Montana State Track and Field closed out their first day of competition in fine fashion, at several different venues.
At the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. several Bobcats competed against some of the best in the country. In the decathlon, both Jeff Mohl and Asa Staven finished with personal bests and Big Sky qualifiers. Mohl's 6,896 points leaves him eighth in the Bobcat record books. Staven, despite competing with a leg injury, also finished with a career best 6,390 points.
In the women's multis, Sarah McGree also hit a personal high with 4,917 points which ranks her fifth all-time at MSU. Her score in the heptathlon was also an automatic qualifier for the conference championships, being held May 11-14 in Sacramento, Calif.
Heather Haug, after a strong debut 1,500 back on April 2, at the Al Manuel Invite, capitalized on her momentum and earned a second consecutive season best time of 4:25.98 and finished 14th overall in the Women's Open Division.
Katie Niemeir finished 30th in the 100 hurdles, also with a season best time of 14.42. Also in the hurdles Slater Powell took 14th in the 110 distance with a season best 14.64 seconds.
Dan Jackson earned his BSC mark in the 1,500 after clocking in at 3:52.60 and in 83rd place overall.
In the field, Amanda Murphy finished 10th in the shot put (14.32m).
Also in the throws, David Phillips took sixth in the hammer throw with a hurl of 59.13m (194-00.00). Teammate Morgan Norgaard ended up in 46th place with a throw of 47.08m (154-05.00).
At the Bryan Clay Invitational, hosted by Azusa Pacific (Calif.), Amber Amsbaugh finished fourth in the high jump after tying her season best height of 1.60m (5-03.00)
Back in Montana, Carley McCutchen took second place in the heptathlon at the Montana Open, in Missoula. McCutchen finished with 4,328 points.
MSU will close out their weekend on Saturday, April 16, when they compete as a split squad at the Beach Invitational in Norwalk, Calif. and the Montana Open in Missoula.
