Big Sky Preview Provides Record-Breaking Efforts Friday

Friday, February 11

BOZEMAN

3:30 p.m.

Montana State University

Big Sky Preview

Colby Wilson

Photo by: Taylor Allen

2/11/2022 10:22:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Final Results Big Sky Preview

Montana State track and field completed its final home meet of the indoor season ahead of the Big Sky Conference Championships and had a variety of standout performances at the Big Sky Preview in Worthington Arena

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State track and field completed its final home meet of the indoor season ahead of the Big Sky Conference Championships and had a variety of standout performances at the Big Sky Preview in Worthington Arena. At the end of competition Friday, The Bobcats saw five of their school records broken.

Lucy Corbett continued her incredible calendar year in the women's high jump. The MSU junior cleared her opening height and took two attempts to top 5 feet, 10 inches (1.78m). Corbett followed that mark by flying over the 6-foot mark to improve her indoor school record on her first attempt. Looking to assure herself qualification for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Corbett attempted a jump at 6-01. 25 (1.86m). She easily cleared the bar and found her way into the top five of the current NCAA Division I performance list.

With a shot at a Big Sky Conference record in her grasp, Corbett continued competition by moving the bar to 6-02 (1.88m). On her opening attempt Corbett found her way over the bar again and tied the Big Sky record and made her way atop the NCAA's performance list this season. She would end her competition after two attempts at 6-03.25 (1.91m) but made her mark in program history Friday.

"I felt good," Corbett said about entering today's event. "I felt like my spring was there and I felt strong. It was just about getting the corner right and putting it all together.

"I didn't imagine doing that today at all. I was hoping to get to 6-feet today and I felt like I could do that based off how I did last week. I was pretty pumped up about it, but I wasn't expecting to jump that high, so I'm just really excited."

Corbett's height of 6-02 (1.88m) puts her in a tie for first in the NCAA at this time with Texas A&M's Lamara Distin and Texas Tech's Sidney Sapp. Her mark tied the Big Sky record held by Amber Welty who set the mark as a member of the Idaho State squad in 1988.

"That was just incredible to witness," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field. "Being tied for a lead at the NCAA level and with an all-time Big Sky Conference record, that really was an elite effort by Lucy."

MSU continued its effort on the track in Bozeman Friday as Colby Wilson topped the men's pole vault record held by John Wurtz since 1998. Wilson, who hadn't cleared 17 feet prior to this season, slowly made his way over the course of the indoor slate up to the second slot on MSU's all-time top 10. He came into the meet with a personal-best height of 17-04.25 (5.29m).

Wilson cruised through three heights which included his new program record mark of 17-06.50 (5.35m) to top Wurtz's mark by two inches. Wilson made his way into the top 20 of the NCAA's performance list this indoor season and narrowly missed clearing 17-11 (5.46m).

"It's definitely a relief," Wilson said of breaking the school record in his primary event. "Making sure everything lines up has been a struggle the last couple meets, but it was good to finally clear it and have my work pay off. I was super confident right before the jump so I knew I had it in me.

"Now I'm just focusing on conference. My goal is to win it and if I'm able to do it, I'll go back to 5.46 (meters) to try to qualify for nationals."

The 17-11 (5.46m) mark is currently the 10th slot on the NCAA performance list. Wilson's clearance of 17-06.50 did move him into a tie for fourth all-time among Big Sky men's pole vaulters.

"It's been so fun to see Colby's progression as the year has gone on," Weese said. "He's gotten stronger, practices have gone well and he's taking it all into the meets. He's moving up a little bit at a time and now he's broke a school record. He's right on the edge of a mark to get himself into an NCAA meet. That's pretty spectacular for a redshirt freshman."

Derrick Olsen made his return to the 60-meter hurdles and provided some fireworks in the sprints for Montana State. In the 60 hurdle prelims, Olsen topped his previous school record by a hundredth of a second finishing with a converted 8.0 seconds. He then shattered that mark in the finals with his converted time, due to altitude, of 7.90 seconds.

Another effort for Montana State that resulted in a new top 10 all-time mark came from Camila Noe. The Bozeman native completed a time of 9:36.52 in the 3,000. Her mark adjusted due to altitude and track size to 9:17.69 is the fastest mark by a Bocat women's runner in the event since 1993 when Jennifer Bayliss set the program record of 9:13.31.

"To break the school record in consecutive races that's pretty impressive," Weese said of Olsen's performances. "He did that within a minute of Colby's record, so it was awesome to see. Camila has really built up some momentum the last few weeks. It'll be exciting to see what she can do the rest of this indoor season and going into the outdoor season."

Two other Bobcats that highlighted efforts were Ben Perrin and Duncan Hamilton. The MSU distance runners traveled to Seattle to run at sea level in Washington's Husky Classic. Perrin finished first overall in the men's 5,000. He topped his own school record by four seconds finishing in 13:39.56 which is the 20th fastest in Division I this indoor season. Hamilton ran in the final heat of the 3,000 and placed third in the event behind two runners who set new facility records. Hamilton crossed the line in 7:45.40 to improve his school-record time by three seconds. He moved into the top six individuals on the NCAA performance list with his effort.

"It's a great experience for them," Weese said. "Our distance runners are dealing at home with track and altitude conversions. For Ben and Duncan to have previous school records and to break them at sea level the way they did is great."

Montana State had plenty of other solid results in its own home meet in Bozeman Friday.

The men's 800 featured a 1-2 showing by Noah Majerus and Chris Bianchini. Majerus's time of 1:53.56 adjusted placed him ninth on MSU's all-time top 10 list. Bianchini's time of 1:53.77 was a season best as well. Will Prettyman (7.02) and Levi Taylor (4:14.69) placed first in the 60 dash and mile, respectively, behind season-best times. Will Anderson added a first-place effort in the 200 and a runner-up finish in the 60.

Matt Furdyk and Carter Slade each had personal-best throws for the Bobcats. Furdyk's toss of 58-09.50 (17.92m) in the weight throw placed him second in the event, while Slade took runner-up in the shot put with his mark of 54-07.25 (16.64m).

Matthew Richtman added a second-place showing in the men's 3,000 while Hunter Nicholson (long jump) and Rob McManus (mile) each took third in a respective event.

Earning first-place finishes on the women's side were Elena Carter (60 hurdles, long jump), Mya Dube (mile) and Twila Reovan (triple jump). Dube recorded a personal-best effort in the mile with her time of 5:01.90 while Reovan completed her season-best jump of 37-09.50 (11.52m).

Placing among the top three finishers in a respective event were Evelyn Adams (60 hurdles), Kendra Lusk (mile), Morgan Hanson (200), Megan Good (800), Alex Moore (3,000), Maisee Brown (pole vault), Jordan Fink (shot put) and Madi Arneson (shot put). Adams ran a personal-best time of 8.90 seconds in the 60 hurdles, Hanson had two personal bests on the night in the sprints events, while Arneson had a season-best mark of 44-00.50 (13.42m) in the shot put.

The Bobcats closed out their season by sweeping the dual scoring Big Sky Preview. MSU's women's squads topped both Weber State (73-56) and Montana (66-57) and the men's team defeated Montana (74-66) and Weber State (77-62) as well.

"It really seems like as a team we're still on the upswing and that we're getting better," Weese said following the meet. "It's exciting to have our final meet at home and feel like we're still building on our performances."

Montana State now looks ahead to the 2022 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Bobcats serve as host of the meet which runs from Feb. 24-26. For information about the championships, visit the championship central page at msubobcats.com.