MSU Track & Field Ready for Four-Team Dual at The Brick Friday

Friday, January 20

BOZEMAN

3:30 p.m.

Montana State University

MSU Dual Meet Invite

Tickets

McKenna Ramsay

Photo by: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez

MSU Track & Field Ready for Four-Team Dual at The Brick Friday

1/19/2017 2:01:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Live Stream Meet Schedule Big Sky Notes Tickets Tickets

Bobcats welcome Montana, Idaho State and Utah State to Worthington Arena for dual-meet competition

By: Andrew Pedersen

The Montana State men's and women's track and field teams continue their homestand with a four-school dual meet Friday, Jan. 20, inside Worthington Arena. Field events will begin at 3:30 p.m. and track events start at 5:05 p.m.

Montana State will play host to the University of Montana, Idaho State and Utah State as the four teams battle in a dual-meet format. MSU opened its season a weekend ago at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse by competing against Montana, MSU Billings, Carroll College and unattached athletes from multiple Montana institutions.

Friday's meet also serves as Faculty Appreciation Night for the Bobcats. Montana State Faculty are welcome to the meet free of charge and are invited down to the track to participate in the Faculty/Staff mile which begins at approximately 4:55 p.m.

"This is really a step up (for us) this weekend," Montana State head coach Dale Kennedy said. "We've got Utah State, Idaho State and Montana coming in to compete in a Division I meet only. This will be a much higher level of competition than we saw last week in the opener and that's by design. This meet will (force) us to step up. The other thing I think which is exciting, and I'm all about team track and field, but there's going to be team dual-meet scoring against all three schools."

MSU athletes opened the indoor campaign with the MSU Multis Meet, but the entire team made its debut on Jan. 13 with the MSU Invitational. Eight different Bobcats earned first place in their respective events, while several others earned personal bests. All four relays competed in during the meet had an MSU quartet finishing with the top time.

"We certainly are looking for improvement," Kennedy said of MSU heading into its second meet. "I think we got off to a great start and had some really good individual performances, but we've got to step up each week now and get a little bit better.

"We (had) no intention of being at peak performance on Friday during the very first meet of the season. We would like to be peaking as we head towards the conference championships, so hopefully you can come out and be at your very best towards that last week of February."

Among the Nation's Best
Two meets into the 2017 season, several Bobcats rank among the best in the nation in their respective events. Currently, eight MSU student-athletes rank in the top 50 in the country, while two distance medley relay squads are also represented.

Senior Jessica Chrisp is the lone MSU women's squad member among the top 50 rankings. Her 3,383-point output in the MSU Multis Meet from Jan. 9-10 places her at 34th at the Division I level.

Sophomore Matthew Gotta is one of three Bobcat student-athletes who are represented in the 5,000. He sits in sixth with his time of 14:07.47 and is followed by Diego Leon in seventh (14:10.12) and Ty Mogan in 14th (14:21.29). Zach Kughn (14:43.40) and Adam Wollant (14:59.68) also register in at 27th and 40th, respectively.

Recent Big Sky Men's Field Athlete of the Week honoree Kyle Douglass is 30th among Division I shot putters after achieving a lifetime-best mark of 58-04.50 (17.79m) at the MSU Invitational on Jan. 13.

MSU freshman Noah Martin placed first at the MSU Multis Meet with 4,810 points, which is good for 39th in the heptathlon among Division I participants at this time.

Both of the Bobcats' top distance medley relay squads are also among the top 50 in the country. The women's crew of Kendra Larson, McKenna Ramsay, Kimberly Parsell and Christie Schiel (11:45.63) have the 10th best time in the event, while Martin Ponce, Tyler McQueen, Samuel Bloom (10:04.36) and Leon have the 10th best time on the men's side.

Big Sky Performance List Update
Men's Rankings
400m – Jadin Casey 10th (50.04), Christopher Lange 13th (50.47)
800m – Frankie Hoerner 3rd (1:55.72)
5,000m – Matthew Gotta 1st (14:07.47), Diego Leon 2nd (14:10.12), Ty Mogan 3rd (14:21.29), Zach Kughn 4th (14:43.40), Adam Wollant 5th (14:59.68), Gannon Chamberlain 7th (15:31.33), Brock Sandry 8th (15:33.74), Anthony Schmalz 11th (16:06.11)
60m Hurdles – Christopher Lange 16th (8.78)
4x400 Relay – MSU A 1st (3:18.72)
DMR – MSU A 1st (10:04.36)
High Jump – Noah Martin T3rd (06-08.75), Aidan Pedersen T14th (06-02.75)
Pole Vault – Luke Middelstadt 2nd (15-05), Austin Decker 4th (15-01), Noah Martin 6th (14-07.25), Knox Semenza 8th (14-01.25), Ross Moore T11th (13-07.25), Jake Bradford T15th (13-01.50)
Long Jump – Caleb Neth 4th (23-00.25), Alex Lewis T6th (22-05.25), Noah Martin 16th (21-03.25)
Shot Put – Kyle Douglass 1st (58-04.50), Alex Nehring 10th (51-03.50), Calvin Root 11th (51-03)
Weight Throw – Calvin Root 3rd (59-09)
Heptathlong – Noah Martin 3rd (4,835), Caleb Neth 10th (3,962)

Women's Rankings
60m – Daryan Box 18th (7.87)
200m – Taylor Buschy 9th (25.87), Daryan Box 15th (26.06)
400m – Hailey Phillips 6th (59.36), Holly Andersen 8th (59.65), Elisabeth Krieger T13th (1:00.52)
800m – Isabella Calabrese 13th (2:22.34), Sierra Tucker 15th (2:22.91)
5000m – Morgan Jones 2nd (17:56.64)
60m Hurdles – Amanda Jaynes 5th (8.85), Jessica Chrisp 12th (9.15)
4x400 Relay – MSU A 1st (3:53.82)
DMR – MSU A 1st (11:45.63)
High Jump – Jessica Chrisp 1st (05-06), Carlie Haeffner T12th (05-03)
Pole Vault – Carter Theade T7th (11-11.75), Isabella Calabrese T11th (11-05.75), Alex Hellenberg T20th (10-06), Samantha Mohl T20th (10-06)
Long Jump – Megan Ralstin 18th (17-06.25)
Triple Jump – Truanne Roginske 8th (36-10.25)
Weight Throw – Callen Crawford 6th (54-08), Jacqueline Verlanic 9th (53-04.25), Cailyn Schroeder 14th (52-01.75)
Pentathlon – Jessica Chrisp 3rd (3,405), Isabella Calabrese 10th (2,917), Alex Hellenberg 11th (2,822), Courtney Stromme 12th 2,632)

MSU Record Book Update
Five Montana State student-athletes forced updates to the program record book following the opening meets of the season.

Amanda Jaynes jumped into a tie for ninth on the MSU all-time performance list in the 60 hurdles. Her first-place time of 8.83 on Jan. 13 matched Paula Berry's mark set in 1996. Kyle Douglass also improved his personal-best mark to 58-04.50 in the shot put, but remained fifth on the all-time list behind Dennis Black's 59-07 throw in 1994.

Noah Martin made his first appearance during his opening campaign in the MSU record book. His 4,810 points in the heptathlon at the MSU Multis Meet puts him at eighth all time in the event.

Two distance runners also made an impact on the men's 5,000 run all-time list. Matthew Gotta's altitude-adjusted first-place time of 14:07.47 at the MSU Invitational moved him to fifth in program history just behind assistant coach Lyle Weese. Diego Leon also sits now at sixth with his time of 14:10.12 set during the MSU Invite.

Douglass Earns Big Sky Field Athlete of the Week Honor
Kyle Douglass earned the best shot put of his collegiate career by throwing 58-04.50 (17.79m) at the MSU Invite Jan. 13 to earn Big Sky Men's Field Athlete of the Week recognition on Jan. 17. The throw was the only one over 17 meters and just one of two over 16 meters at the Invite. His shot put also placed him atop the early Big Sky Conference performance chart, leading the field at the time by over six inches.

The junior from Missoula, Mont., improved his MSU all-time top 10 performance, which he currently is fifth among Bobcats in program history.

Bobcats Selected Fourth, Eighth in Big Sky Coaches' Preseason Poll
The Big Sky Conference released its 2017 Indoor Track and Field coaches' preseason polls Wednesday, Jan. 18, with the Montana State men's team selected fourth and the women's squad eighth.

MSU has found success in recent history during the indoor season. The Bobcat men earned runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2013 and also completed a third-place performance in 2015. The MSU women's team has also had solid showings at the Big Sky meet, taking runner-up during the 2012 and 2015 campaigns while finishing third in 2014.