More Top-10 Montana State Track Marks Go Down at Bobcat Performance Meet

Friday, February 10

BOZEMAN

3:30 p.m.

Montana State University

Bobcat Performance Meet

Xavier Simpson

Photo by: Kyle Cajero

More Top-10 Montana State Track Marks Go Down at Bobcat Performance Meet

2/11/2023 12:04:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Final Results

Montana State set seven new top-10 all-time marks at the Bobcat Performance Meet on Friday.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Montana State track and field team put together an impressive slew of performances in their penultimate regular-season meet of the year, as seven new top-10 all-time marks occurred during the Bobcat Performance meet on Friday. Competing against Montana and Idaho State, a grand total of 13 Bobcat individuals and both relays won their respective events.

Matt Furdyk kicked off the field events with his fifth win in the weight throw with a mark of 19.54m (64-01.25), which he achieved on his fifth throw. Over on the runway, Elena Carter broke the six-meter barrier for the first time indoors on her final long jump attempt. She would win the meet with her 6.08m mark (19-11.50): the third-best jump in MSU history and a significant improvement over her conference-leading mark.

Once the track action started, the sprint squad posted impressive times, as Macy White, Jaeden Wolff, Stryder Todd-Fields and Xavier Simpson qualified for finals. Macy White would go on to run two pre-converted 7.52-second races to win the event. Wolff would finish fourth with a time of 7.79 seconds.

For the men, freshmen and former high school teammates Stryder Todd-Fields and Xavier Simpson ran nearly-identical 6.91-second, pre-converted times in the prelims, albeit in different heats. Then in the finals, despite a late recall due to timing errors, Todd-Fields and Simpson managed to PR once again on a quick turnaround. Todd-Fields would narrowly finish in second with a 6.90-second, post-conversion time, while Simpson finished in fourth with a 6.92, which ranks sixth and tied for eighth all-time at MSU.

Over in the circle, senior Jordan Fink set an indoor personal best in the shot put with a throw of 14.56m (47-09.25) on her final attempt. She ranks 10th all-time in MSU history in the event and has moved into second in the conference standings in the women's shot put after Friday night's performance. Fellow senior thrower Leah Klein would take second place in both the women's weight throw and the shot put to help bolster the Bobcats' team score.

Grace Gilbreth (9:55.67, post-conversion) and Hannah Perrin went 1-2 in the women's 3K, then MSU would sweep with Rob McManus (running unattached), Sam Ells and Samuel Smith taking the top three spots in the men's 3K.

The meet ended with two of the most exciting events: the 4x400-meter relay and Robert Hartley providing some late drama with a jump-off in the men's pole vault.

Mixing up its usual 4x400-meter relay order, the women's quartet of Macy White, Madison Smith, Jaeden Wolff and Alyssa Boshart won with a time of 3:59.19. But the men's 4x400-meter relay turned things up a notch.

MSU's A and B teams were equally matched for the first half of the race with Montana's A team, yet the latter half of the race saw the A-squad of Michael Swan, Julian Hazen, Alex Hershey and Will Anderson go toe-to-toe with Montana's A-squad. Montana threatened to take the lead on the third leg, but Hershey held the Grizzlies off and set up a thrilling final leg with Anderson. Running a 48.94-second relay split, Anderson held off Montana's Xavier Melice to stop the clock with a post-converted time of 3:16.03 — edging out Northern Colorado's time by two-hundredths of a second for the fastest time in the conference.

With the track action in the books, Robert Hartley and Idaho State's Ekhardt Van der Watt were locked in a jump-off in the men's pole vault, as both vaulters cleared 4.90m (16.00-75) on their second attempts, but failed to clear the 5.00m (16-04.75) bar. Both vaulters would settle for a tie after they lowered the bar from 5.00m and both athletes failed to clear it. Yet Hartley moved into a three-way tie for fourth in the Big Sky by clearing 4.90m.

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

Women's long jump: Elena Carter, 6.08m (19-11.50) — 3rd all-time at MSU
Men's 60 meters: Stryder Todd-Fields, 6.90 — 6th all-time at MSU
Men's 60 meters: Xavier Simpson, 6.92 — T-8th all-time at MSU
Women's weight throw: Leah Klein, 18.23m (59-9.75) — 6th all-time at MSU
Women's pole vault: Libby Hansen, 12-06.75 — 10th all-time at MSU
Women's shot put: Jordan Fink, 14.56m (47-09.25) — 10th all-time at MSU
Men's 4x400-meter relay: Michael Swan/Julian Hazen/Alex Hershey/Will Anderson, 3:16.03 — 10th all-time at MSU

UP NEXT: The team will host one final regular-season meet — the Big Sky Tuner — on Friday, Feb. 17. All meet information can be found on the men's and women's track teams' schedule pages on msubobcats.com.