Six Podium Appearances Highlight MSU’s Final Day at Big Sky Championships

Saturday, February 29

Pocatello, ID

10 a.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships - Day Three

Photo by: Sam Bloom

Six Podium Appearances Highlight MSU’s Final Day at Big Sky Championships

2/29/2020 7:41:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Big Sky Final Results

Five Bobcats earned all-conference honors on Saturday to wrap up the Big Sky indoor meet in Pocatello

By: Andrew Pedersen

POCATELLO, Idaho – Montana State track and field completed its indoor season on Saturday, Feb. 29, at the Big Sky Conference Championships in Holt Arena.

The Bobcat men's team finished third in the team standings with 77 points and the women's squad tied for seventh with Southern Utah at 53 points. Northern Arizona won both team competitions as the Lumberjacks' men's team scored 141.5 points ahead of host Idaho State's 89.5. The Jacks' women's squad narrowly defeated Sacramento State by a 103-100.5 margin.

"I thought we put in a great effort across the board," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's director of track and field. "Things just didn't fall into place for us. We had great effort across all event groups on both teams."

The MSU men had three all-conference performers and six other individuals score points toward the team total on Saturday.

Drake Schneider captured bronze medals in both the 200-meter dash and 400-meter run. Schneider set lifetime bests in both the 200 (21.57 seconds) and 400 (48.07). His time in the 400 moved him from the fourth to third fastest on MSU's all-time top 10 in the event, while he jumped from seventh to fourth in the 200 on the list.

Noah Martin earned his second consecutive runner-up finish in the men's high jump and third podium showing. The MSU senior cleared 6 feet, 9.75 inches (2.08m) to claim a silver medal. Freshman Ian Fosdick completed his lifetime best leap in the triple jump for the Bobcats. His mark of 48-06.75 (14.80m) was the eighth best triple jump in program history and helped earn him a bronze medal.

Derrick Olsen and Riley Collins scored in two events apiece for the MSU men's team while Duncan Hamilton, Jared Schwend, Cameron Carroll and Alec Nehring also contributed to the Bobcats' team total.

Olsen topped his school record he set yesterday in the 60 hurdles in Saturday's finals. His new best time of 7.99 seconds placed him fourth overall. He also took fourth in the 200 with a personal-best time of 21.72 which is the eighth fastest mark all-time among Bobcat runners. Collins placed seventh in the mile (4:15.82) and eighth in the 800 (1:58.57) for MSU.

Hamilton earned a fourth-place showing in the mile (4:13.10), Nehring took fifth in the shot put (57-06.50) while Carroll (1:56.73) and Schwend (49.21) took seventh in 800 and 400 finals races, respectively.

MSU's women's team was led by all-conference finishes by Morgan Evans and McKenna Ramsay.

Evans earned her second ever podium appearance by earning a runner-up showing in the women's 60 hurdles. Her time of 8.60 converted due to altitude is the third fastest mark in program history. She was joined in the finals by Elena Carter who took sixth in 8.73 which was the eighth best time ever by a Bobcat.

Ramsay earned her first all-conference finish in the 800 and her seventh medal during her career indoors. Ramsay's time of 2:11.23 earned her a bronze medal and was the sixth fastest in program history. She was joined in the finals by Trisha Carlson who took sixth by crossing in at 2:15.22.

Alex Hellenberg also scored in two events for the Bobcat women's team. She paced the MSU women's pole vaulters with her season-high clearance of 11-10.75 (3.63m) to finish seventh. She also took seventh in the triple jump with her lifetime best leap of 39-01.25 (11.25) which improved her already fourth-best mark in the event on MSU's top 10 list.

Both of Montana State's 4x400 relay squads completed season-best times. MSU's men's squad of Schneider, Schwend, Olsen and Will Prettyman completed a time of 3:18.36 for fourth overall. The Bobcat women came in seventh with a time of 3:51.12 and were represented by Maddie Brockel, Delaney Smith, Ramsay and Carlson.

Ben Perrin nearly earned points for the Bobcat men with his ninth-place finish in the 3,000. His time of 8:25.16 was a personal best. Amber Prevedello took ninth in the pole vault on the women's side, while Maisee Brown (pole vault) and Twila Reovan (triple jump) had 10th-place showings.

"Drake had an incredible meet with his performances in the 200 and 400," Weese said noting strong championship efforts. "He's really breaking out in both events, so we're really excited what he can do outdoors. We had a couple of sprinters that had really good meets, Wyatt (Thompson-Siporen) did well scoring in two events and Lucy (Corbett) going back-to-back in the high jump getting first place was really exciting. There were a lot of good things we saw over the last couple of days."

The Montana State track and field program's indoor season came to an end with the completion of the Big Sky Conference Championships. The Bobcats look ahead to their outdoor season which is set to start for several athletes in mid-to-late March. The Big Sky outdoor meet is slated to take place from May 13-16 in Ogden, Utah.

"I think there were a lot of things we did well, but at the same time, there's a lot of motivation to have a great outdoor conference championship both on our men's and women's sides," Weese said. "Both teams finished a little lower than we expected, so I think this will serve as great motivation for our outdoor season."