Bobcats Head South to Utah/Weber State Spring Classic

Friday, April 7

Salt Lake City, UT

2:30 p.m.

Montana State University

Utah/Weber State Spring Classic

Megan Ralstin

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

4/5/2017 12:04:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Meet Schedule Big Sky Notes

The Bobcats compete in a two-day meet against six other schools beginning Friday in Salt Lake City

By: Andrew Pedersen

Another trip awaits the Montana State men's and women's track and field teams as they travel to Utah for the Utah/Weber State Spring Classic. The Bobcats compete in Salt Lake City beginning at 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 7, for the Utah hosted portion of the meet, then complete the event in Ogden as Weber State hosts the final day of action which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"This is one of the meets our kids look forward to every year," Montana State head coach Dale Kennedy said. "This has been a highlight experience and part of that is because we have had amazing luck with weather the last four years we've competed in this meet. The format's a little different this year. It's more kind because each of the days of the meet are only about three hours long instead of the six to seven hour marathon meet that we can have in collegiate track and field."

The javelin and pole vault open the meet Friday with five field events taking place in Salt Lake City. The women's 4x100m relay will be the first track event of the day while the men's 100-meter dash is scheduled to conclude the day's events at approximately 7:40 p.m.

The women's hammer throw will be the first of the remaining eight field events that participants will compete in beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday in Ogden. The women's 400 hurdles start at 1 p.m. with the men's 4x400 relay closing the meet at roughly 3:05 p.m.

Seven universities will partake in the Utah/Weber State Spring Classic. Idaho State, Utah Valley, Utah State, Brigham Young and hosts Utah and Weber State are scheduled to be in the team non-scoring meet.

It will be the largest field the Bobcats have seen until select members head to California for the nationally-recognized Mt. SAC Relays, Beach Invitational and Bryan Clay Invitational from April 12-15.

"This meet will have a little bit to say about the selection of who moves on (to compete) at the Mt. SAC, Bryan Clay and Beach Invitational next weekend," Kennedy said. "Some of it is decided by a combination of what happens over the three meets outdoors and what happened indoors because of how early we are in the season still.

"It's an opportunity to again see some conference teams, but a couple other strong programs like Utah State who'll be there in full force, and Utah's women's team which is very good. It'll be an opportunity for a higher quality of competition, even a step up from this last weekend. That challenges our kids. They tend to respond and have a better performance level."

MSU comes off its second outdoor meet of the season last weekend. The Bobcats' men's team swept the Al Manuel Northwest Dual field easily behind nine first-place finishes. The women's squad had a strong performance at the meet, topping Idaho State and Eastern Washington in the dual-format meet while falling to host Montana. MSU currently holds 34 combined top 10 marks in the Big Sky Conference, tied for the third most among league members.

"The constant level of improvement from meet one to meet two is something that's stood out," Kennedy said. "If we can just keep stepping up with improved performances every meet, I think that it really feeds off itself and it's motivating as we move closer to the Big Sky meet. I looked and noticed we were just 37 days from the conference championships. It gets here in a hurry. There's just a few weeks left to get our team ready."

In the Polls/Rankings
The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced its first edition of the Mountain Regional rankings Monday. The MSU men's team came in at 13th with an index score of 251.68. The Bobcats rank behind fellow Big Sky members Northern Arizona (fifth), Weber State (sixth) and Southern Utah (seventh), but sit ahead of Idaho State (14th) and Montana (15) on the Mountain Region list.

Multiple Bobcats also have times that rank nationally in the top 100.

NCAA Top 100 Rankings
Kyle Douglass – 70th, Discus (171-11) | T82nd, Shot Put (56-02)
Amanda Jaynes – 84th, 400 Hurdles (1:00.96)
Zach Kughn – 95th, 3,000 Steeplechase (9:21.95)
Noah Martin – 32nd, High Jump (06-10.75)
Calvin Root – 99th, Hammer Throw (188-11)
Jacqueline Verlanic – 92nd, Hammer Throw (182-08)

MSU Record Book Update
Five Bobcats have forced changes to the all-time top 10 chart after the first two meets of the outdoor season

Christie Schiel has made two moves up the 1,500-meter run top 10 list. She joined it at 10th following the Bobcat Invitational on March 25, then moved up to eighth with her altitude-adjusted time of 4:30.89 while finishing first at the Al Manuel Northwest Invitational April 1. Alyssa Snyder made her first 2017 appearance on the 5,000 top 10 chart at the Bobcat Invite. She earned a time of 16:54.21 to move to seventh all-time in the event.

Three new 'Cats made updates to the record book during the Northwest Invite.

Jacqueline Verlanic jumped two spots on the hammer throw top 10 standings to fifth with a personal-best 182-08 for a runner-up showing. Truanne Roginske sits at 10th all-time in the triple jump with her leap of 37-09.50, just a half a foot way from Tiffany Jimison's ninth-place jump. Noah Martin became the first Bobcat to join the men's high jump top 10 rankings in 22 years during the same meet. His jump of 6-10.75 propelled him to fifth on the list.

Big Sky Performance List Update
Men's Rankings
200m – Jadin Casey 13th (22.12)
400m – Jadin Casey 7th (48.66), Tyler McQueen 20th (49.81)
800m – Samuel Bloom 4th (1:52.35), Cameron Carroll 5th (1:52.75), Diego Leon 18th (1:55.88)
1,500m – Diego Leon 6th (3:54.75), Zach Kughn 9th (3:55.85), Cameron Carroll 10th (3:56.04), Anthony Schmalz 14th (3:58.43), Samuel Bloom 20th (3:59.48)
3,000m Steeplechase – Zach Kughn 5th (9:21.95), Anthony Schmalz 16th (9:50.27), Martin Ponce 18th (9:54.52)
5,000m – Diego Leon 13th (14:56.85), Ty Mogan 14th (14:57.77), Adam Wollant 15th (14:57.88)
110m Hurdles – Mason Storm 9th (15.11), Christopher Lange 19th (15.52)
400m Hurdles – Christopher Lange 8th (54.87), Caleb Neth 11th (55.96), Jared Schwend 16th (56.94)
4x100m Relay – 42.79 (8th)
4x400m Relay – 3:18.70 (6th)
High Jump – Noah Martin T1st (6-10.75), Aidan Pedersen T11th (6-04.75)
Pole Vault – Graham Reid T2nd (15-01), Austin Decker T2nd (15-01), Jake Bradford T6th (14-07.25), Branygen Andersen T6th (14-07.25), Knox Semenza T15th (13-07.25)
Long Jump – Caleb Neth 14th (22-02.50), Noah Martin 17th (21-11.50), Mason Storm 20th (21-08.25)
Triple Jump – Alex Lewis 15th (43-02.50), Trevor Simanski 18th (40-07)
Shot Put – Kyle Douglass 2nd (56-02), Alec Nehring 7th (53-05.50), Calvin Root 13th (48-02.50), Mason Storm 16th (45-04.25)
Discus – Kyle Douglass 2nd (171-11), Alec Nehring 9th (155-09), Calvin Root 12th (148-03), Dalen Hargett 19th (133-07)
Hammer Throw – Calvin Root 2nd (188-11), Alec Nehring 15th (158-07)
Javelin – Ty Bermes 12th (170-11)

Women's Rankings
100m – Truanne Roginske 15th (12.47), Jessica Chrisp 20th (12.58)
200m – McKenna Ramsay 6th (25.08)
400m – McKenna Ramsay 6th (56.59), Elisabeth Krieger 20th (58.82)
800m – Christie Schiel 6th (2:13.62), Taylor Buschy 17th (2:16.68)
1,500m – Christie Schiel 2nd (4:30.89), Alyssa Snyder 3rd (4:32.63)
3,000m Steeplechase – Madison Liecthy 9th (11:14.33), Kendra Larson 12th (11:37.03)
5,000m – Alyssa Snyder 3rd (16:54.21)
100 Hurdles – Amanda Jaynes T9th (14.53)
400 Hurdles - Amanda Jaynes 2nd (1:00.96), Hailey Phillips 12th (1:04.12), Holly Andersen 20th (1:06.14)
4x100m Relay – 47.91 (6th)
4x400m Relay – 3:56.09 (6th)
High Jump – Carlie Haeffner T18th (5-03), Shey Hannum T18th (5-03)
Pole Vault – Casey Teska T4th (12-0), Isabella Calabrese T13th (11-06.25), Tiffani Finley T16th (11-00.25), Aubrey Kessel T16th (11-00.25), Alex Hellenberg T20th (10-06.25)
Long Jump – Megan Ralstin 20th (17-11.50)
Triple Jump – Truanne Roginske 8th (37-09.50)
Shot Put – Lindsay Benson 11th (43-08.50)
Hammer Throw – Jacqueline Verlanic 5th (182-08), Callen Crawford 10th (170-10), Cailyn Schroeder 14th (161-00), Lindsay Benson 20th (150-00)
Javelin – Carley VonHeeder 5th (136-00), Leslie Gappa 9th (131-07), Tiffany Shearman 13th (128-04)

Bobcat Teams Selected Among Contenders Big Sky Coaches' Preseason Poll
Both the men's and women's teams were listed among the top contenders in the 2017 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field coaches' preseason poll, which was announced by the league on March 21.

The Montana State men's team was selected third by the Big Sky coaches with 113 points. Northern Arizona was a unanimous choice to win its sixth straight title outdoors with the maximum 144 points, while Southern Utah was the runner-up with 129 points. Those three schools separated themselves from the remaining nine in the preseason poll, with Sacramento State (99) and Montana (97) also high on the list.

The MSU women's squad topped expectations during the indoor slate and will again look to do so heading into the outdoor season. The Bobcats were picked fourth by their peers in the preseason poll and accumulated 100 points. The Lumberjacks are predicted to finish in first by their peers and earned 140 points behind eight first-place votes. Montana was picked by four to finish first but was runner-up on the list with 129. Sacramento State follows the Griz on the list with 118 points.

Montana State has seen success on both sides in recent years. The men's team has finished in the top five at the conference meet in each of the last six years, with runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2014. The women's team finished as runner-up at the Big Sky Championships in 2012 and 2015. Last season, the men's and women's squads took fifth and eighth, respectively.