BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets track and field team will compete in the Nike Indoor Innovational hosted by Boise State University this coming weekend. The meet will be the final tune up for the team before heading into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships in two weeks.
"This meet will be competitive in every single event," said head coach Jon Woehl. "This is a great opportunity for us to get one last tune-up for the GNAC Championships in two weeks. Most of our athletes are competing in the same events they'll compete in at GNAC. The men's sprint squad has been getting really good work during practice since we got back from break and they're ready to start to see that hard work translate over into the meet. Coach Kohl has done a great job with the distance squad as they've seen season bests almost every week. The throwers have been making gains in confidence on a weekly basis with Coach Goosman.
Rahkei Eyer is ready to run a fast 200 this week."
HITTINGS THEIR MARKS: MSUB has steadily improved every week with many athletes qualifying for the GNAC championships. More Yellowjackets will look to qualify to add to the MSUB contingent.
Mason Schram (7.02) has qualified for the GNAC Championships in the 60m dash.
Kyle Patelis (7.11),
Tyler Rued (7.15) and
Rahkei Eyers (7.19) are nearly in as well and will look to shave off the final hundredths to qualify. Eyer has already hit his mark in the 200m (22.63, needing a 22.8) and will look to qualify for the 400m as well.
Ase Ackerman (4:24.7) and
Logan Straus (4:28.1) each hit qualifying marks in the mile. Ackerman has qualified for the 3K after posting a time of 8:56.1 last weekend. Both Ackerman (15:47.0) and
Bryant Edgerton (15:45.2) have for GNAC's in the 5K as well.
Isaiah Girard has qualified for the GNAC Championships in the high jump (1.96m) and
Marcus Lindquist has in the triple jump (13.22m).
On the throws side,
Forrest Cross has a season best 13.94m shot put throw to qualify and
Ely Kraft has qualified in the weight throw (14.38).
Nikki Aiken has qualified for the GNAC championships in the 5K (18:54.2), in the mile (5:28.4) and the 3k (10:50).
Brenna Beckett will be at the GNAC Championships in the long jump (5.07m) and the triple jump (11.12m).
Mariah May has hit her marks in the shot put (11.21m) and the weight throw (13.12m). Senior
Taylor Stringari will look to join May in the shot put and has already qualified in the weight throw (13.56m).
LAST TIME OUT: Competing at Black Hills State, MSUB finished with a handful of second-place finishes and a win for Schram in the men's 60 meters. Schram took the close win with a time of 7.12 seconds, just ahead of the second place finisher from Dickinson State University with a time of 7.14,
Beckett had two second place finishes. She took second in the women's long jump, with a mark of 17 feet, 2.25 inches. She also took second in the 200 meters with a time of 27.34 seconds.
Aiken took second in the 5,000 meters with a time of 11:08.12.
Madison Thompson finished in fifth place in the 60m dash with a time if 8.59. Thompson also recorded a personal best in the long jump with a bound of 4.94m good enough for fifth overall.
Miranda Livingston finished in eighth place in the 800m run with a time of 2:47.20. Teammate
Sierra Durbin took home fourth place with a time of 2:31.64.
Freshmen
Connor McNeil threw a personal best 43'2.5" (13.27m) on his way to a top 15 finish (11
th overall).
Cross took home sixth place in the weight throw with a bomb of 49'10" (15.26m).
Ely Kraft also competed in the weight throw and finished in 14
th place with a throw 42'.8" (13.00m).
Eyer added a second-place finish in the men's 200 meters with a time of 23.10 seconds. The mark tied him for seventh in the GNAC this year. Ackerman was third in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:10.38.
The MSUB men cracked the USTFCCCA West Region Team Index for the first time this season, entering at No. 9
FOLLOW LIVE: Live stats will be available at this link,
http://snakerivertiming.com/track-xc-results.html
