Montana State head track and field coach Dale Kennedy announced the signing of Marissa Stanton (Billings Central) to a national letter of intent to attend MSU in the fall.

Stanton is the current Montana class A 400 champion and was runner-up in 2009. She also placed third at state in the 200 and ran a leg on both state champion relay teams for Billings Central. She was involved in 36 of the 49 points Central scored at the state meet. 

"Marissa is a great all-around athlete," Kennedy said. "She has a great pedigree--her father Jim is a longtime principal and coach in Billings and her uncle is a track coach at Dickinson State."

Stanton also has all-state honors in volleyball for two years in addition to four years of all-state track awards. 

"She'll obviously be a relay candidate for us," Kennedy said. "She'll start out in the 400 individually, as that's been her strong suit to this point. Ultimately, with her speed, she may be a good 800 candidate down the road."

Stanton is a National Honor Society student who plans to major in education at MSU.