The Montana State Track and Field teams kicked off day one of the Mountain States Games in Pocatello, Idaho on Friday. The women sit in sixth place of 10 teams, while the men are in third place out of eight squads.
The Bobcat women advanced two athletes in the 60 Meter Dash, as
Camille Marchand and
Olivia Rider earned second (7.77) and seventh place (7.96), respectively, in the prelims. The duo of Rider and Marchand also advanced to the 200 Meter Dash finals.
In the 60 Meter Hurdles, junior
Katie Niemeir advanced to the final heats as a sixth seed.
The field events were led by senior
Kirstin Lee who earned a bronze in the Weight Throw hurling to a distance of 16.03m (52-07.55). The Newburg, Ore. native's mark is an automatic qualifier for the Big Sky Conference Championships.
The Blue and Gold men saw several impressiveperformances in the first day of competition with eight competitors finishing within the top five of their events.
Three Bobcats qualified for the 60 Meter Dash finals, including
Nick Melone (7.11),
Michael Nguyen (7.15) and
Gage Pickering (7.15). Pickering and Melone will also compete in the 200 finals on Saturday.
Most notably, in the Shot Put, the Bobcats took three of the top four spots.
Morgan Norgaard took top honors with 16.43 (53-11.00), most likely a top throw in the BSC. Right behind Norgaard was
David Phillips (16.18, 53-01.00) and in fourth place with a throw of 16.07 (52-08.75) was
Trevor Gilreath.
The Mountain States Games will conclude tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 29.
