Montana State hosted the MSU Open at Worthington Arena on Friday night. The nine-team, unscored event kicks off the 2011 indoor track and field season for the Bobcats and is the first of four home meets this season. (Results)
The Bobcats put out several impressive performances in the early-season meet, including at least three Big Sky Conference Championships qualifying times. "A lot of positive things happened tonight, not just for MSU but for our unattached kids, as well," said head coach Dale Kennedy. "We were really challenged in a lot of events and put out strong results we don't normally see this early in the season."
The meet started off with strong performances from the Bobcats in the 55-meter hurdles.
In the women's competition, Katie Niemeir finished in first with a time of 8.43. Sarah McGree clocked in just three-hundredths of a second later to tie for second place.
Likewise, for the men, MSU took the top two spots in the hurdles as Slater Powell crossed the line in 7.66 seconds. Powell's time clocks in as one of the best in conference this season. Right behind Powell was freshman Jeff Mohl who finished in 7.91 seconds.
On the night, Mohl put out three placing performances. He picked up third place finishes in both the Long Jump (6.85) and the Pole Vault (4.70).
One of the most notable performances of the night came from Heather Haug who comfortably finished first in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:11.92, 25-seconds ahead of the field. With the NCAA Altitude Adjustment, her time falls below the 10-minute mark, a personal best for the Livingston native and also a Big Sky qualifying time.
The women's 4x400-meter relay (Flanagan-Fuchs-Niemeir-Rider) put up a good fight with the University of Mary, who challenged the Bobcats in many events throughout the night. Despite the Marauders win in the event (3:53.41), the Bobcats finished in second and third, with the A relay posting a 3:54.05 finish. The relay of Barrett-McCutchen-McGree-McMillan finished in 4:04.33.
Similar to the women, the men's 4x400 relays also fell to the Marauders by seconds. The Bobcat relay (Melone-Nguyen-Pickering-Powell) earning a silver in 3:23.92 battled the Marauders the entire race just falling short of the top spot. Montana State (Jarvi-Nolan-Shows-Stangl) earned a third place finish with a time of 3:26.21.
The Bobcat throw events also posted some powerful performances. David Phillips earned a Big Sky qualifying throw in the Weight Throw after throwing a distance of 18.50 (60-08.50). Amanda Murphy (unattached) finished first in the Weight Throw with a first-rate showing with a distance of 18.79 (61-07.75).
"Tonight was a great way to gauge our progress at this point of the season," said Kennedy, "This was a great warm-up for these next few weeks of competition."
On Friday, Jan. 28, Montana State will travel to Pocatello, Idaho, for the Mountain States Invitational hosted by Idaho State. The two day meet begins at 12:00 p.m. on Friday and will conclude on Saturday.
