Bobcats Continue Postseason Competition at NCAA West First Round

Wednesday, May 27

Fayetteville, Ark.

TBA

Montana State University

NCAA West First Round - Day 1

Photo by: Brian Morse

Bobcats Continue Postseason Competition at NCAA West First Round

5/26/2026 12:16:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Meet Schedule Men's Start List Women's Start List

Seventeen Cats seek to punch tickets to NCAA Outdoor Championships at Arkansas-hosted meet

By: Pershelle Rohrer

BOZEMAN, Mont. --- Seventeen Bobcats made the trip to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the NCAA West First Round, which runs Wednesday through Saturday at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

The four-day meet features the top 48 performers in each individual event and the top 24 relays across the West Region from regular-season and conference-championship competition. The Bobcats are entered in 17 events, with the top 12 overall performers in each event in Fayetteville set to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 10-13.

Matt Furdyk will kick off the field events for the Bobcats at 8:30 a.m. MT on Wednesday as he competes in the men's hammer. The Bobcats' first running event features Harvey Cramb in the 1,500-meter run at 5:30 p.m. MT.

Live Results from the NCAA West First Round will be available here. All four days of the meet will be live streamed on ESPN+ starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

NCAA West First Round Broadcast Info (ESPN+):
Wednesday – https://bit.ly/3PLZqZJ
Thursday – https://bit.ly/4wRWFXi
Friday – https://bit.ly/4nQyzby
Saturday – https://bit.ly/42W7pGG

"We are heading into the West Region of NCAAs with a large number of highly ranked entries with reasonable chances to move on to the NCAA Final in Eugene," Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Lyle Weese said. "The level of performance at this regional meet is elite. When you look at the marks it took this year to simply get into the meet, it is astonishing. It is likely there will be weather delays for thunderstorms, so it will be important we handle delays well."

The Competition: Montana State will compete against the top 48 West Region competitors in each individual event and the top 24 relay teams, with the field set to be paired down to 12 in each event by the end of the weekend. The meet will feature the men on Wednesday and Friday and the women on Thursday and Saturday, with the meet schedules mirroring each other for the men and women across the first two and final two days of competition, respectively. All field events, the 5,000m, and the 10,000m will run as semifinals, while the remainder of the running events will feature two rounds to pare down the field in Arkansas.

Bobcat Competitors: Seventeen Bobcat competitors will look to advance to Eugene in 17 events across the weekend. Eleven women and six men are among the field for the Bobcats at the NCAA West First Round.

For the women, Tilde Bjerager (400mH, 4x400m), Sydney Brewster (shot put, discus), Giulia Gandolfi (400mH, 4x400m), Peyton Garrison (4x400m), Libby Hansen (pole vault), Caroline Hawkes (400m, 4x400m), Niamh Motley (3,000m steeplechase), Hannah Perrin (3,000m steeplechase), Tatum Richards (pole vault), Madi Siana (10,000m), and Jadyn VanDyken (4x400m) will seek to punch their tickets to nationals this week.

On the men's side, Cramb (1,500m), Furdyk (hammer), Bob Hartley (pole vault), Easton Hatleberg (shot put), Jordan Lasher (pole vault), and Rob McManus (3,000m steeplechase), will represent the Bobcats in Fayetteville.

Last Time Out: The Montana State women brought home their first Big Sky outdoor title since 2003 with a dominant performance at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships in Gresham, Ore., on May 13-16. The women tallied 181 points to defeat second-place Northern Arizona (128) by 53 points, while the men finished fourth as a team with 105 points, with just five points separating the second- through fourth-place teams in Oregon. The Cats brought home 10 individual titles and 20 podium finishes while accumulating 57 total scoring performances across the four-day meet. Bjerager swept the Big Sky Most Outstanding Performer, Most Valuable Athlete, and Freshman of the Year awards after obliterating the school, conference, and meet records en route to a 400-meter hurdles victory, while also taking home gold in the 4x400m relay, silver in the high jump, and fourth in the 100m hurdles. McManus was named the meet's Most Outstanding Performer on the men's side after earning his third-straight 3,000m steeplechase title in Gresham.

Up Next: Bobcats who conclude this weekend's competition with top-12 marks in their respective events will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 10-13, marking the final meet of the 2025-26 season.

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