptathlon champion, fouled on her three attempts in the long jump. She threw 113-4.25 in the javelin and did not start the 800 meters.

A DNF less than two weeks before the start of the heptathlon at the Big Sky championships might be a concern for coaches of most multi-event athletes. Not McLeod's.

"I'm comfortable with where Erika is," said coach Adam Bork. "She's had okay meets going into conference before. At the conference championships she just turns into a different athlete.

"Even though her heptathlon wasn't great on paper, from what I've seen in practices the last few weeks with her speed and explosion, I can see that happening again. She should be able to come up with a really big score at conference."

The Montana Open concludes on Saturday with the open events. Field events begin at 10:15 a.m. with the women's shot put and javelin, and the men's long jump. Running events begin at 10:30 a.m. with a mixed 10,000 meters.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Dukovcic

Erika McLeod

Josh Riley

Nicole Stroot

Brendan Thurber-Blaser

Grant Whitcutt

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