BILLINGS, Mont. – With the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships around the corner, the Montana State University Billings men's and women's track teams have one more chance to improve against strong competition at this weekend's Bengal Invitational, hosted by Idaho State University.
 
The Bengal Invitational will take place at Davis Field, located in Pocatello, Idaho, and will begin on Friday with the women's hammer throw at 2:30 p.m. The prelims in the 100-meter high hurdles starts Friday's track schedule at 3 p.m. On Saturday, the women's discus and the women's 4x100-meter relay kick off the final day of action at 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively. Live results will be posted on Athletic.Live; links will be provided on both the men's and women's track and field teams' schedule pages at msubsports.com.
 
Since Idaho State will host the Big Sky Conference Championships in May, the Bengal Invite will be a conference preview meet of sorts. Aside from Idaho State, Montana State, the University of Montana, Southern Utah and Weber State will give the Big Sky heavy representation at the meet. The other Division I schools expected to attend are Utah State, Utah Valley. Fellow GNAC school Northwest Nazarene is also scheduled to make the in-state trip to Pocatello.
 
According to MSUB head track and field coach Jonathan Woehl, the Bengal Invitational will be the last, best chance for improving seed times and flight positions before the GNAC Outdoor Championships on May 13-14. Despite having Dickinson State's Last Chance Meet on the schedule next Thursday, this weekend's Division I competition will be more conducive to setting personal bests.
 
"The Bengal Invitational is looking like it will be competitive across the board in each event, so that's why we're taking a little bit of a limited squad," Woehl said. "It'll be a good chance for everyone who wants to go to conference to have a similar meet atmosphere. It's comforting to know that we have a last chance meet, but for the most part, we'll try to take care of business this week so we can rest up next week and set our best marks at GNACs."
 
The Bengal Invitational will be MSUB's one and only chance to race the 10,000 meters before the GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. As it stands, the 'Jackets have sophomore Bryant Edgerton entered in the men's 10K, plus Ally Whitmer and Kit Wiersema in the women's race. Although Bryant Edgerton has prior experience running the 10K – he placed 14^th at last year's conference meet with a 35:00.67, yet he ran a 33:39.1 10K in cross country this past fall – Whitmer and Wiersema will run the event for the first time ever. But since six women in the GNAC have posted 10K times so far, Woehl believes this could be an opportunity for the MSUB duo to potentially pick up some points at the conference meet, if they choose to run it again in two weeks.
 
"For those two, the race will be all about coming up with a manageable race plan," Woehl said. "It's not going to be them going with the group ahead of them and seeing if they can run with them as long as they can. They've set their goal times and they're going to try to hammer that pace every single lap. Depending on the conditions, they could be trading laps for the first half of the race to share the wind a little bit. But I'm excited. Both of them are really motivated. Ally has been trying to find her niche all season, but we're going to try something a little bit different. She definitely has the ability to do well at this."
 
As for Edgerton, the 10K will be an opportunity for him to return to his event of choice; the sophomore tends to run better the longer races go. After setting lifetime PRs in the 10K and the 8K in cross country, Woehl said Edgerton has done a better job of keeping up training in between seasons, setting up what could be another big race for him this weekend.
 
"In past years, he's kind of dipped down during outdoor season, but this year, he's done a good job of picking up where he left off during indoor season," Woehl said of Edgerton. "He has to run a 33-minute time or faster to make the top 16 at the conference meet, and he can definitely do that."
 
MSUB will be competing at full strength at the Bengal Invitational. Elsewhere in the distance events, this weekend will be the first time Carson Jessop, Ase Ackerman, Logan Straus and Kailee Stoppel will compete since Azusa Pacific University's Bryan Clay Invitational on April 15. Jessop – who hit the NCAA DII provisional mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase two weeks ago – will run the steeplechase again with Ackerman in hopes of both running sub-nine-minute times. Pocatello is at altitude, so having a favorable altitude conversion on top of competing against Division I-caliber competition once more will help pull the duo along to faster times.
 
Right now, Stoppel is slated to double in the 1,500 and the 800 meters on Saturday, whereas and Straus is signed up for Saturday afternoon's 5,000-meter run.
 
Friday's field events also mark the returns of throwers Forrest Cross and Ryann Moline – both of whom haven't competed since the team's California trip two weeks ago. Cross already ranks third in the GNAC in the shot put and the discus, but he will look to improve on his hammer throw mark of 47.99m (157-5) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. Moline will lead the way in the javelin alongside Jordan Cookman, Brynn Jolma and Faith Ekness; the latter three will anticipate better conditions than the windy and rainy Trudnowski Open last week.
 
"Throughout the whole team, we've been working on better mental preparation going into the meets in addition to the work we're already doing in practice," Woehl said. "I'm hoping that with a more well-rounded approach before the meets, we will be able to do well – regardless of the conditions."
 
The prelims for all sprinting events will take place on Thursday, followed by the finals on Friday. Unlike most meets this season where the MSUB sprinters have competed in either half-filled heats or heats of only their own teammates, the Bengal Invitational will potentially give the Yellowjackets more opportunities on their marks – should they make the finals in their respective events.
 
"A lot of our sprinters have good shots at making finals," Woehl said. "If our women are around 12.8 to 12.9 seconds in the 100-meter dash, they might make finals. Madison Thompson, Chantel Chase, Kaitlin Mason and Katelyn Hamill can all run that fast."
 
For sprinters like Bradley Graves in the 110-meter high hurdles, plus Benjamin Ralson and Madeline Severson in the 400 meters, the Bengal Invitational will be one of the rare opportunities for them to have difficult competition all season. The three sprinters have combined for nine top-two finishes this season, so having more people to push them will be advantageous this weekend.
 
"Brad has been looking better in practice this past week," Woehl said. "And I really enjoy coaching Madeline Severson and Benjamin Ralston. They've been putting in the work throughout the year and they've been making the most of the situations given to them."

MOVING ON UP
Here is a running list of all the new MSUB top-10 marks that have occurred this season.
 

Event	Rank	Time	Athlete	Meet	Date
400-meter Hurdles	9	1:11.46	Annelise Clark	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Icebreaker Open	3/19/2022
3,000-meter Steeplechase	2	11:15.27	Kailee Stoppel	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/13/2022
800 meters	4	2:20.19	Kailee Stoppel	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/14/2022
1,500 meters	2	4:45.13	Kailee Stoppel	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/15/2022
400 meters	5	1:01.05	Madeline Severson	Trudnowski Open	4/22/2022

         

Event	Rank	Distance	Athlete	Meet	Date
Long Jump	1	5.39m (17-8.25)	Kendall Lynn	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Spring Open	4/2/2022
Javelin	2	39.35m (129-1)	Ryann Moline	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Icebreaker Open	3/19/2022
Hammer Throw	6	40.99 (134-6)	Jordan Cookman	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Spring Open	4/2/2022
Hammer Throw	10	40.09m (131-6)	Grace Jones	Bauer Open	4/8/2022
Shot Put	4	12.37m (40-7)	Dakota Lobmeyer	Bauer Open	4/9/2022
Discus	4	40.56m (133-1)	Ryann Moline	Pacific Coast Intercollegiate	4/14/2022
Long Jump	4	5.20m (17-0.75)	Madeline Severson	Trudnowski Open	4/22/2022

 

Event	Rank	Time	Athlete	Meet	Date
110-meter Hurdles	2	15.35	Bradley Graves	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Icebreaker Open	3/19/2022
400 meters	5	50.50	Benjamin Ralston	Yellow Jacket Spring Open	3/26/2022
1,500 meters	5	3:58.62	Ase Ackerman	Yellow Jacket Spring Open	3/26/2022
3,000-meter Steeplechase	3	9:07.74	Carson Jessop	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/13/2022
5,000 meters	5	15:19.20	Ase Ackerman	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/14/2022
1,500 meters	2	3:54.03	Ase Ackerman	Bryan Clay Invitational	4/15/2022

Event	Rank	Distance	Athlete	Meet	Date
Shot Put	9	14.18m (46-6.25)	Braden Anderson	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Icebreaker Open	3/19/2022
Hammer Throw	3	47.99m (157-5)	Forrest Cross	Yellow Jacket Spring Open	3/25/2022
High Jump	9	1.85m (6-0.75)	Favor Okere	Yellow Jacket Spring Open	3/26/2022
Shot Put	7	14.45m (47-5)	Forrest Cross	Yellowjackets/Battlin' Bears Spring Open	4/2/2022
Discus	4	45.34m (148-9)	Forrest Cross	Pacific Coast Intercollegiate	4/14/2022
Hammer Throw	4	47.77m (156-9)	Coen Guisti	Trudnowski Open	4/21/2022
Triple Jump	9	13.06m (42-10.25)	Garrett McMillen	Trudnowski Open	4/22/2022

UP NEXT: Day one of the Bengal Invitational begins Friday with the women's hammer throw at 2:30 p.m. The first track event will be the women's 100-meter high hurdles at 3 p.m. Saturday's action begins with the discus at 11 a.m., then the 4x100 meter relay kicks off the track events at 11:30 a.m. Live stat links can be found on the men's and women's track and field teams' schedule pages on msubsports.com.