The Montana State Track and Field team opened up the first day of competition at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships in fine fashion on Friday with several impressive performances. At the close of the first night, the Bobcat men sit in third place with 37.50 points behind Northern Arizona and Sacramento State who are tied for first with 40 points apiece. The MSU women finished the first day in sixth place with 26 points.
MSU earned their first points of the meet in the women's Pentathlon, which featured four Bobcats in the competition. Sarah McGree finished in third place with 3,731 points. McGree's final score marked a personal best for the Butte, Mont. native.
Classmate Sadie McMillan finished fifth (3,418) while Carley McCutchen came in ninth (3,330) and Kortnee Barrett took 12th (3,071).
The Men's Heptathlon began on Friday and Jeff Mohl currently sits in third place with 2,886 after five events. The event will conclude tomorrow.
The main highlight of the night came from the men's throws which have proven themselves consistent all season. MSU took a 1-2 finish as David Phillips earned MSU's first gold of the weekend with a distance of 16.16 (54-06.75). Senior Morgan Norgaard finished in second with 16.12 (52-10.75)
Several Bobcats beat the clock to advance to the finals of their events including Camille Marchand advanced to the finals of the Women's 60 Meter Dash with a preliminary time of 7.58 and seeded in second place. Gage Pickering advanced to the finals of the Men's 60 after finishing in seventh place with a time 22.13. Pickering also advanced in the 200. Slater Powell also advanced in the Hurdles in 8.20.
Marchand will also compete in the finals of the 200 after finishing second in the preliminaries with a time of 24.67.
Patrick Casey finished second in the preliminaries of the 800 Meter Run behind Tony Crisofulli of Portland State and will compete in the finals on Saturday. In the women's 800, Heather Haug finished third, to advance with a time of 2:13.53.
The Men's Distance Medley Relay earned Montana State's second gold of the weekend when the quartet of Casey-Bryce Shows-Forest Jarvi- Dan Jackson crossed the finish line in 9:58.56.
The Women's Distance Medley Relay of Haug, Lierin Flanagan, Madeline Fuchs and Heather Demorest finished in fourth place with a time of 12:05.96.
In the Pole Vault, Stacey Irvine finished with a silver medal with a height of 3.90 (12-09.50).
In the first day of competition, Montana State earned six medals; two silvers for the women and two golds and two silvers for the men.
The Bobcats will conclude the Big Sky Championships on Saturday, Feb. 26.
