(MSU Billings release)
BOZEMAN – The Montana State University Billings track and field team continued a strong start to the indoor season with another solid outing on Friday night. The Yellowjackets were the only Division II competitor at the Montana State University Invite facing MSU, Montana, Carrol College, University of Providence and Montana-Western.
For the second time in two meets, Nels Flanagan improved his MSUB-record with a weight throw of 56-feet 6-inches improving his mark by nearly two feet.
“I feel like it all came together for Nels today,” head coach Jonathan Woehl said. “It great to see him progressing in the early season and now he’s knocking on the door of reaching a provisional mark.”
The ‘Jackets also starred on the track where MSUB swept the top-3 spots in the men’s 60-meter sprint. Senior Sam Zook led the way with a time of 6.80 followed by personal-bests from Lamont Frisby (6.95) and Mason Schram (6.98). Kaelen Shay also set his new fastest time in the event at 7.16 and placing eighth.
“Sam had a really good race and I know he is setting his sights on some records to keep him motivated going forward,” Woehl said of the sprinters. “To have him, Lamont and Mason finish 1-2-3 proves that our first meet wasn’t a fluke. They were all right on top of their times and they’re going to continue to push each other in practice and we’ll see where we end up.”
Shay also had a good outing in the 200-meter with a time of 23.61 placing him fifth.
Isaiah Girard had a fantastic sophomore debut as he cleared 6-foot 6.75-inches in the high jump while finishing third. The mark set a new personal record for Girard and was just over an inch shy of the school record. Girard also led the ‘Jackets with a long jump measuring 20-feet 10.75-inches followed by Marcus Lindquist’s distance of 20”7.25”.
Lindquist finished the meet with a third place finish in the triple jump measuring 43’4.5”.
“It was good to see Isaiah get a personal-record in the high jump.” Woehl added. “He’s been working really hard to improve and it is nice to see it pay off for him. He definitely can make the next height and once we can consistently get him to reach the 6’7’ mark we can raise the ceiling of his expectations.”
Kassadee Kuoha notched a top-5 finish in the weight throw with a toss reaching 43’ 4.5” leading the ‘Jackets for the second time this season. Hannah Nessan also had a good day in the ring with an eight-place (42’ 3.25) finish in the weight throw and a fourth place (36’3.25”) finish in the shot put.
Abbie Lohof finished sixth in the shot put with her distance of 35’.25” followed by Taylor Stringari’s 32’10.5” in eighth.
Also finishing in the top-10 for shot put was Hailey Steinbeisser at a distance of 38”’0.25”. Haylee Koon landed distances of 29’5.5” in the shot put and 29’10.75” in the weight throw.
The men’s throwing group saw top-5 finishes from Flanagan and Beau Peaslee in the weight throw and Brady Ostermiller in the shotput. Peaslee’s toss of 50’11.5” was good enough to place fifth while Flanagan’s record earned him second. Ostermiller led all ‘Jackets in the shot put with a distance of 48”1.25” and finished seventh in the weight throw (42’5.25”)
Forest Cross placed seventh (44’2”) and ninth (39’10”) in the shot put and weight throw respectively.
Jewlz Collins set personal-records in the 60 and 200-meter while leading MSUB with eighth place finishes in both events. Her 60-meter time of 8.31 shaved two-hundredths of a second off of her previous mark and she dropped one-hundredth of a second in the 200 (27.32).
Mataia Robinson finished behind Collins in the 60-meter with a time of 8.32 highlighting a solid debut on the track. She finished the day with a time of 28.43 in the 200-meter and also ran the third leg of the women’s 4×400-meter relay.
“I thought Matai had a great first meet for not running track since high school,” Woehl said of the senior’s performance. “We just wanted to get her out there and see what she could do and now we have a good baseline to build on.”
Setting her own personal-best in the 60-meter, Jamie Orme finished right behind Robinson with a time of 8.37.
Josey Smiedala was the second finisher for the ‘Jackets in the 200-meter with a time of 27.78.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Michaela Johnson had another good run posting a time of 9.26. Johnson is continuing to push toward breaking the nine-second mark, which she did last season while setting an MSU record with a time of 8.96.
Shania Schwend competed in the high jump, long jump and triple jump on Friday. It was the junior’s first time competing in the high jump at a collegiate meet and she finished the day at a height of 5’.25”. Schwend also tied Brenna Becket for the best long jump for the ‘Jackets as they recorded marks of 15’.5”.
“Shania was impressive in the high jump. She hasn’t competed in that event since high school and with the way she has practiced and performed today, she is ahead of where we expected her to be.” Woehl noted of her performance.
In the distance events Nikki Aiken and Jorey Egeland led the way in the 800-meter both finishing in third place in their respective heats. Egeland finished with a time of 2:02.20, less than four second from his personal best. Aiken’s time of 2:27.89 was just three seconds behind the second place finisher. Kateri Bridges and Ella McKenzie finished fifth and sixth in the 800.
The ‘Jackets will be in Brookings, S.D. next Friday for the South Dakota State University Division II Invitational.
Results for all track and field events will be posted on the Track and Field Results Reporting System following the conclusion of each meet throughout the season.
