Montana State University
MONTANA STATE INVITATIONAL
Bobcats Keep Building
2/7/2014 9:46:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field
Track and Field capitalizes at MSU Invite
Montana State hosted Carroll and Montana at the MSU Invitational on Friday and it was business as usual for the Bobcats. Despite a lower number of competitors and Carroll and Montana being the only other teams in attendance, MSU capitalized on the chance to compete again for longer, higher and faster marks.
Some of the notable performances included the men's weight throw, the first throwing event of the night. In a field of nine, MSU had seven student-athletes competing and swept the first three spots, after being led by Sean Ferriter's throw of 59-02.00 (18.03m). His throw marked a season's best and was supplemented by Derek Marsh in second place. His throw measured a personal record of 56-03.25 (17.15m). Zach Sharp took third with 54-10.75 (16.73m).
Additionally of note, Trevor Gilreath's silver medal performance in the shot put of 53-11.00 (16.43m) was ten inches better than his previous season best.
Ryan Kropp, who missed most of the 2013 outdoor season, finally got his Big Sky Conference qualifying mark with a height of 4.95m (16-02.75), also marking a lifetime best for the vaulter. The pole vault proved to be a big night for the Bobcats when Casey Teska not only won but catapulted herself to a new lifetime high. Her height of 13-01.50 (4.00m) ranks her second in the conference and is her third win of 2014.
In addition to Kropp, Alisa Gilchrist also picked up a qualifier in the jumps. She won the high jump with 5-05.00 (1.65m), tying her lifetime best height and marked her first win this season.
A traditional strong suit for Montana State, the Distance Medley Relays got to make their 2014 debut in Worthington Arena. The quartet of Kaylee Schmitz, Sonia Antar, Lillian Ball and Christie Schiel took first place with a time of 12:09.07, which would rank them fourth in the league with the unadjusted time. The men's relay, comprised of Michael Asay, Marcus Swan, Matthew Tex and Jacob Kirk also took gold. Their time of 9:54.51 is more than 15 seconds faster than the previous best in the Big Sky Conference.
Chris Wilson and Michael Tobin didn't break pattern on Friday night either. Wilson won both the 55 and 200. He clocked a time of 6.46 in the 55 and 21.71 in the 200, a season's best thus far. Tobin earned two second place finishes after crossing the line in 22.30 and 6.60, respectively.
In the women's 55, freshmen Josephine Petruska and Samantha Mohl both had big nights in the short sprint. Petruska earned the silver medal but logged a season best time of 7.44. Mohl clocked in at 7.50, good enough for third place.
The individual running events closed out with the women's and men's 5,000. MSU swept the top-five places in the women's race with freshman Jenette Northey led the pack and finished with a lifetime best time of 17:55.60 and after the adjustment it will earn her an automatic qualifier to the Big Sky Championships later in February. Trevor Polson, Seth Garbett and Zachary Kughn took all three podium spots. Polson and Garbett were neck-and-neck to the finish but Polson got in front by sixth-thousandths of a second for the win, with a time of 14:47.99.
Prior to the start of the meet on Friday, 10 women competed in the pentathlon. While Amber Amsbaugh and Jessica Chrisp have already qualified for the Big Sky Championships, they still competed and finished third and fourth, respectively.
The men's heptathlon held their first four events and will conclude on Saturday morning. Mason Storm is currently in second place, behind Montana's Austin Emry, with 2,765 points and is looking for his first Big Sky qualifier. Strorm went on to stay in second place with a score of 4,500, 200 points shy of the Big Sky mark.
"Given where we are in the season and holding some out of competition, I still think things were really positive tonight," said head coach Dale Kennedy. "We've got two weeks left after this and we're pushing ourselves and each other a little bit more now and seeing the results."
Montana State will stay in Worthington Arena for the next two weeks. On Friday, Feb. 14, they host the second installment of the MSU Double Duals when Montana and Weber State will compete against in the Bobcats in the scored meet. Start time is slated for 4:30 p.m.
