Five Bobcats Earn All-Conference Accolades on Third Day of Big Sky Championships

Friday, May 10

Missoula, MT

9 a.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Day Three

Photo by: Todd Goodrich

Five Bobcats Earn All-Conference Accolades on Third Day of Big Sky Championships

5/10/2019 9:16:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Day 3 Results

Freshman Duncan Hamilton claimed his first conference title in his Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championship debut to highlight Montana State’s showing on the third day of the conference meet at Dornblaser Field

By: Andrew Pedersen

MISSOULA, Mont. – Freshman Duncan Hamilton claimed his first conference title in his Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championship debut to highlight Montana State's showing on the third day of the conference meet at Dornblaser Field. The Bobcats' men's and women's teams combined to have five all-conference performers while multiple athletes advanced through preliminary races on Friday into finals appearances.

Hamilton won his first collegiate gold medal for the Bobcats by taking first place in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Bozeman native completed a time of 9 minutes, 10.17 seconds to pick up 10 points for the men's squad in the team standings.

"The steeplechase makes you a lot more tired than a regular race," Hamilton said. "It just takes everything out of your legs. I feel like I gave it pretty much everything I had."

Senior Alex Lewis completed his best finish at a Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship in the long jump on Friday. Lewis tied his career-best and school-record mark of 25 feet, 2 inches (7.67) and held a top mark, but eventually settled for a silver medal in the event. He previously earned bronze at this past indoor season's championship in Bozeman in the long jump.

"It's definitely bittersweet," Lewis said. "Up until this year, I didn't have a medal. Getting a medal is always good, but obviously second place is first loser so that's not as good. I would have been really happy with a first place finish.

"I'm happy with my consistency of being over 25 feet. That gives me a lot of confidence going into regionals. If I jump like I did today, I have a good shot of  qualifying through to nationals."

A trio of Bobcats received bronze medals on the women's side.

Senior Layne Oliver completed the second all-conference effort of her career by taking third place in the 3,000 steeplechase. Oliver, who finished third in the women's mile at the 2018 Big Sky Indoor Championship, had a late kick to find her way on to the podium. She made up a deficit in the final 100 meters and took third by less than a second. Her time of 10:45.76 is the sixth fastest in program history.

"It was really sweet I think," Oliver said of her finish. "I had kind of a rocky season. I was injured off and on. I knew it was the last one and (coach) Lyle (Weese) just said if I could be in it with 400 to go that I've got a shot. Just to be there and have a good race at the end was fun."

Junior Carley VonHeeder earned her first all-conference performance in the women's javelin. VonHeeder's first throw of the competition ended up leading her to a third-place showing. She opened the event with a throw of 151-04 (46.14m). VonHeeder complete another throw of over 150 feet, but her top mark held up in the top three.

"It was so great," VonHeeder said of her top-three effort. "The past few years I've competed really hard but wasn't able to podium. So this year, just being able to podium, I was so stoked. Especially on the first throw, it relieved the anxiety and stress. It felt super good and I had some consistent throws."

Senior Kelsi Lasota became a six-time all-conference performer by taking third in the 10,000. Lasota, who finished runner-up in the event at last year's championships, held a lead for a majority of the event. She was able to hang onto a podium finish and eventually crossed the line in 36:25.95.

A variety of Bobcats on the women's squad completed efforts to contribute to the team score.

Madison Liechty and Lexi Kyro combined to add three points to the women's squad's total. Liechty (11:07.76) and Kyro (11:07.87) crossed the line in back-to-back places in the 3,000 steeplechase by finish seventh and eighth, respectively. Celestia Hammond completed a lifetime best in the javelin to record four points for the 'Cats. Hammond's mark of 147-03 (44.88m) was good for fifth place in the competition and moved her to ninth on the MSU all-time top 10 list in the event.

Several events Friday allowed for MSU athletes to qualify for finals showings on Saturday.

Henry Adams, Derrick Olsen and Drake Schneider will represent the men's squad after preliminary races on Friday. Seven Bobcats on the women's team advanced to finals races.

Adams tied his personal best mark of 14.42 to complete the third best time, while Olsen finished with the sixth best time of 14.57 in the 110 hurdles to advance to the final race in the event. Schneider ran a personal-best mark of 51.79 that was the fastest among 400 hurdle runners. His mark moved him up to third all-time in program history.

McKenna Ramsay and Elisabeth Krieger took third and sixth, respectively, in the women's 400 to move them into a finals race. Krieger completed a time of 56.34 which was a personal best. Morgan Evans took second overall and Elena Carter finished fifth in the 100 hurdle prelims. Carter's time of 14.14 was a lifetime best and was the 10th fastest ever by a Bobcat. Phillips completed a lifetime best of 1:02.09 in the 400 hurdles and was fourth in the prelims overall. Roginske had the sixth fastest time in the 100 of 11.95 to advance, while Carlson took the final spot in the 1,500 to advance to the finals with her time of 4:42.30.

Both MSU teams had competitors that nearly scored points. Evans took ninth in the 100, Haile Norred finished 10th in the 400 and Isabella Calabrese finished 10th in the women's pole vault. Jadin Casey took ninth in the men's 400 and Jared Schwend earned a lifetime-best mark of 54.08 in the 400 hurdles but finished ninth.

Kamden Hilborn completed her best vault as a Bobcat by clearing 11-05 (3.48m). Carter tied her best long jump by earning a mark of 18-01 (5.51m). Bill Yeager was the men's team's lone 100 runner and he had a personal-best mark of 10.80 to finish 12th. Gannon Chamberlain picked up a best time of 3:55.20 in the 1,500 during his collegiate career. Brock McCue had a personal-best throw in the hammer with his toss of 156-10 (47.82m).

Montana State's men's and women's teams are each in seventh heading into the final day of the Big Sky Conference Championships. The men have 26 points as Northern Arizona leads the standings at 50. The Bobcat women are tied in seventh at 25 points with Southern Utah. Eastern Washington is atop the team leaderboard with 42 points.

The Big Sky Championships continue at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Montana's Dornblaser Field. The meet can be streamed on PlutoTV and WatchBigSky.com. Live results are available at finishedresults.com.