Montana State Gears up for Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships

Thursday, February 23

Moscow, ID

TBA

Montana State University

Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships

Tickets

Leah Klein

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

Montana State Gears up for Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships

2/21/2023 10:16:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Watch (ESPN+)Championship Central Meet Schedule Tickets

With Montana State athletes entered in all but two events, the Big Sky Conference Championships is expected to be an action-packed meet for the Bobcats.

BOZEMAN, Montana – Six school records, 36 new top-10 records and a plethora of personal bests later, the Montana State track and field team will kick off the postseason at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Moscow, Idaho from Feb. 23-25.

Held at the University of Idaho's brand-new, 300-meter Lauren McCluskey Track in the Kibbie Dome, the Big Sky Championships will begin Thursday with the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon, then finish Saturday with the awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m. MT. All individual events shorter than the mile will have prelims and finals. The meet will be live streamed on ESPN+; a link to the live stream and the live results can be found on msubobcats.com.

Multi-event athletes Garrett Coley, Lina-Sophie Hommel and Shelby Schweyen will kickstart the action on Thursday at 11 a.m. MT with the first day of the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon. Coley's heat of the 60-meter hurdles will kickstart Friday's action at 11 a.m. MT. Saturday's first event is the men's weight throw at 11:15 a.m., followed by the men's mile at 12:25 p.m.

At the conference meet last season, the men's team placed third while the women's team placed fourth while competing in the friendly confines of Worthington Arena. Both MSU teams were picked behind Northern Arizona and Idaho in the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Coaches' polls earlier this winter.

This year has been a successful one so far for Montana State. The Bobcats have set six new school records and 36 new all-time top-10 marks (17 men, 19 women) on the program's leaderboard. As it stands, the Bobcats have three athletes in contention to qualify for nationals in their respective events: Lucy Corbett (high jump), Duncan Hamilton (mile, 3,000 meters) and Colby Wilson (pole vault).

EVENTS OF NOTE

High jumper Lucy Corbett is on the doorstep of history. With a high jump title this week, the senior high jumper will be one of four athletes in Big Sky Conference history to be a four-time champion in a single indoor event. Her teammate, Anna Trudnowski, is ranked third on the flight list in the high jump.
Nearly one month removed from breaking the Big Sky Conference indoor pole vault record with a bar of 5.52m (18-1.25), Colby Wilson aims to win back-to-back titles in the event.
Elena Carter will look to defend her conference title in the 60-meter hurdles. The senior from Helena, Mont. comes in with the fastest seed time (8.38 seconds) by nearly two-tenths of a second. Additionally, she is the top athlete in the women's long jump.
In the throws circle, Matt Furdyk comes in seeded third in the men's weight throw behind NAU's John Murphy and Desmond Lott — both of whom have broken the 20-meter barrier this year. On the women's side, Leah Klein also has the third-best mark in the weight throw, plus she is ranked fourth in the shot put behind fellow senior Bobcat Jordan Fink.
Fresh off breaking the school record in the men's mile, Duncan Hamilton comes in as the top seed in the men's mile and the second-fastest runner in the men's 3,000-meter run. Hamilton and Levi Taylor are the top two seeds in the men's mile, which features four sub-four milers and eight runners under 4:05. Both Hamilton and Taylor are also scheduled to anchor the men's distance medley relay team.
Senior Chris Bianchini's 800-meter dash time of 1:49.60 is the second-best in the field behind Idaho's Lorenz Herrmann, who will be running at his home track. He is also signed up to run legs on MSU's 4x400-meter and distance medley relay teams.
School record holder Camila Noe is entered in the 5,000-meter run and seeded second behind Weber State's Billie Hatch. Noe is one of 39 Division I women to go sub-16 in a historically fast year for collegiate distance runners. On the men's side, Ben Perrin and Matthew Richtman will fend off a group of Northern Arizona men to earn all-conference honors.
Both 4x400-meter relay teams are seeded second in what should be a thrilling finish to the meet. The men's quartet of Michael Swan, Julian Hazen, Chris Bianchini and Will Anderson will look to defend their title from last year against top seeded NAU. On the women's side, MSU's mostly-underclassmen 4x400-meter relay team of Madison Smith, Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi and Caroline Hawkes could formally introduce themselves as the Big Sky's relay team to beat with a title on Saturday.

THE LAST TIME…

A male MSU sprinter won a Big Sky title: 2022 (Drake Schneider, 400 meters)
A male MSU distance runner won a Big Sky title: 2015 (Cristian Soratos, mile)
A male MSU thrower won a Big Sky title: 2013 (David Phillips, weight throw)
A male MSU jumper won a Big Sky title: 2022 (Colby Wilson, pole vault)
A male MSU athlete won the multis: 2017 (Mason Storm)
A male MSU relay won a Big Sky title: 2022 (4x400 relay)
A female MSU sprinter won a Big Sky title: 2022 (Elena Carter, 60-meter hurdles)
A female MSU distance runner won a Big Sky title: 2015 (Heather Demorest, 3,000 and 5,000 meters)
A female MSU thrower won a Big Sky title: 2012 (Amanda Murphy, shot put)
A female MSU jumper won a Big Sky title: 2022 (Lucy Corbett, high jump)
A female MSU athlete won the multis: 2015 (Carley McCutchen)
A female MSU relay won a Big Sky title: 2019 (4x400 relay)
The MSU men's team won a Big Sky title: Never
The MSU women's team won a Big Sky title: 2001