Saturday, May 29
College Station, TX
12 p.m.
Montana State University
at
NCAA West Preliminaries
Photo by: Weber State Athletics
Montana State’s Corbett & Hamilton Punch Tickets to Eugene
5/29/2021 5:09:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Lucy Corbett and Duncan Hamilton highlighted MSU’s day on the Texas A&M campus as both earned trips to Eugene, Ore., to compete at Hayward Field
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Montana State track and field program completed its appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Round at E.B. Cushing Stadium on Saturday, May 29, with two Bobcats qualifying to participate in the NCAA Outdoor Championships from June 9-12. Lucy Corbett and Duncan Hamilton highlighted MSU's day on the Texas A&M campus as both earned trips to Eugene, Ore., to compete at Hayward Field.
Corbett opened the day with a historical performance for the Bobcat women's team in the high jump. She cleared all four opening heights on her first attempts with her final clearance being 5 feet, 11.50 inches (1.82m). Only two others in the high jump competition, Madison Langley-Walker of Oklahoma and Lamara Distin of Texas A&M, were able to achieve the same feat as Corbett as the trio claimed a tie for first place.
Corbett's jump of 5-11.50 is the second best of her career and the second highest ever by a Bobcat. She is the first female high jumper to advance to any NCAA Championship meet in program history. Only Brian Schweyen has advanced to the same stage when he did so for the men's squad during the 1990 indoor season.
"It was pretty exciting," said MSU jumps coach Dustin Cichosz. "We did some run throughs a couple days ago and she was on, so we didn't have to spend a lot of time doing that. We got here and we did a couple today and she looked on again, which is big for her because it's the most jumping she's done consecutively all year. She just started making them early, she had a good approach, and for her four consecutive jumps is great. It puts her in a really good position to not only do well here, but to stay healthy. We didn't want her to take a lot of jumps and it ended up working out great.
"I think Lucy is really cool-headed and smart. Even though she'll be excited and nervous, I have a lot of confidence in her at the next stage (in Eugene)."
Hamilton doubled the Bobcats' travel party to Eugene as he completed a solid race in the third heat of the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Bobcat distance runner stuck with the lead pack for the duration of the event and held the lead at the six-lap mark. He eventually crossed the line in 8 minutes, 39.02 seconds for second place in his heat, finishing less than four tenths of a second behind BYU's Garrett Marsing. Hamilton's time was the third overall mark with Arkansas State's Bennett Pascoe clocking a mark of 8:37.45 to place first overall.
Hamilton's time of 8:39.02 was a lifetime best by more than two seconds and moved him up to second on the program's top 10 chart. He became MSU's first men's runner to advance to the NCAA meet in the steeplechase in 18 years. Hamilton joins Lyle Weese (2002-03), his current event coach, and Shannon Butler (1990-91) as Bobcats that have advanced to the NCAA cross country, indoor track and outdoor track championships in the same calendar year.
"This was a great experience for Duncan to have," said Weese, MSU's Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field. "This year he has been out front for the entire race, so this was good for him to be part of a pack that was running a similar caliber time as him. It should really benefit him going to Eugene because he'll be in a place that has similar weather to what we experience. I think he's really prepared to run well at the NCAA Championships."
The Bozeman high graduates are the first Bobcats to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2018.
Also competing for Montana State on Saturday were Carla Nicosia and Levi Taylor. Nicosia was part of the first flight of the women's triple jump competition. She eventually earned a 36th-place finish with her best leap of 40-04 (12.29m). Taylor ran in the opening heat of the men's 3,000 steeplechase. He completed a solid 28th-place showing by finishing in a time of 9:03.96.
Saturday marked the final action of the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
"The regionals were really a super high-quality meet that had so many great athletes at it," Weese said. "It was definitely a bit of an adjustment for the teams coming from our conference to come to a place with heat like this. I thought overall, our athletes did a good job of adapting. It was a high level of competition at a great facility which we enjoyed being a part of."
Up next for Corbett and Hamilton will be the NCAA Championships set to take place at Hayward Field in Eugene. Hamilton's semifinal steeplechase race is schedule to take place at 6:30 p.m. MDT on Wednesday, June 9. If he advances to the finals, that race is slated to start at 6:24 p.m. on Friday, June 11. The finals of the women's high jump are scheduled to open at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 12.
Corbett opened the day with a historical performance for the Bobcat women's team in the high jump. She cleared all four opening heights on her first attempts with her final clearance being 5 feet, 11.50 inches (1.82m). Only two others in the high jump competition, Madison Langley-Walker of Oklahoma and Lamara Distin of Texas A&M, were able to achieve the same feat as Corbett as the trio claimed a tie for first place.
Corbett's jump of 5-11.50 is the second best of her career and the second highest ever by a Bobcat. She is the first female high jumper to advance to any NCAA Championship meet in program history. Only Brian Schweyen has advanced to the same stage when he did so for the men's squad during the 1990 indoor season.
"It was pretty exciting," said MSU jumps coach Dustin Cichosz. "We did some run throughs a couple days ago and she was on, so we didn't have to spend a lot of time doing that. We got here and we did a couple today and she looked on again, which is big for her because it's the most jumping she's done consecutively all year. She just started making them early, she had a good approach, and for her four consecutive jumps is great. It puts her in a really good position to not only do well here, but to stay healthy. We didn't want her to take a lot of jumps and it ended up working out great.
"I think Lucy is really cool-headed and smart. Even though she'll be excited and nervous, I have a lot of confidence in her at the next stage (in Eugene)."
Hamilton doubled the Bobcats' travel party to Eugene as he completed a solid race in the third heat of the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Bobcat distance runner stuck with the lead pack for the duration of the event and held the lead at the six-lap mark. He eventually crossed the line in 8 minutes, 39.02 seconds for second place in his heat, finishing less than four tenths of a second behind BYU's Garrett Marsing. Hamilton's time was the third overall mark with Arkansas State's Bennett Pascoe clocking a mark of 8:37.45 to place first overall.
Hamilton's time of 8:39.02 was a lifetime best by more than two seconds and moved him up to second on the program's top 10 chart. He became MSU's first men's runner to advance to the NCAA meet in the steeplechase in 18 years. Hamilton joins Lyle Weese (2002-03), his current event coach, and Shannon Butler (1990-91) as Bobcats that have advanced to the NCAA cross country, indoor track and outdoor track championships in the same calendar year.
"This was a great experience for Duncan to have," said Weese, MSU's Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field. "This year he has been out front for the entire race, so this was good for him to be part of a pack that was running a similar caliber time as him. It should really benefit him going to Eugene because he'll be in a place that has similar weather to what we experience. I think he's really prepared to run well at the NCAA Championships."
The Bozeman high graduates are the first Bobcats to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships since 2018.
Also competing for Montana State on Saturday were Carla Nicosia and Levi Taylor. Nicosia was part of the first flight of the women's triple jump competition. She eventually earned a 36th-place finish with her best leap of 40-04 (12.29m). Taylor ran in the opening heat of the men's 3,000 steeplechase. He completed a solid 28th-place showing by finishing in a time of 9:03.96.
Saturday marked the final action of the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
"The regionals were really a super high-quality meet that had so many great athletes at it," Weese said. "It was definitely a bit of an adjustment for the teams coming from our conference to come to a place with heat like this. I thought overall, our athletes did a good job of adapting. It was a high level of competition at a great facility which we enjoyed being a part of."
Up next for Corbett and Hamilton will be the NCAA Championships set to take place at Hayward Field in Eugene. Hamilton's semifinal steeplechase race is schedule to take place at 6:30 p.m. MDT on Wednesday, June 9. If he advances to the finals, that race is slated to start at 6:24 p.m. on Friday, June 11. The finals of the women's high jump are scheduled to open at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 12.
Players Mentioned
Jumps
/ Women's Track and Field
Distance
/ Men's Track and Field
Jumps
/ Women's Track and Field
Distance
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