Multiple Bobcats Complete Top Showings at Tom Gage Classic

Friday, May 4

Missoula, MT

11 a.m.

Montana State University

Tom Gage Classic

Photo by: Sam Bloom

Multiple Bobcats Complete Top Showings at Tom Gage Classic

5/4/2018 9:15:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Tom Gage Results

Alex Lewis, Noah Martin and Drake Schneider complete program top-10 efforts to lead the MSU track and field teams in their final meet of the 2018 regular season schedule

By: Andrew Pedersen

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Montana State track and field teams closed out their regular season at the Tom Gage Classic on Friday, May 4, at Montana's Dornblaser Field. The Bobcats had several standout performances in their final tune-up ahead of the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships which begin on Tuesday in Moscow, Idaho.

Montana State's two squads combined for nine first-place finishes, with seven coming from the men's side.

Senior Kyle Douglass won two events for the men with his top marks in the shot put (56-09.25) and discus (171-03). Calvin Root placed first in the hammer throw (205-10), Mason Storm (14.78) had the fastest 100-meter hurdles time and Parker Walton crossed the line first in the 400 (49.60).

Freshman Drake Schneider earned a lifetime-best mark in his first-place showing in the 400 hurdles. His converted time of 52.13 seconds moved him up to fourth all-time in program history and slid him into the top 48 for a qualifying spot for the West Preliminary Rounds.

Alex Lewis topped his collegiate-best mark when he capped the long jump off with a leap of 24-08.25 (7.52m). Lewis remained at the second spot on the MSU all-time top 10 in the event, but also moved into the top 40 among West Region competitors.

Cameron Carroll, Chris Bianchini, Riley Collins, Christopher Lange, Collin Buck, Gannon Chamberlain, Noah Martin, Aidan Pedersen and Alec Nehring all picked up a top-three finish in at least one event for the Bobcat men.

Martin cleared an outdoor personal-best height of 6-11 (2.11m) in the high jump. That mark moved him into a tie for the 23rd spot in the West Region and kept him at fifth in school history. Pedersen followed him in the event with a season-best clearance of 6-07.

"Often times some really great things happen in a meet like this," Montana State head coach Dale Kennedy said. "Certainly, that was the case today. The big marks came from Alex Lewis and Drake Schneider with their lifetime bests. There were multiple other season-best marks that occurred. I thought it was a really great tune-up meet for the kids that came here to compete."

Elisabeth Krieger and Maddie Lee each completed first-place finishes on the women's side.

Krieger (58.79) earned the fastest time in the 400 and was followed by Kaylee Oyler and Annalise Lont for a Bobcat 1-2-4 finish. Lee (2:19.46) crossed the line with the top mark in the 800 while Kendra Larson came in second at 2:21.05.

Freshman Lexi Kyro led a Bobcat contingent in the 1,500 that took six of the nine top efforts in the race. Rounding out top-three performances for the MSU women were Carley VonHeeder (javelin), Celestia Hammond (137-10), Alex Hellenberg (long jump) and Hailey Phillips (1:03.79).

"Today was a good indicator that we are ready to go for the conference championships," Kennedy said.

The Bobcats travel to the University of Idaho's campus for the Big Sky Championships that span from May 7-10. The first two days of the meet will be featured by the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon. Preliminary and finals events begin on Thursday, May 9 at the Dan O'Brien Track and Field Complex.