Montana State University
AL MANUEL INVITATIONAL
Track and Field Opens Up Outdoor Season at Al Manuel Invite
3/29/2013 9:31:00 AM | Track & Field
After five-week hiatus from competition Bobcats take to the track again
Five weeks ago, the Bobcats were thriving on adrenaline, competing for Big Sky titles, personal records and glory, at the culmination of the indoor season. Since then it's been about training, pushing faster, further, higher. That five week period has come to a close and back to competition MSU will go.
MSU Track and Field will open the outdoor portion of the 2013 season on Friday, March 30, at the Al Manuel Invitational in Missoula, Mont. The men's and women's hammer throw will be the only events to take place on Friday, followed by the remainder of the meet on Saturday.
Also expected to be in attendance are Big Sky Conference members Eastern Washington and meet host Montana, Carroll, Great Falls, MSU-Billings and Rocky Mountain.
With the Big Sky Championships taking place May 8-11, the Bobcats have just six weeks to take control of their fate to earn a place at the meet. Head coach Dale Kennedy hopes that each week the team will capitalize on the opportunity and earn automatic qualifiers and stay within the top-20 in each event for their championship berth. The outdoor championships will take place in Forest Grove, Ore. at Pacific and hosted by Portland State.
“We have a later outdoor start than most of the other teams in the conference,” said Kennedy, “so we come into the outdoor season on the hot seat a little already. Luckily, this serves as pretty big motivation for our athletes and they're chomping at the bit to get out there and compete.”
In the Big Sky Preseason poll, the MSU men were picked to finish second, including one first-place vote. Northern Arizona, who won the indoor title in February, finished first in the poll with 120 points over Montana State's 104. The Montana State women were picked fourth behind Sacramento State (119), Portland State (96) and Weber State (82), with 79 points.
