Montana State University
AL MANUEL INVITATIONAL
Stacked and Stoked
3/28/2014 11:15:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field
Al Manuel Invite kicks off outdoor season
Schedule of Events
Just four short weeks following the close of the indoor season, Montana State Track and Field is nearly bursting at the seams ready to get outside and begin the outdoor track and field slate. The Bobcats will begin to only dip their toes in spring competition starting at the Al Manuel Invitational on Saturday, March 29, in Missoula, Mont.
The traditional season-opener, MSU will make the trip to Montana's Dornblaser Field and compete against the Griz, as well as Eastern Washington, in a scored double-dual. Also registered for the meet are Carroll, Gillette, Great Falls, Lewis-Clark State and MSU-Billings.
"This entire team is so excited to get out there again," said head coach Dale Kennedy. "But there's an even more concentrated excitement for the large group of redshirts from last spring and this indoor season."
The Bobcats return a fully loaded roster after both teams finished seventh at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships in February. Entering the 2014 season, the men were voted fifth and the women seventh, in the league preseason poll.
One area where assistant coach Tom Eitel expects to see big improvement from the winter is with the jumpers. Carley McCutchen returns as one of the top multi athletes on the women's side while several men also come back this spring. Kevin Close, Jeff Mohl, Jake Mushaben and Powhattan Williamson's unattached winter seasons saw huge improvements and will ride that momentum beginning in Missoula.
"This was an area that lacked our usual depth this indoor season," said Eitel. "Each member of this group contributes so much and having a full roster is really going to make us contenders."
Other notables returning to the distance crew are last year's Big Sky runner-up, Grant Grosvenor along with Lierin Flanagan and Heather Demorest.
"The preseason polls are always a source of motivation for us," said Kennedy. "It's a driving force not only to compete for ourselves, but for the team and to show the programs that we're a force to be reckoned with."
The meet will actually begin on Friday, March 28, with the men's and women's hammer throw only, starting at 3 p.m. The remainder of the meet is slated take place on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. with the field events and 11:15 a.m. for track.
