MONMOUTH, Ore. – Opening the 2021 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on a strong note Friday afternoon at McArthur Field, Montana State University Billings had several notable marks throughout its roster.
 
One of MSUB's biggest performances of the day came from Kailee Stoppel, who narrowly missed all-conference honors by taking fifth among the field of 10 runners in the 3,000-meter steeple chase. Stoppel's time of 11:17.82 minutes was more than 34 seconds faster than her previous collegiate best of 11:52.64 minutes.
 
Senior Mason Schram qualified for the finals in both the 100-meters and 200-meters to highlight MSUB's sprints crew. Schram placed fifth in the 100-meter preliminaries with a time of 10.92 seconds among the field of 15 competitors. He then took sixth in the 200-meters with a time of 22.41 seconds.

Competing for the final time in his collegiate career this weekend, senior Rahkei Eyer posted times of 11.24 seconds in the 100-meters and 22.58 seconds in the 200-meters. Fellow senior Brenna Beckett took 15th in the long jump at 16-5.75 feet.
 
Sierra Durbin narrowly missed her collegiate PR in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in a time of 1:07.86 to take eighth place and qualify for Saturday's finals.
 
Carson Jessop meanwhile took ninth place in the steeple chase, crushing his PR by more than 10 seconds with a time of 9:22.82 minutes. Jessop's performance on Friday moved him to No. 4 in MSUB's record books in the steeple chase event. Also representing the men's distance crew was Bryant Edgerton, who raced to a time of 35:00.67 minutes in the 10,000-meters and took 14th place.
 
In the throws department, freshman Coen Guisti had a strong showing with a season-best toss of 121-9 feet in the discus to take ninth place. Freshman Braden Anderson meanwhile had a throw of 103-8 feet in the discus, and a season-best mark of 41-10 feet in the shot put.
 
Freshman Joleen Pollat highlighted the women's throwers by taking seventh place in the shot put with a season-best toss of 39-1.75 feet to earn the team two points.
 
Senior Taylor Stringari, who figures to be a top performer in Saturday's hammer throw, took 10th in the discus at 109-11 feet.
 
Carson Ullmer made his GNAC Championships debut, posting a mark of 1:02.38 minutes in the 400-meter hurdles and taking 16th place. Marley Glessner's first conference meet featured a time of 1:18.01 minutes in the 400-meter hurdles.
 
Isaiah Girard, who is the favorite to repeat as champion in Saturday's high jump, led MSUB with an 11th-place finish in the long jump at 21-9.0 feet. Bryce Olson took 14th in the event at 20-1.0 feet and Lucas Harper was 15th at 18-9.75 feet.
 
The Yellowjacket men finished the day in eighth place among the eight conference teams competing with six total points, while the women also finished the first day in eighth with six points as well.
 
THE BUZZ: Schram was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Athlete of the Day…2018 GNAC champion Beau Ackerman is heavily favored to win the javelin set for Saturday.
 
AHEAD: The conference championships resume on Saturday afternoon with action kicking off at 12:05 p.m. Pacific time. Live results will be available online here.