Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Montana State Track & Field Slated to Host 10 Meets During 2018-19 Season
10/24/2018 10:02:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
The Montana State University track and field program will have several unique storylines heading into the 2018-19 season, which became clearer with the unveiling of this year’s schedule, announced by MSU Director of Track and Field Lyle Weese on Wednesday
BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State University track and field program will have several unique storylines heading into the 2018-19 season, which became clearer with the unveiling of this year's schedule, announced by MSU Director of Track and Field Lyle Weese on Wednesday. The Bobcats are set to host a total of 10 meets, which includes serving as the host site of the indoor conference championships and the debut of the new Blue and Gold surface at the MSU Track and Field Complex.
"We are really excited to host a lot of high quality indoor and outdoor meets this year," Weese said. "It's going to get started in December with the Bobcat Preview. Since we've gone to an actual meet and not just done an intrasquad meet to start the season, our teams have really liked it and it's added a lot to our fall training. It gets our indoor season off to a great start.
"As we go through our indoor season, we have some quality teams that will visit the Fieldhouse and compete in our meets."
The Bobcats continue their heavy presence throughout their indoor schedule with seven meets listed to be held inside Worthington Arena.
MSU gets the indoor season started on Saturday, Dec. 1, with the Bobcat Preview inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The Bobcats return to action in 2018 with a Multis Meet from Jan. 7-8, then host the MSU Open on Friday, Jan. 11. The first Dual Invitational of the year will take place on Jan. 18 in Worthington Arena before the Bobecats head to Gillette, Wyo., on Jan. 26 to compete in the Powder River Dual against Wyoming.
"It's a real advantage for us," Weese said of MSU's Worthington Arena. "Traveling is always really exciting at first, but then it starts to wear on you and gets to be difficult. We're fortunate to be able to compete here and not have to bus or fly to meets too often throughout the indoor season. I think it's great for us to be able to sleep in our own beds, have our student-athletes not miss as much class, and still have high-quality opponents come in here."
Following a weekend off from competition, the Bobcats return to action on Feb. 8 in Bozeman with the second Dual Invitational of the season. MSU will begin final preparations for the conference meet on Feb. 15 when it hosts the Big Sky Tuner.
The indoor campaign culminates with the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships taking place in Worthington Arena from Feb. 21-Feb. 23. It will be the ninth time the Bobcats have served as host of the Big Sky championships in their home confines.
"We look forward to hosting the conference meet here in Bozeman this year," Weese said. "Every time we've hosted an indoor or outdoor track and field championship meet, our teams have done better than they were anticipated to do.
"There's the obvious advantages of having a meet in your own venue and there's also the emotional side of it too. It will be great to have that support and comfortability."
The Division I indoor calendar ends on March 9 with the NCAA Championships being held in Birmingham, Ala.
Montana State will have plenty of energy heading into its outdoor season as the Bobcats gear up to host three outdoor meets at the Bobcat Track and Field Complex. They will be the first meets held at the Bobcats' outdoor home with its new Blue and Gold surface.
The Bobcats travel for the first three weekends of the outdoor schedule. Members of the MSU men's and women's teams head to separate meets from March 29-30, as several will compete in the Stanford Invitational, while the rest travel to Missoula for the Al Manuel Northwest Invitational. The entire squad heads to the Salt Lake City area to compete in meets held by Utah and Weber State from April 6-7, then head to the West Coast for the Triton Invitational on April 12.
A portion of the MSU team will have an opportunity to make their Bobcat Track and Field Complex debuts on April 20 when they serve as host of the MSU Open. A select group of MSU student-athletes will also participate at the Mt. SAC Relays and Brian Clay Invitational in California that weekend.
"The outdoor track is beautiful," Weese said. "The scoreboard is going to add a lot to the home meets. Coming off of last year, we've enjoyed being able to practice on our outdoor track, especially on a surface like it has. We're very encouraged that fall training has been going well so far. We're looking forward to the spring for the three meets and being able to use our track and field complex."
MSU closes out its regular season with two consecutive home meets. The Bobcats will host the Cat-Griz Dual on April 27, then follow it up with the Tom Gage Classic on campus May 3.
The Bobcats travel to Missoula for the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships which begin on May 8. The NCAA DI Preliminary Rounds take place in Sacramento, Calif., beginning on May 23. The NCAA DI Outdoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Texas in Austin from June 25-28.
"With the individuals that graduate, and the new freshmen that come in, every year is a new puzzle and new adventure," Weese said. "We're going to see how well we can mix in the newcomers with returners. We have a lot of strong returners on the women's side and we have some really good returners on the men's side. We're fortunate to have some impact individuals that have come in that we feel can play a role in the team score at the Big Sky Conference Championships right away."
Several Montana State meets held at home throughout the 2018-19 indoor and outdoor seasons will be streamed live on Pluto TV and WatchBigSky.com. Bobcat fans can check back on the teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com for more information.
"We are really excited to host a lot of high quality indoor and outdoor meets this year," Weese said. "It's going to get started in December with the Bobcat Preview. Since we've gone to an actual meet and not just done an intrasquad meet to start the season, our teams have really liked it and it's added a lot to our fall training. It gets our indoor season off to a great start.
"As we go through our indoor season, we have some quality teams that will visit the Fieldhouse and compete in our meets."
The Bobcats continue their heavy presence throughout their indoor schedule with seven meets listed to be held inside Worthington Arena.
MSU gets the indoor season started on Saturday, Dec. 1, with the Bobcat Preview inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The Bobcats return to action in 2018 with a Multis Meet from Jan. 7-8, then host the MSU Open on Friday, Jan. 11. The first Dual Invitational of the year will take place on Jan. 18 in Worthington Arena before the Bobecats head to Gillette, Wyo., on Jan. 26 to compete in the Powder River Dual against Wyoming.
"It's a real advantage for us," Weese said of MSU's Worthington Arena. "Traveling is always really exciting at first, but then it starts to wear on you and gets to be difficult. We're fortunate to be able to compete here and not have to bus or fly to meets too often throughout the indoor season. I think it's great for us to be able to sleep in our own beds, have our student-athletes not miss as much class, and still have high-quality opponents come in here."
Following a weekend off from competition, the Bobcats return to action on Feb. 8 in Bozeman with the second Dual Invitational of the season. MSU will begin final preparations for the conference meet on Feb. 15 when it hosts the Big Sky Tuner.
The indoor campaign culminates with the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships taking place in Worthington Arena from Feb. 21-Feb. 23. It will be the ninth time the Bobcats have served as host of the Big Sky championships in their home confines.
"We look forward to hosting the conference meet here in Bozeman this year," Weese said. "Every time we've hosted an indoor or outdoor track and field championship meet, our teams have done better than they were anticipated to do.
"There's the obvious advantages of having a meet in your own venue and there's also the emotional side of it too. It will be great to have that support and comfortability."
The Division I indoor calendar ends on March 9 with the NCAA Championships being held in Birmingham, Ala.
Montana State will have plenty of energy heading into its outdoor season as the Bobcats gear up to host three outdoor meets at the Bobcat Track and Field Complex. They will be the first meets held at the Bobcats' outdoor home with its new Blue and Gold surface.
The Bobcats travel for the first three weekends of the outdoor schedule. Members of the MSU men's and women's teams head to separate meets from March 29-30, as several will compete in the Stanford Invitational, while the rest travel to Missoula for the Al Manuel Northwest Invitational. The entire squad heads to the Salt Lake City area to compete in meets held by Utah and Weber State from April 6-7, then head to the West Coast for the Triton Invitational on April 12.
A portion of the MSU team will have an opportunity to make their Bobcat Track and Field Complex debuts on April 20 when they serve as host of the MSU Open. A select group of MSU student-athletes will also participate at the Mt. SAC Relays and Brian Clay Invitational in California that weekend.
"The outdoor track is beautiful," Weese said. "The scoreboard is going to add a lot to the home meets. Coming off of last year, we've enjoyed being able to practice on our outdoor track, especially on a surface like it has. We're very encouraged that fall training has been going well so far. We're looking forward to the spring for the three meets and being able to use our track and field complex."
MSU closes out its regular season with two consecutive home meets. The Bobcats will host the Cat-Griz Dual on April 27, then follow it up with the Tom Gage Classic on campus May 3.
The Bobcats travel to Missoula for the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships which begin on May 8. The NCAA DI Preliminary Rounds take place in Sacramento, Calif., beginning on May 23. The NCAA DI Outdoor Championships will be hosted by the University of Texas in Austin from June 25-28.
"With the individuals that graduate, and the new freshmen that come in, every year is a new puzzle and new adventure," Weese said. "We're going to see how well we can mix in the newcomers with returners. We have a lot of strong returners on the women's side and we have some really good returners on the men's side. We're fortunate to have some impact individuals that have come in that we feel can play a role in the team score at the Big Sky Conference Championships right away."
Several Montana State meets held at home throughout the 2018-19 indoor and outdoor seasons will be streamed live on Pluto TV and WatchBigSky.com. Bobcat fans can check back on the teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com for more information.
Monday, May 16
Monday, February 18
Tuesday, February 12
Tuesday, February 05
