POCATELLO, Idaho – The Montana State University Billings track and field teams competed Friday and Saturday in the Bengal Invitational, located at Davis Field on the campus of Idaho State University.
 
The Yellowjackets competed alongside Division I and Division II competition in Pocatello, finishing with a number of season bests and new records. Highlighting the top performances was a new school record in the 400m by Ben Ralston. Ralston topped the previous school record set by Nathan Vanderby in 2015 by almost a full second, clocking in at 48.24, good enough for second place in Pocatello. Ralston also collected a top ten finish in the 200m, running a time of 22.00, his new PR and tying for third in school history.
 
Behind Ralston on the men's side, the 'Jackets had a number of solid finishes. Bradley Graves ran a 15.04 in the 110m hurdles, his best time of the spring and the fifth fastest time in the preliminaries. Graves finished sixth in the finals. Forrest Cross garnered top ten finishes in multiple throwing events, taking eighth place in the discus with a mark of 46.01 meters (150' 11"), and ninth in both the shot put with a mark of 14.86 meters (48' 9") and hammer throw with a mark of 49.31 meters (161' 9"), which was a personal best for Cross.
 
Logan Straus had his best run in the 1500, finishing with a new personal best of 3:59.69. Straus's time is the sixth fastest in MSUB history. Carson Jessop finished fifth in the 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 9:26.23. The Yellowjackets two freshman throwers, Cort Sandefur and Isaac Perkins, also saw major improvements in their discus marks, with Sandefur improving his career best mark by 1.5 meters with a throw of 42.41 meters (139' 2"), and Perkins by 3.5 meters with a mark of 41.50 meters (136' 2").
 
The women's track and field team saw Mya Richardson clock in with her fastest 100m time, finishing with a PR of 12.85. Richardson also finished 11^th in the 400m, with her time of 1:00.33 narrowly missing her career best mark. Kailee Stoppel finished tenth in the 1500m with a time of 4:47.37, and was seventh in the 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 11:28.96, which puts her in third for times in the GNAC this season. Madeline Severson cleared 1.50 meters (4' 11") in the high jump, and anchored the women's 4 X 400 relay team. The group, where Severson is joined by Bella Klein, Mya Richardson, and Annelise Clark, set its season best time at 4:05.80.
 
Klein found further success individually in the 400m, lowering her best time to 1:00.79 and finishing in 14^th at Pocatello. Aspen Tollman placed third in the 10,000m, setting a season best time at 43:18.70. Ryann Moline finished as the Yellowjackets top placer in the discus, finishing in tenth with a mark of 39.04 meters (128' 1"), and the javelin, finishing in ninth with a mark of 37.43m (122' 10"). Brynn Jolma achieved a new career best in discus with a throw of 31.53m (103' 5"), beating her previous best by over 2.5 meters.
 
THE BUZZ: Ralston was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Athlete of the Meet for the Men, while Stoppel was chosen for the women.
 
UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets compete in their final meet before the GNAC Championships on Saturday, May 6, when they head to Bozeman to participate in the Tom Gage Invite.