Outdoor Season Team Award Winners Selected by Bobcat Track & Field

Photo by: Todd Goodrich

Outdoor Season Team Award Winners Selected by Bobcat Track & Field

6/4/2019 5:44:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Andrew Pedersen

Montana State track and field selected several student-athletes as award winners following the conclusion of the 2019 outdoor season. The award winners were chosen based off their performances during the outdoor slate.

Montana State's Top Gun award winners were Kelsi Lasota and Wyatt Thompson-Siporen. The Top Gun award is given to the Bobcats' top point earners at the Big Sky Championships.

Lasota closed out her college career by finishing third in the 10,000 and sixth in the 5,000 at the conference meet. The Estes Park, Colo., native scored nine points for the Bobcat women's squad paced by her combined fourth all-conference effort in track and field. Lasota advanced to the NCAA West Prelminary Round in the 10,000 and took 31st overall. She also completed a lifetime best in the 5,000 during the season of 16:35.48, good for the fourth fastest mark in program history.

Thompson-Siporen had two all-conference performances at the Big meet. The MSU junior took second in the men's decathlon and pole vault, setting new personal-best marks in each event. His 7,132 points in the decathlon were the seventh most ever by a Bobcat and his height of 16 feet, 15.50 inches in the pole vault was the 10th best mark all-time. He led the Bobcat men's squad by recording 16 points at the conference meet.

Lasota was named the women's team's Outstanding Track Athlete of the Year and Drake Schneider was selected as the men's team's Outstanding Track Athlete. Schneider made a West Preliminary appearance after shattering the school record in the 400 hurdles at the Big Sky Championships. His converted time of 51.38 seconds helped propel him to back-to-back gold medal s in the event. Schneider was also a member of MSU's seventh-place 4x400 relay squad.

Thompson-Siporen shared the men's Oustanding Field Athlete of the Year honors with Alex Lewis. The Bobcat senior earned his highest finish at a Big Sky Championship when he claimed silver in the long jump. His leap of 25-02 (7.67) tied his career-best mark which became the school record a month prior. He also took sixth at the Big Sky meet before heading to the West Preliminary where he took 19th overall in the long jump, just seven spots shy of a berth to the NCAA Championships.

Carley VonHeeder was chosen as the women's squad's Outstanding Field Athlete of the Year. VonHeeder became an all-conference performer for the first time as she placed third in the javelin at the Big Sky Championships. She completed a season-best throw of 151-07 (46.21) in April which qualified her for the regional meet for the third time of her career. She eventually took 25th out of 48 competitors at Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium.

Morgan Evans earned the Most Improved award for the women's team. She made a Big Sky podium for the first time in her collegiate career as she took third in the 100 hurdles in Missoula on May 11. The MSU sophomore jumped into the program's all-time top 10 in the event during the season, then improved her lifetime best to 13.87 seconds at the conference meet and sits fourth. She also placed ninth in the 100 and was a member of the Bobcats' fourth place 4x100 relay squad.

Most Improved honors on the men's side were shared by Lewis and Schneider.

Freshman of the Year accolades went to Elena Carter and Lucy Corbett on the women's side, while Duncan Hamilton was tabbed the men's team's honoree.

Carter made a finals appearance in the 100 hurdles at the Big Sky Championships after her career-best run of 14.18 seconds in the prelims. That mark is the 10th fastest in program history.  She also placed 18th in the long jump competition. Corbett moved to fourth among Bobcats all-time in the outdoor high jump with her season-best mark of 5-08.50 (1.74m). She placed sixth in the event at the conference meet.

Hamilton won the Big Sky men's steeplechase title becoming MSU's first champion in the event since Lyle Weese earned gold at the 2003 Big Sky Championships. He qualified for the West Preliminary in the event and placed 33rd. His top time of the year of 9:01.36 in the steeple was the 10th fastest in program history.

MSU's Teammates of the Year were Luke Middelstadt and Layne Oliver as both ended their collegiate careers on a high note. Middelstadt scored five points for the Bobcat men by taking fourth in the pole vault. He cleared a season-best height of 15-05.75 to nearly finish with all-conference honors. Oliver finished third in the women's steeplechase with a time of 10:45.76. She earned bronze in the event by completing the sixth fastest mark all-time by a Bobcat.