Track & Field Completes Home Finale Ahead of Big Sky Meet

Friday, February 17

BOZEMAN

12 p.m.

Montana State University

Bobcat Open - Last Chance Qualifier

Jacqueline Verlanic

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

Track & Field Completes Home Finale Ahead of Big Sky Meet

2/17/2017 5:38:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results

Several athletes made their case to compete at the conference championship as Montana State wrapped up its regular season slate in Worthington Arena Friday

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State track and field teams completed their final meet ahead of the conference championships with the conclusion of the Last Chance Qualifier inside Worthington Arena Friday, Feb. 17.

MSU's contingent of athletes had its final opportunity to make a case to compete at the Big Sky Conference a week from now. Several took advantage with both squads having Bobcats earn personal bests in the final meet in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse during the 2017 indoor slate.

Senior Daryan Box shattered her lifetime best in the women's 60-meter dash by crossing the line in 7.70 seconds. Her mark put her in MSU's top five in the event in program history. Jessica Chrisp also earned a personal-best time of 7.88 to finish third.

Jacqueline Verlanic led MSU in the weight throw with her personal-best toss of 56-04.75 (17.19m) to place first ahead of fellow teammate Callen Crawford who threw a mark of 52-04 (15.95m).

Junior Amanda Jaynes crossed the line first in both the 200 and 60 hurdles with lifetime best marks. Her converted time of 25.50 is the fifth best all-time in MSU history, while her 8.68 finish in the 60 hurdles also ranks No. 5 in the event.

Freshman Noah Martin, along with vaulters Luke Middelstadt and Graham Reid, finished atop their respective events with personal bests on the men's side.

Martin placed first in the high jump with a leap of 06-11 (2.11m) which ranks first on the Big Sky performance list this season. He finished just ahead of fellow teammate Aidan Pedersen who completed a lifetime best jump of 06-07 (2.01) for runner-up.

Middelstadt and Reid both put up marks of 15-07 (4.75m) in the pole vault, but Middelstadt was given the nod for first place with the judge's decision. Jake Bradford and Knox Semenza each earned lifetime bests to finish fourth and fifth in the pole vault, respectively.

MSU's Christie Schiel, Louisa Serpe, Alyssa Snyder, Isabella Calabrese, Calvin Root, Kyle Douglass, Zach Kughn and Diego Leon all earned first-place finishes during the meet.

On the women's side, Kimberly Parsell notched a personal best in the 800 with a converted time of 2:12.30 and Taylor Buschy (25.74) earned one in the 200. Bill Yeager (50.57) earned a lifetime best in the 400, Martin Ponce (4:19.17) and Andrew Vandine (4:23.27) picked up personal bests in the mile, Anthony Schmalz earned a runner-up showing with a career-best time of 9:05.42 in the 3,000, while Martin notched his second lifetime mark of the day with a leap of 22-00.25 in the long jump on the men's side.

Mason Storm, Alec Nehring, Lindsay Benson, Hailey Phillips and Elisabeth Krieger each earned top-three finishes during the Last Chance Qualifier.

Montana State next heads to Pocatello, Idaho, to pursue a conference championship. The Bobcats begin competition at the Big Sky indoor meet on Thursday, Feb. 23 with the pentathlon and heptathlon. The meet is set to run three days with events concluding Saturday in Idaho State's Holt Arena.