Elena Carter’s School Record Highlights MSU’s Showing at the Cougar Classic

Friday, January 13

Spokane, WA

TBA

Montana State University

Cougar Classic Invitational

Elena Carter (right)

Photo by: WSU Athletics

Elena Carter’s School Record Highlights MSU’s Showing at the Cougar Classic

1/13/2023 9:16:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Final Results

Helena Capital alumna Elena Carter broke her own school record in the 60-meter hurdles twice at the Cougar Classic on Friday.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Highlighting the Montana State track and field team's return to action after a monthlong break, senior hurdler Elena Carter broke her own school record in the 60-meter hurdles twice at the Cougar Classic, held at The Podium in Spokane, Wash. on Friday.

Carter, who came into the season holding the school record with a time of 8.45 seconds, lowered her time to 8.38 seconds, which is currently tied for the 17th-fastest time in Division I.

"I was so excited," Carter said. "Indoor track has always been a struggle for me. I never thought I'd run in the 8.30s, so running an 8.38 was super exciting. I was super stoked when I was finished."

Going into the meet seeded fifth against tough Pac-12 competition, Carter would not only have to compete against athletes from Oregon and USC, but also fight off fatigue from competing in the long jump immediately before the prelims and the finals. Yet Carter was able to mentally compartmentalize for both events — plus the long jump turned out to be a blessing. She admitted she wasn't as stressed about the prelims because she was occupied with the long jump.

"Heading up to the starting line, I was not as worked up as I usually am," Carter said. "I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, which was probably a good thing because I tend to get in my head too much."

Less than two hours after she broke her school record with an 8.41 — an improvement by six-hundredths of a second — Carter threw her spikes on at the jump pit and ran up to the starting line for the 60-meter hurdle finals. She barely had time to set up her blocks. As she was waiting in the blocks, Carter reminded herself to get out of the blocks faster than she did in the prelims.

In a field that would eventually produce five of the nation's top 20 times in the 60-meter hurdles, Carter would cross the line in fifth place with a school-record time of 8.38 seconds. The four athletes ahead of her were all from Pac-12 Conference schools.

"Today was a testament to how good she is," Montana State sprints coach Jay Turner said. "After hurdle one, she really kept up with everyone and kept her technique. Her hurdle mechanics pushed her through today. She already ran a pretty good time, but if she had her normal block start, who knows what she could have run. It's exciting to see that from her and hopefully she'll do better things in the next few weeks."

Carter's school record is the second of the year for the Bobcats and the first for the women's team. Earlier this season, Duncan Hamilton broke the indoor 5,000-meter record in Boston.

"She has some very lofty goals," Turner said. "The goal is to go 8.15 or 8.20 in the 60-meter hurdles, so running against some of the Power-5 schools was really fun for her. She accepted that challenge and I think she needed to run against people who were on her level or a little bit faster than her."

Aside from Carter's school record, the Bobcats won four individual events — including a pole vault sweep from Maisee Brown and Colby Wilson, who cleared 3.73m (12-02.75) and 5.13m (16-10), respectively. Senior high jumper Lucy Corbett won her second meet of the year by clearing 1.73m (5-8), then Matt Furdyk rounded out MSU's individual winners with a mark of 18.17m (59-07.5) in the weight throw.

Friday marked a solid showing for the sprints crew. Elsewhere in the sprints, Macy White ran an indoor personal-best time of 24.61 in the 200 meters — an improvement on her seventh-fastest time in program history. White won her heat by nearly a second; her time was 12th overall out of 32 competitors in the event.

For the men, true freshman Stryder Todd-Fields led the Bobcats in the sprints for the second-straight meet. Todd-Fields and fellow Bobcat freshmen Xavier Simpson finished the 60-meter dash in 6.98 and 6.99 seconds, respectively. Later in the meet, Todd-Fields ran a lifetime-best 22.14 in the 200-meter dash, which was the ninth-fastest on the day and the third-fastest amongst freshmen.

"During the recruiting process, the things I kept hearing about Stryder was how hard he works and his desire," Turner said. "That's all I've seen from him since he's gotten here. He's worked his tail off and he's wanted to prove to us and to himself what he can do."

"Today was a testament to him working hard and the consistency of his training," Turner added.

Speaking of freshmen, the Bobcats rolled out a nearly all-freshman team in the women's 4x400 meters and placed second in their heat (and fifth overall). The quartet of freshman Giulia Gandolfi, freshman Caroline Hawkes, sophomore Morgan Hanson and freshman Peyton Garrison clocked a 3:48.87 — the team's best relay of the short season so far. Hawkes had the fastest leg of the group with a 55.09 split, which turned out to be the second-fastest relay split of the heat, trailing only USC's Christine Mallard's 55.01 lead-off leg that helped the Trojans' B team win the heat.

"That 4x400 relay has the potential to be special," Turner said. "Today we were running a little tired because of the 200 meters right before. Two of the legs were exceptional. For their first time running together, the group was super excited to run together. I think this was the first race of many for a very, very special 4x400 relay."

The Cougar Classic also marked the season debuts for several Bobcat men's middle-distance runners. Senior Chris Bianchini led wire-to-wire in the 800 meters, stopping the clock in 1:51.36. Bianchini held off USC's Jack Carter, who took second ahead of Riley Collins and Noah Majerus.

Over in the circle, Leah Klein was the top Bobcat performer in the weight throw with her mark of 17.35m (56-11.25) to place third; whereas Jordan Fink placed third in the shot put with a throw of 14.05m (46-1.25). Furdyk wrapped up his double in the ring with a personal best in the shot put at 16.45m (53-11.75), which was good for third place.

MOVING ON UP
All the new top-10 marks in program history set at the meet

Women's 60-meter hurdles: Elena Carter, 8.38 — New school record
Women's 200 meters: Macy White, 24.61 — 7th all-time at MSU

Next week, Montana State will host the Bobcat Challenge on Jan. 20-21. Meet information and updates can be found on the men's and women's track and field schedule pages on msubobcats.com.