Montana State Prepped for Big Sky Conference Championships

Wednesday, May 11

Pocatello, ID

10 a.m.

Montana State University

BSC Outdoor Championships - Day One

Tickets

Derrick Olsen

Photo by: Sam Bloom

Montana State Prepped for Big Sky Conference Championships

5/10/2022 3:48:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Championship Central Live Results Stream (ESPN+)

Montana State begins its pursuit of a conference title this week as the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin at Davis Field in Pocatello, Idaho

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State begins its pursuit of a conference title this week as the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin at Davis Field in Pocatello, Idaho. A majority of the individual events take place over a two-day span starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 13.

Montana State hopes to contend for Big Sky titles in both the men's and women's competitions. Picked second in the Big Sky's Preseason Coaches' Polls, the Bobcats are slotted second in each of the men's and women's Conference Track and Field Rating Indexes produced by the USTFCCCA. The MSU men's 863.07 points trail only Northern Arizona (1,204.23) while the Bobcat women's 880.29 points also only fall behind NAU (1,318.47).

"It's exciting to see that we're ranked up pretty high in the polls," said Lyle Weese, Montana State's Dale Kennedy Director of Track and Field. "Even if you look at the power scoring, it looks like our teams are going to be pretty competitive and can finish pretty high up in the conference standings."

Both Lumberjack squads were picked to win their respective Big Sky titles. Northern Arizona's men have won seven of the last nine outdoor conference championships and the women have earned five of the last seven titles.

"It seems like on the women's side (NAU) is a little further ahead of us this year," Weese said. "But on the men's side, I think we're going to be really competitive with them. It will be a challenge to get over the top, but it's something that we're looking forward to seeing the possibility of going and being competitive for a team championship."

Several Montana State student-athletes look to make big impacts for the Bobcats this weekend on the Idaho State campus.

The Bobcat men's and women's teams each have 13 athletes with at least one mark that ranks on the Big Sky performance which currently would score points for MSU at the conference meet.

MSU's women's squad will be headlined by Evelyn Adams, Madi Arneson, Elena Carter, Lucy Corbett, Morgan Evans, Jordan Fink, Celestia Hammond, Alex Hellenberg, Leah Klein, Twila Reovan, Angellica Street and Macy White going into the championships. Carter holds the top times in the 100-meter dash and 100 hurdles, as well as the second-best long jump mark. Hellenberg is the Big Sky's current leader in the pole vault and triple jump, while she has the fifth best mark in the long jump. Corbett sits atop the Big Sky performance list in the high jump and is third in the long jump.

Montana State's men's team has multiple athletes in line to score points for the Bobcats going into the meet including Will Anderson, Chris Bianchini, Cantor Coverdell, Ian Fosdick, Duncan Hamilton, Cooper Hoffman, Alec Nehring, Derrick Olsen, Ben Perrin, Matthew Richtman, Drake Schneider, Levi Taylor and Colby Wilson. Hamilton, the reigning two-time Big Sky champion in the steeplechase, leads the conference in the event this season and is fourth on the league performance list in three other events. Schneider has the top times in both the 400 and 400 hurdles and goes into the meet having won three consecutive titles in the 400 hurdles. The men also have several hoping to make podium showings based off the performance list in Coverdell, Nehring, Olsen, Richtman, Taylor and Wilson.

"We have a lot of really strong performers," Weese said. "It's difficult to go through and list all of them and that's a good thing. We have a few athletes that are outstanding and should have solid appearances."

The appearance at Davis Field for the Bobcats will be their second of this outdoor season. Montana State participated at Idaho State's Bengal Invitational from April 29-30 and produced a variety of strong times and marks. The meet showing moved up the men's and women's teams, respectively, into the top 30 and top 70 of the national rankings at the time.

"We have been able to compete there twice over the last year," Weese said. "It's a really nice facility and we've competed well each time we've been there. We're excited to get back there again and have another great team meet."

The lone athlete Montana State has entered in to participate in the multi-events is Hunter Nicholson. He will compete in the men's decathlon that takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. Individual events at the Big Sky Outdoor Championship open on Friday with the women's hammer throw and high jump. Running events start at 1:30 p.m. that day. Live results are available on AthleticLive. A live stream will be available for each day of the championship meet on ESPN+.

Montana State Entered Athletes by Event (Women's Competition)
100: Elena Carter, Macy White
200: Macy White
400: Morgan Hanson
800: Madison Smith
1500: Mya Dube
5000: Mya Dube, Hannah Perrin
100 Hurdles: Elena Carter, Morgan Evans, Evelyn Adams
400 Hurdles: Anna Trudnowski
Steeplechase: Hannah Perrin
4x100 Relay: Elena Carter, Morgan Evans, Morgan Hanson, Macy White
4x400 Relay: Morgan Hanson, Madison Smith, Anna Trudnowski, Alex Hellenberg
Long Jump: Elena Carter, Lucy Corbett, Alex Hellenberg, Evelyn Adams, Taylor Brisendine, Hannah Hicks
High Jump: Lucy Corbett, Anna Trudnowski, Zoe Johnson, Shelby Schweyen
Pole Vault: Alex Hellenberg, Maisee Brown, Taylor Holmes
Shot Put: Jordan Fink, Leah Klein, Madi Arneson, Kyla Bush
Triple Jump: Alex Hellenberg, Twila Reovan, Taylor Brisendine
Hammer Throw: Zoe Waddell, Leah Klein, Kylie Christiansen
Discus: Madi Arneson, Zoe Waddell, Leah Klein, Anna Schander, Kyla Bush
Javelin: Angellica Street, Celestia Hammond, Kylie Christiansen, Gracey Carter

Montana State Entered Athletes by Event (Men's Competition)
100: Derrick Olsen, Will Prettyman
200: Derrick Olsen, Will Prettyman
400: Will Anderson, Julian Hazen, Alex Hershey
800: Chris Bianchini, Levi Taylor, Noah Majerus
1500: Duncan Hamilton, Riley Collins
5000: Duncan Hamilton, Ben Perrin, Matthew Richtman, Cooper West, Levi Taylor, Riley Collins, Owen Smith
10000: Matthew Richtman, Ben Perrin
110 Hurdles: Derrick Olsen
400 Hurdles: Drake Schneider
Steeplechase: Duncan Hamilton, Levi Taylor, Cooper West, Owen Smith
4x100 Relay: Drake Schneider, Will Prettyman, Will Anderson, Derrick Olsen
4x400 Relay: Alex Hershey, Will Anderson, Chris Bianchini, Drake Schneider
Long Jump: Ian Fosdick
Pole Vault: Colby Wilson, Robert Hartley
Shot Put: Alec Nehring, Carter Slade, Matt Furdyk
Triple Jump: Ian Fosdick
Hammer Throw: Matt Furdyk, Carter Slade, Ryan McCartney
Discus: Matt Furdyk, Ethan Saberhagen, Carter Slade, Alec Nehring
Javelin: Cantor Coverdell, Cooper Hoffman, Brock Winegar
Decathlon: Hunter Nicholson