Montana State Runners Push ‘Cats past Montana and Idaho State

Friday, January 23

BOZEMAN

4PM

Montana State University

MSU, UM, ISU Double-Duals

Montana State Runners Push ‘Cats past Montana and Idaho State

1/23/2015 10:53:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Track & Field

MSU swept UM and ISU on both the men's and women's sides in first duals of the year

By: Jordan Simkins

COMPLETE RESULTS | TEAM SCORES
The Montana State Track and Field men's and women's teams swept Montana and Idaho State in their first duals of the year.

The women came out on top with a score of 88-61 over Montana and 89-61 to beat Idaho State. The men were also victorious as they earned 87 points over Montana's 57 and won 87-63 over Idaho State.

"It was a huge improvement from last week," head coach Dale Kennedy said. "Track and field is looked as an individual sport, but it's a team that wins duals and championships. Our team came together today, overcame a few hiccups and showed teamwork to win tonight."

The Bobcat's runners continue to show strength and improvement as the women's side dominated almost all running events. Josephine Petruska led the 60m and the 200m with times of 7.86 and 25.58. Daryan Box (7.94) and Danielle Muri (7.94) finished second and third in the 60m, while three Bobcat's earned the three, four and five spot in the 200.

In her first meet of the season, Chantel Jaeger earned a first place finish and a Big Sky Conference standard of 55.63 in the 200m. Teammate Paige Squire followed behind with a 57.32, also a BSC qualifying time and Iris Hardarson just missed the mark, finishing at 58.65.

MSU's women's relay teams went one-two-three with a top time of 3:48.19 (Hardarson, Paige Squire, Lierin Flanagan and Jaeger). Rachel Sullivan earned a spot at the conference championships running a 10:21.67 3000m race.

On the men's side, Michael Tobin and Mitchell Horning finished first and second in the 60m with times of 7.00 and 7.01. Rory Bauer led the 400m finishing with a BSC qualifying time of 49.58. Matthew Tex ran a 1:56.40 800m, followed by Jory Fisher (1:57.10) to put the Bobcats at one and two of another running event.

The men's distance crew dominated as they took the top four spots in the 3000m, led by Cristian Soratos, who finished almost 20 seconds ahead of the second place finisher with a time of 8:19.30. Soratos, who ran a sub-four minute miles last week, qualified for the BSC Championships with that time.

The 4x400m relay was narrowly won by Montana State (3:12.43) over Montana. All six finishing relay teams qualified for the championships.

Three MSU men's triple jumpers earned marks over the conference standard. Trevor Simanski and Kevin Close led this group, both jumping 46-04.25 feet. Alexander Lewis also qualified with a 45-09.25 foot jump. Lewis won the long jump earning a 21.08.25 mark.

Sean Ferriter threw a 60-06.50 weight throw to win the event for the second week in a row, another BSC standard.

Carley McCuthen, who already qualified for the 60m hurdles, high jump and pentathlon, added another qualifying mark on the season with an 18-06.00 foot long jump. Caset Teska also made her way to the championships, with a 12-03.50 pole vault and Kristi VandeBergh came out on top with a 43-00.25 foot shot put.

"We needed this confidence going into next week, competing against Wyoming and Northern Colorado. It was exciting to see where we sit compared to other conference teams, but more exciting to get a feel for where we can go from here. Our event coaches are doing a tremendous job to prepare the team for the conference championships."

Montana State travels to Wyoming on January 31, before returning home on February 6 to host the MSU Invitational. The meet is slated to begin at 4 p.m. with field events and 6 p.m. for running events.