BILLINGS, Mont. – With just four days to prepare, the Montana State University Billings track and field teams travel to Colorado Springs on Friday, January 25-26 to compete in the Air Force Invitational at Cadet Fieldhouse. Events begin Friday with the men's and women's weight throw and conclude Saturday with the 3000 meter run and mile relay. It will be the fourth indoor meet of the season for the Yellowjackets. Opponents include both Division I and Division II levels. The team recently took part in the Chadron State College Open on January 20.
 
"A lot of our athletes have already hit qualifying marks and I expect even more will get to that point this weekend, so this will be a good place to see dense competition and give ourselves the best opportunity to hit good marks. Air Force has a unique facility with an oversized track (268 meters) and it's at over 7000 feet elevation so times will be converted down."
 
The Yellowjackets are hoping more qualifying marks will fall at Air Force Academy. Sprinter Kaelen Shay ranks first in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with his 6.96 second 60 meter dash time from the Montana State Open. Mason Shram is third at 7.03 seconds (MSU Open), and Sam Zook is eighth after he crossed the finish line in 7.11 seconds at Chadron State College last week in his season debut.
 
Woehl commented on MSUB's sprinters. "Sam, Mason, and Kaelen were a little bit disappointed to not make it under seven seconds in Bozeman, but this week I think they have a good chance, especially given that they had two opportunities to run events last week to prepare."
 
For the women, Michaela Johnson has been the fastest short distance sprinter so far. She is 10th in the GNAC in the 60 meter dash after coming across in 8.05 seconds at the Bobcat Preview on December 1. Anne Lory Chevalier will be another sprinter to watch for MSUB. She hit 8.16 seconds in the Bobcat Preview in the 60 meter dash. All of MSUB's sprinters will have an opportunity to post fast times when they run on a longer track at Air Force with less aggressive turns than in previous meets.
 
"Last week we had good effort across the board," said Woehl. "The sprinters should be able to use this week to recover from a lot of recent training and because of that, I would expect them to be able to turn the corner and get some faster times at Air Force."
 
Other sprinters and middle distance runners for MSUB include Rahkei Eyer, Kyle McLaughlin, Brenna Beckett, Drake Henson, Sierra Durbin, and Nikki Aiken. The men's mile is held down by Mark Hovland, who is third in the conference at 4:18.78 (CSC Open) and Ivan Colmenero, who is fifth with a time of 4:19.23 (CSC Open). Henson and Ackerman also ran the event last time out and are among the top 15 in the GNAC.
 
Aiken remains 10^th in the women's mile with a 5:25.08 time at the Bobcat Preview. Kailee Stoppel ran a 5:35.99 mile at the MSU Open for MSUB. At 3000 meters, Colmenero and Tyus Mendoza finished seven hundredths of a second from each other at the MSU Open and are currently eighth and ninth respectively in the GNAC for the event. Ackerman and Carson Jessop are also inside the top 15.
 
"Ivan ran the 5K back in December but it will be nice to see Ivan, Tyus, and Nikki all run the 5K this weekend," Woehl said.
 
Most of the Yellowjacket runners are still in competition for future positions on the 4x400 relay team as well as the distance medley relay event.
 
"We've put together a couple distance 4x400 teams and we'll likely have them solidified for the Boise State meet," said Woehl. "This week will be another evaluation for the distance medley relay and the 4x400 to see who is going to give us the best chance to post a fast time. Josie Smiedala will be running the 200, 400, and 800 this week and could be a potential contributor to our relay team. She'll definitely have an opportunity at Air Force. On the men's side, we are going to try and chase down some individual marks this week. Then we can really focus attention on the relay teams in Boise."
 
Throwing events have emerged as early potential strengths for both the men and women of MSUB. Brady Ostermiller and Forrest Cross are inside the top 10 in the GNAC for men's shot put. Ostermiller posted a team best throw of 51' 6.25' (after conversion) at the Chadron State Open on Sunday. He shot to third place in the conference.
 
"It's been a lot of fun watching Brady and Forrest keep improving," Woehl said. "Brady has grown his personal best in shot put three meets in a row now and Forrest had a PR in shot put. Beau (Peaslee) has done the weight throw in three meets and set PR's in all three so he's moving in the right direction and not far off from his best career mark."
 
Cross, Peaslee, and Ostermiller are likely to compete in men's weight throw. Hannah Nessan and Hailey Steinbeisser are in the top 10 for women's weight throw.
 
Isaiah Girard set the long jump MSUB indoor school record after landing 6.99 meters from the line Sunday afternoon. Girard's mark is third best in the conference this season. He will likely be joined at Air Force in the event by Lucas Harper, Beau Ackerman, and Marcus Lindquist. For the women, Beckett, Jamie Orme, and Shaniah Schwend are expected to compete in the long jump.
 
Ty Stanton is fourth in the conference in men's triple jump. Schwend site 11^th in women's triple jump among GNAC counterparts.
 
"This is the first time we'll be going down to Air Force with a full team in several years," said Woehl. "There will be different teams from who we normally see. Facing more competition than we've seen at the last few meets will be beneficial. We think the Air Force Invite will be a good segue into Boise and the GNAC Championships in February."
 
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
 
FRIDAY – 1:00 p.m.: Men's Weight Throw, Women's Weight Throw; 1:00 p.m.: Women's Pole Vault (unseeded), Men's Pole Vault (unseeded); 1:00 p.m.: Men's High Jump (unseeded), Women's High Jump (unseeded); 1:00 p.m.: 5000-Meter Run, 60-Meter Hurdles (qualifying), 60-Meter Dash (qualifying), 400-Meter Dash (qualifying), 200-Meter Dash (qualifying); 1:30 p.m.: Women's Long Jump; 1:30 p.m.: Men's Long Jump
 
SATURDAY – 11:30 a.m.: Men's Shot Put, Women's Shot Put; 11:30 a.m.: Women's Pole Vault, Men's Pole Vault; 11:30 a.m.: Men's High Jump, Women's High Jump; 12:00 p.m.: Women's Triple Jump; 12:00 p.m.: Men's Triple Jump; 1:00 p.m.: 60-Meter Hurdles (semifinal), 60-Meter Dash (semifinal), Mile Run, 60-Meter Hurdles, 400-Meter Dash, 60-Meter Dash, 800-Meter Run, 200-Meter Dash, 3000-Meter Run, Mile Relay (women compete first in all running events).
 
IF YOU ARE GOING: Admission will be free on Friday, while Saturday will be free until 1:00 p.m. – fans arriving after the ticket office opens for the women's basketball game will be required to purchase basketball admission for $8/adults or $5/children. Live results will be available via GoAirForceFalcons.com, while Air Force's in-meet updates will be available on the team's official Twitter and Instagram accounts (@af_trackfield for both).