(MSU Billings release)
LAUREL – While putting on a dominant showing of Friday, the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets opened their outdoor season with senior day at the Yellowjacket/Battlin’ Bears Invitational at Laurel high School. The ‘Jackets honored Jorey Egeland, Mataia Robinson, Nate Vanderby and Kelby Wegner at the meet while their classmate Nels Flanagan was not in attendance after competing in Great Falls on Thursday.
Competing against Rocky Mountain College, Carrol College, University of Providence and Dickinson State, the Yellowjackets scored 10 first-place finishes on the day while Beau Ackerman had the top performance at the meet.
Throwing the javelin in competition for the first time this season, Ackerman launch a school record throw of 209’ 7” (63.88 meters). The throw ranks eighth in all of Division II and is a provisional qualifier for the nationals later this year.
“We had a lot of good performances today,” head coach Jonathan Woehl noted. “But Beau’s performance really stood out. It was really impressive to see him come out and break the school record and set a provisional mark in our first meet. I know he is capable of throwing distances like that but it is something different to deliver at the meet.”
Another record breaking performance came in the men’s 4×100-meter relay where Lmaont Frisby, Mason Schram, Kaelen Shay and Sam Zook set a new school record with a time of 41.62.
Dealing with strong headwinds, the Yellowjacket sprinters persevered. In the men’s 100-meter Zook (11.05), Frisby (11.19) and Schram (11.34) swept the top three spots. Michaela Johnson took second in the women’s 100-meters with a time of 13.14 and later placed first in the 100 meter hurdles.
“We got hit by wind right as we were about to start the sprints but they all fought through it,” Woehl added. “It was our first time this season competing at some of these distances and I thought we handled I well.”
Hannah Nessan and Isaiah Girard were each top performers in the field. Nessan took first in the women’s discus with a mark of 39.34 meters (129’ 1”). Competing in the high jump Girard cleared a height of 1.95 meters (6’ 4.75”), four inches higher that the next finisher.
Girard placed second in the long jump with a mark of 6.56 meters (21’ 6.25”). Marcus Lindquist finished third in the event, just an inch shy of Girard’s mark. Lindquist was also the ‘jackets lone representative in the triple jump where he took second with a jump of 13.79 (45’ 3”).
Egeland delivered a trio of strong performances on Friday as the senior won the 5K (16:22.78) and place second in the 1,500-meter (4:00.08). He also placed fourth in the 800-meter, edging out teammate Drake Henson by just over a second.
Nikki Aiken took second in the women’s 5K at a pace of 19:43.01. The time was just shy of Aiken’s college best that she set at the GNAC Indoor Championships earlier this year.
In the women’s 200-meter, Jewlz Collins led the Yellowjacket sprinters with a time of 26.58 and finishing in third. Robinson and Anne Lory Chevalier placed eighth and ninth with time of 27.89 and 28.27 respectively.
Collins joined Johnson, Robinson and Josey Smiedala in the 4×100 relay where they placed second in a time of 49.65. Smiedala took third in the 400-meter hurdles clocking a 1:07.35.
The women’s jumping group had a good outing with Shaniah Schwend placing third, fourth and fifth while competing in the triple jump (10.53m), long jump (4.77m) and high jump (1.45m) respectively. Brenna Beckett had the best long jump performance with a mark of 4.79 meters (15’ 8.75”) and Janessa Williams made her 2018 track debut with a team-best 10.76 (35’ 3.75”) in the triple jump placing second.
Williams also ran in the 4×400 meter relay with Jerrica Martin, Rachel Hiner and Catrina Schuchard. The quartette posted a time of 4:34.74 finishing sixth. Schuchard placed eight in the 800 meter just ahead of Hiner and teammate Ella McKenzie.
During Thursday’s hammer throw competition in Great Falls, Mont. Taylor Stringari took fourth with a mark of 39.56 (129’ 9”) as the Yellowjackets only competitor. She followed up with a team-best 11.26 meters in the shot put on Friday. Hailey Steinbeisser was the top performer in the javelin for the women with a mark of 29.77 (97’ 8”).
Flanagan took first in the men’s hammer throw competition with his college best throw of 47.69 meters (156’ 5”). Brady Ostermiller finished fourth in the hammer throw and led the ‘Jacket in the shot put (14.88m) and discus (44.27) during Friday’s competition.
The ‘Jackets will return to competition next Friday when they visit Spokane, Wash. for the W.A.R. X meet at Spokane Falls Community College. The meet will span two days and host schools from around the region.
