The Montana State Track and Field team opened up the competition at the Big Sky Championships in Sacramento, Calif. riding the momentum of the multi events, which took place Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12. The Bobcats were able to produce some excellent performances at the Spanos Sports Complex on Friday. (Results)
The first event of the day set the tone for MSU with David Phillips earning a gold medal in the hammer throw with a personal best distance of 205-01 (62.51m), about nine feet ahead of second place. Phillips now ties for third all-time for the Bobcat hammer throw. Phillips also won the 2011 indoor weight throw.
"I felt pretty confident going in," said Phillips. "Each throw was getting better and it really feels good to win this. I look forward to competing and regionals and hopefully nationals after that."
In the men's 10,000, MSU earned their second medal of opening day when Nick Atwood blew away his previous best time of 30:42.36, after crossing the finish line in 30:13.97 for second place.
In the men's long jump, despite finishing in seventh, eighth and ninth places, respectively, the trio of Matt Nicholas, Adam Hutter and Jeff Mohl, still put out impressive performances. Nicholas, who took seventh, bested his top performance with a jump of 23-02.75 (7.08m). Hutter placed eighth with 23 feet even (7.01m), while Mohl took ninth at 22-07.75 (6.90m), a best for the Red Lodge, Mont. native.
Amanda Murphy earned the second medal of the day for the women when she finished third in the shot put with a season's best 48-02 (14.68m).
Both the men's and women's steeplechase resulted in more season bests for the Bobcats.
Heather Haug bested her time and finished with a bronze medal in 10:34.01. Jacob Kirk had one of the best outings of the night, improving his time by almost 10 seconds, clocking in at 9:14.71 (eighth place).
Stacey Irvine, in her final Big Sky Championships, finished with the third medal of the day when she tied for second in the pole vault with a height of 12-08.75 (3.88m).
Several events ran their preliminary heats on Friday afternoon. In the hurdles, Katie Niemeir advanced in both the 110 and 400 after finishing within the top eight of the field. Madeline Fuchs will also compete in the 400 hurdles finals on Saturday. The MSU men advanced three Bobcats in the 110 hurdles when Slater Powell, Keenen Stangl and Mohl finished among the elite eight.
Patrick Casey finished second in the 800 prelims, resetting the program record for the third time this season. The field of eight for Saturday's final is separated by just under three seconds between first and eighth seed.
“We had some great efforts today, especially with David's title,” said head coach Dale Kennedy. “Tomorrow we've got a lot on the docket and I really look forward to seeing what we can produce both as individuals and as a team.”
The final day of the Big Sky Championships will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 14 with the women's hammer throw. After the third day of competition, the Bobcat men have garnered 39 points in third place through six events while the women sit in fifth place with 29 points through eight events.
