HELENA, Mont. – Over the course of a cold and rainy two days at Carroll College's Trudnowski Open, the Montana State University Billings track and field team set more personal bests as the women's team placed second and the men's team placed third on Friday afternoon.
 
"Looking at the weather ahead of time, I was hoping this meet would be a dress rehearsal for the Bengal Invite next week," MSUB track and field head coach Jonathan Woehl said. "I thought we did well in that respect. While not everything went perfect today, the nice thing was we all prepared for much worse conditions than what we had. It was good to see that we had a lot of good jumps and sprint marks."
 
Team-scoring wise, the MSUB women took second behind the hosting Carroll College Saints, who won the meet over the 'Jackets by a score of 220-116. On the men's side, MSUB's 178 points were 30 points behind second-place University of Providence. Carroll's men's team won with 476 points. Five women's teams and seven men's teams were present at the two-day meet, which doubled as the Frontier Conference Track and Field Championships for the heptathlon and the pentathlon.
 
Although the conditions weren't conducive to fast times and far marks, several Yellowjacket athletes took advantage of their first meet in nearly two weeks with new personal or season bests. Freshman Madeline Severson was the high-point scorer for the 'Jackets, as she placed second or better in her three individual events, plus she anchored the MSUB 4x400 relay team that placed third.
 
"We were texting each other a bit before the meet and I told Madeline that today would be a great day," Woehl said. "It ended up being a really good day for her."
 
Severson, who set a lifetime best in the long jump at the Bauer Open on April 8, made another huge improvement with a jump of 5.20m (17-0.75). That mark ranks fourth all-time at MSUB and tied for 15^th in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference so far – yet the gap between her and eighth place is a mere 4.25 inches. Earlier in the meet, she took second place in the high jump by clearing 1.45m (4-9).
 
Out on the track, Severson ran a 1:01.05 in the 400 meters, which was not only good enough to win her heat (and take second place overall), but also set a season-best. Severson started off in third place as she made up the stagger, then she was able to pull away in the second half of the race to eke out a win over Rocky Mountain College's Kellan Wahl by 81-hundredths of a second.

"She's been gaining confidence more and more with each meet," Woehl said. "She has a fast 400-meter time coming. We've been looking at her 400-meter times from last year, and she's still way ahead and faster than she was at this time last year. She's been really consistent and we've been trying to manage her effort a lot better in the 400 meters – rather than going out too fast in the first 200 meters, she was a little more controlled at the start. That definitely paid off, and she was able to bring it home."
 
Earlier on Thursday's hammer throw, which was held at the University of Providence's campus, Coen Guisti overcame several early scratches and uncorked a personal-best throw of 47.77m (156-9) to take the lead. He would eventually place second, but the personal best was good enough to move him into fourth all-time at MSUB and eighth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings so far.
 
"Coen threw really well yesterday," Woehl said. "He's got a lot more in him – he definitely has a 50-meter throw in him. I think it'll be interesting to see what Coen does next week when Forrest Cross is also competing, because I think having Forrest there will help push him a little bit."
 
Friday's throwing conditions, however, were much worse than Thursday's. The javelin throwers used a grass runway, a slew of fouls and errant throws into the cage derailed the discus throw and the shot put's conditions were the best of the bunch albeit in the intermittent rain. However, freshman Dakota Lobmeyer placed second in the women's shot put with a 12.11m (39-8.75) mark, plus Braden Anderson was not far off his personal bests in both the shot and the disc.
 
"Braden has focused in on shot and discus not only in this meet, but for the rest of the season," Woehl said. "Even with the rain making it hold on to the discus and shot, he wasn't very far off his season-bests in both throws. I think he's starting to figure it out."
 
Out on the runway, Garrett McMillen and Bryce Olson led the way for MSUB in the men's triple jump, with the former placing second with a new personal best of 13.06m (42-10.25) and the latter taking fourth with a 12.01m (39-5). Friday also marked Olson's return to the triple jump ever since having knee surgery over the summer.
 
"I thought Garrett did well," Woehl said. "He put together a few good jumps today, although he spiked himself pretty badly on one of his attempts. It was nice to see him jump over 13 meters for the first time, and hopefully we can continue to build on that later in the season. For Bryce, it was good to have him to the long jump, triple jump and run the 4x100 meters. Today was the first time he triple jumped since having knee surgery this summer, so it was good to see him back in one of his favorite events. I think he'll be a lot better next week."
 
McMillen and Olson rank 6^th and 14^th, respectively, in the GNAC standings; McMillen now ranks 9^th all-time at MSUB in the triple jump.
 
THE RUNDOWN

• Madeline Severson was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Women's Athlete of the Meet for winning the long jump with a personal best leap of 5.20m (17-0.75), placing second in the 400 with a season-best time of 1:01.05 and taking second in the high jump by clearing 1.49m.
• Coen Guisti was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Men's Athlete of the Meet for taking second in the hammer throw with a new personal best of 47.77m (156-9), which also ranks fourth in MSUB history and eighth in the GNAC.
• Bradley Graves was second in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.73.
• Sierra Durbin placed second in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a 1:10.25 – a season-best time.
• Ryder Klein placed second in the javelin throw with a mark of 46.88m (153-10).
• Whitney Herden ran a season-best 17.59 in the 100-meter high hurdles and placed third.
• Favor Okere led the 'Jackets in the 100-meter dash by placing third with a season-best 11.52.
• In his collegiate javelin debut, Brandon Geck placed fourth with a throw of 40.26m (132-1).

 
UP NEXT: MSUB's next meet is the biggest event between now and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference: The Bengal Invite. The meet will take place at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho from April 29-30. Friday's events start at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday's action starts at 11 a.m. Meet information will be posted on both the men's and women's track schedule pages at msubsports.com.