Montana State Track and Field opens their 2011 home stand on Saturday, April 9, at the Bobcat Track and Field Complex when they host the MSU Open. (
Schedule of Events)
The Bobcats will look to use the momentum from the Al Manuel Invitational on April 2, after grabbing 16 automatic qualifiers for the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships, being held May 11-14, in Sacramento. The MSU women already have 10 qualified athletes, while the men have six.
Patrick Casey will make his outdoor debut when he competes in the 5,000. Casey will be joined in the 5K by Carl Nystuen and Dan Jackson who have become integral members of the distance corps.
Montana State also expects strong performances in the men's javelin, after Willie Sullivan, Will Dalby and Nick Lam finished in the top-six at Al Manuel on Saturday.
Asa Staven will compete in four events for MSU. The utility player will make appearances in the 400, 110 hurdles, long jump and discus.
Coach Kennedy also has high expectations for the Bobcat Women. After a tremendous performance in the 1,500 last week, Heather Haug will compete in the 3,000. She is currently ranked eighth in the region in the 1,500.
Amanda Murphy will look for a repeat weekend of golds in the hammer throw and shot put.
“This is our second opportunity to work towards Big Sky qualifiers,” said head coach Dale Kennedy, in his 30th season. “Each week has a fair amount of importance and this week we'll really need to push and compete against ourselves.”
Field events are slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. while track events will commence at 11:30 p.m. Carroll, Montana, MSU-Billings and Rocky Mountain will also compete at the meet
