NAMPA, Idaho – The Montana State University Billings track and field teams finished competition late Saturday night in the Jacksons Nike Boise Invitational and received strong individual performances over the course of two days as they push toward the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships February 15-16.
 
Isaiah Girard cleared six feet, nine inches in men's high jump to best Chuck Carr (6'8", 2017) for the MSUB school record and finished second in the finals of the event behind Hunter Simonsen (Utah State) who jumped seven feet, zero inches.
 
"I was really happy for Isaiah for breaking the school record for high jump," commented head coach Jon Woehl. "He is well on his way with a provisional mark for Nationals and continues to improve for us."
 
DAY 2: Brady Ostermiller and Forrest cross remained consistent in men's shot put. Ostermiller finished fifth with a final throw of 50 feet, 11 inches. Cross threw 50 feet, 9.25 inches and took sixth place.
 
The men's mile was led by Mark Hovland (4:23.95) who finished ninth and recorded a season best. Ase Ackerman also ran his best mile time of the year and finished 18^th in 4:36.07.
 
Sam Zook took seventh in the 60 meter dash finals with a time of 7.15 seconds. Michael Deam (Idaho State) won the event as he came across the finish line in 6.86 seconds.
 
DAY 1: MSU Billings wrapped up day one of competition in the Jacksons Nike Boise Invitational Friday evening at Brian & Nichole Bohner Track. Sam Zook took sixth place in the 60 meter dash prelims with a qualifying time of 7.01 seconds. Beau Ackerman posted a personal best 21' 6.25" in men's long jump and Ty Stanton claimed the last qualifying position in the long jump finals with a distance of 22' 5.75".
 
"It was a good first day for us," commented head coach Jon Woehl. "We had both distance medley relay teams run together so they could get comfortable as a team. It wasn't perfect but the goal was to figure out what we need to do better ahead of the conference meet so it was a good experience."
 
Kailee Stoppel, Anne Lory Chevalier, Sierra Durbin, and Nikki Aiken made up the women's distance medley relay team. They came across the line in 13:07.42. For the men, it was Ase Ackerman, Kyle McLaughlin, Drake Henson, and Mark Hovland. They had a time of 10:44.21.
 
In the men's 5,000 meter run, Tyus Mendoza posted a fourth place time of 15:30.02 while Ivan Colmenero was not far behind in seventh place with a time of 15:41.47.
 
Though Michaela Johnson did not qualify for the finals in the 60 meter hurdles, she put up a respectable time of 9.34 seconds for 13^th place. She had a similar result in the prelims for the 60 meter dash, running in 8.08 seconds and improving on her previous meets.
 
Mason Schram and Kaelen Shay came in 23^rd and 24^th respectively in the men's 200 meter prelims. Though they missed the cut for tomorrow's finals, both had season best time under 23 seconds. Schram came across in 22.87 seconds and Shay had a time of 22.93 seconds to break the 23 second mark for the first time indoors.
 
UP NEXT: Both track and field teams at MSU Billings will compete in the GNAC Indoor Championships February 15-16 in Nampa, Idaho. The NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships are March 8-9 in Pittsburg, Kansas.