(Editors Note: MSU press release)
BOZEMAN – Montana State track and field continued its recent reign over Montana in the annual Cat-Griz Dual on Saturday, April 27, as the Bobcats’ men’s and women’s teams topped the Griz in the team competition at Bobcat Track and Field Complex. The MSU women secured a 105-92 victory and the Bobcat men earned a 100-92 win.
MSU’s men won their sixth straight meeting against Montana in the dual series. The Bobcat women’s squad has earned victories in five of its six previous matchups.
“It’s great to have two dual meet wins,” Montana State director of track and field said. “That’ll build some confidence and momentum as we go into conference.
“It was exciting to win two dual meets and compete together as an entire team. We had split teams coming into this (meet), we’d had different competitors going to different meets. This one was nice because everybody was here and it was a real team competition. That was great to get us use to that conference mindset with the team aspect of it.”
The Bobcats had a variety of athletes earn multiple first-place finishes.
Junior Wyatt Thompson-Siporen was the men’s team’s top performer. The MSU junior took first in the high jump, pole vault and javelin, while he also placed second in the long jump. Thompson-Siporen had lifetime-best efforts in three of the four events. Alex Lewis also earned multiple first-place showings as he completed the top marks in the long jump (25-05.75) and the triple jump (46-06.75).
Kelsi Lasota and McKenna Ramsay had two first-place performance for the Bobcat women’s team. Lasota finished with the top times in the 1,500 (4:42.93) and the 5,000 (18:09.27), while Ramsay completed the fastest time in the 200 (24.22) as well as the 400 (56.31).
For the first half of the meet, several Bobcats took advantage of favorable conditions.
Morgan Evans and Elena Carter took the top two spots in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with personal-best marks. Evans’s time of 13.86 seconds tied her for fourth all-time in program history in the events. Carter’s time of 14.19 seconds placed her 10th all-time among Bobcats.
Hunter Adams also earned a lifetime best in the men’s 110 hurdles. His mark of 14.42 placed him first in the event and moved him into a tie for sixth in program history in the event.
The Bobcats took the top six spots in the women’s 100 and 200 dashes. Bill Yeager led the Bobcat men in both the 100 and 200, with the MSU junior picking up a lifetime best in the 100.
“I thought they went really well,” Weese said of Saturday’s races. “The oval events were a struggle in the wind, but I thought everybody put forth a great effort and had some very good performances considering the weather. The wind in some of the sprint events allowed for some very fast times, so that was great, as well as in some jumps events. I thought all the event groups all did a really job of competing well.”
The women’s team was paced by several first-place performances. Madison Liechty took first in the 3,000 steeplechase with a mark of 11:08.47, which converted due to altitude, is 10th all-time in MSU history. Lucy Corbett placed atop the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 7 inches, Tiffani Finley and Kamden Hilborn each cleared 11-01.75 to pace the ‘Cats in the pole vault, and Celestia Hammond had the best javelin throw of the day with her personal-best toss of 145-02 (44.24m). MSU’s 4×100 and 4×400 relays also beat Montana’s in their head-to-head matchups.
Duncan Hamilton, who completed a lifetime best effort in the 800, took first in the 1,500 with a time of 3:56.07. Collin Buck led a trio of Bobcats that took the top three spots in the 5,000 by crossing the line in 15:58.36. Drake Schneider finished first in the 400 hurdles in a time of 54.22 and Cooper West (9:32.47) had the top mark in the 3,000 steeplechase.
The women’s team had multiple athlete complete lifetime bests. Jordan Fink took third in the shot put with a toss of 42-08.75 (13.02m). Linday Benson placed fourth in the hammer behind a throw of 151-08 (46.24m). Madi Arneson (150-07) and Brookelyn Palin (144-08) each completed personal bests in the discus, with Arneson’s throw making MSU’s all-time top 10 list.
Brock Winegar and Ethan Saberhagen each completed runner-up showings for the men’s team behind personal bests. Winegar took second in the javelin with a throw of 191-00 (58.22). Saberhagen had a personal-best throw in the discus of 155-04 (47.35m), while Brock McCue (146-09) and Josh Mertz (141-05) also completed best marks of their collegiate careers in the event.
Montana State’s men’s and women’s teams were boosted by both squads depth. Gannon Chamberlain, Teagan Olson, Luke Middelstadt, Anna French, Hailey Phillips and Layne Oliver all recorded second-place finishes. Truanne Roginske, Elena Carter, Carley ConHeeder, Jared Schwend and Josh Mertz each took third in at least one event.
The Montana State track and field program hosts the Tom Gage Classic on Friday, May 3, at the Bobcat Track and Field Complex to close out its regular season.
Full Results can be found here: CatGriz_TeamScores CatGriz_FinalResults
