History Made as Bobcats Complete Strong Big Sky Championship Showing

Saturday, May 15

Ogden, UT

9:30 a.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Conference Championships

Photo by: Big Sky Conference

History Made as Bobcats Complete Strong Big Sky Championship Showing

5/15/2021 8:39:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Final Results - Big Sky Championship

The Bobcat men's and women's teams completed their best outdoor championships finishes in recent years in Ogden on Saturday

OGDEN, Utah – A trio of Montana State athletes earned gold medals on Saturday, May 15, at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships hosted by Weber State at Stewart Stadium. The final day of action at the meet saw the Montana State men's team earn a runner-up finish while the Bobcat women's squad placed third in the standings.

MSU's men's team showing was its best at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships since 2014. The Bobcats' finish on the women's side was the highest for MSU since 2015.

"The conference meet is super special because of the team aspect of it," said Lyle Weese, the Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field for Montana State. "It was great to come together as a team and compete. The jumps, throws, sprints and distance events, all of them had highlights and some areas they excelled in. We were able to send the seniors off with two good team performances for both the men's and women's squads."

Noah Martin got the action started for Montana State on Saturday in the men's high jump. The Bobcat senior won his first gold medal in the event since his freshman indoor season by clearing 6 feet, 11.75 inches (2.13m). Martin made all five of his attempts en route to his first Big Sky outdoor title. The Spokane, Wash., native became MSU's first men's outdoor high jump champion in 23 years.

The Bobcats' two other first-place performances Saturday came behind school-record efforts.

Carley VonHeeder led the women's javelin competition from the start and shattered the program record in the event on her third attempt. VonHeeder, who was previously third on MSU's all-time top 10 list, completed a throw of 173-10 (52.99) exactly three feet farther than the previous record held by Emily Tyrrell. The MSU senior became MSU's first women's champion in the javelin since Tyrrell won the Big Sky crown in 2012.

VonHeeder's performance also earned her the Big Sky's 2021 Women's Outstanding Performer Award. It's the first time an MSU athlete has been honored with the accolade in six years.

Drake Schneider completed a three-peat in the men's 400-meter hurdles by cruising to the championship with a time of 50.17 seconds. He broke his own school record for the fourth time this outdoor season and did so by defeating the runner-up, Deyondre Davis of Idaho, by over two seconds. Schneider became the first three-time champion for MSU in the 400 hurdles. He joined Blake Jackson (shot put, 2002-04) and Shannon Butler (5,000, 1989-91) as Bobcats to have won three consecutive championships in an event during the outdoor season.

"All three of those (finishes) were super thrilling," Weese said. "That was quite an incredible performance by Carley in the javelin. She kind of reached into an entirely new level which is exciting. It was great to see Noah finishing out his MSU career with another conference title. Drake was pretty dominant from start to finish in his race. He was really aggressive and fought through a headwind in the final 100 and still ran really fast. With better conditions, he could have even ran under 50 seconds."

Montana State had five other individuals earn All-Big Sky honors on Saturday.

Both Duncan Hamilton and Carla Nicosia each registered new program-record marks and nearly claimed gold in their respective events.

Hamilton raced out to the lead in the 1,500 finals and held his ground until the final 200 meters when Northern Arizona's Luis Grijalva passed him on his way to a new conference championship record time. Hamilton crossed the line in 3:42.05, which converted due to altitude will be approximately 3:37.50, topped the previous Bobcat record established by Cristian Soratos (3:39.65) in 2015. His runner-up performance gave him a second medal to go with his gold he earned Friday in the steeplechase.

Nicosia jumped into the early lead in the women's triple jump and held firm until Tayler LyDay of Idaho completed a leap of 41-08.75 (12.72m) two slots ahead of her in the competition's sixth attempt. The Bobcat senior completed her final attempt by shattering her own school record by five inches. However, Nicosia's new lifetime best was just a quarter-of-an-inch – or .01m – behind LyDay's mark. The Columbia Falls native collected the second silver medal of her college career by recording a trirple jump of 41-08.50 (12.71m). She became MSU's first all-Big Sky performer in the women's triple jump in 16 years.

Damien Nelson made his Big Sky conference meet debut and earned all-league finishes in both his individual races. Nelson placed second in the 200 in a time of 21.15, which if it weren't wind aided, would have broken a program record. He also took third in the 100 by crossing the line in 12.66. He was the first Bobcat to earn all-Big Sky finishes in each event since 2012 when Chris Wilson completed the feat.

Elena Carter and Derrick Olsen were MSU's top finishers in the 100 hurdles and 110 hurdles, respectively. Carter claimed her highest Big Sky meet showing as she took second with a time of 13.84. Olsen earned back-to-back bronze medals at the outdoor meet as he topped his previous school-record mark of 13.91 on Saturday.

The Bobcats had a variety of point scorers that contributed to the team totals.

Alex Hellenberg completed two lifetime best efforts for the MSU women. She placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 40-04.25 (12.30m) and moved to second all-time in program history in the event. She led the 'Cats in the pole vault with a sixth-place finish. Hellenberg cleared 12-05.25 which moved her from 10th to eighth on MSU's top 10 list.

The Montana State men's 4x400 relay of Will Anderson, Jared Schwend, Damien Nelson and Drake Schneider picked up a second-place spot on the podium by running a time of 3:14.11. That mark was the fifth fastest ever by a Bobcat relay. The women's squad in the 4x100 took fourth in a time of 46.37. The relay group of Elena Carter, Morgan Evans, Evelyn Adams and Macy White ran the eighth fastest time in MSU history.

Jordan Fink took sixth in the women's shot put with a personal-best toss of 44-10.25 (13.67m). Macy White placed fourth in the 100 and Trisha Carlson finished fifth in the 800. Morgan Evans added a point for the women by taking eighth in the 100 hurdles.

Jared Schwend ran a personal-best time of 53.01 in the men's 400 hurdles to finish fifth overall. Henry Adams took seventh in the 100 hurdles and Will Anderson completed a lifetime best 48.33 in the 400 to finish sixth. Collin Buck (14:30.50) and Hamilton (14:38.93) crossed in sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 5,000.

The Big Sky Conference Championships serve as the end of the season for a majority of the athletes on the Bobcat track and field program. Several will continue action from May 26-29 when qualifiers for the NCAA West Preliminary Round travel to College Station, Texas, to compete for a chance to advance to the NCAA Championships that will be held at Hayward Field.

"I thought out team just fought through so much adversity over the last two years," Weese said. "They came into their first big conference meet as an entire track and field team and just competed very well. It was great to see all the event groups performing well and contributing. They really overcame the struggles of the last couple of years.

"Now we'll be taking a smaller group as we head into regionals. We're excited for the individuals that get to have an opportunity to compete well and have a chance to go to Eugene."

Northern Arizona won both team competitions. NAU scored 168 points on the men's side finishing ahead of MSU (122) and Idaho (106). The Lumberjacks' women's team scored 201 points to finish ahead of Weber State (142). The Bobcats' 78 points placed ahead of fourth-place Idaho State (74).