(MSUB Athletics release)
BILLINGS – It will be a unique opportunity this week as the Montana State University Billings track and field team send six athletes to compete in the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The competition will run from Thursday to Saturday with Yellowjackets scheduled to compete on each day.
“This is a great opportunity for our program and our athletes,” head coach Jonathan Woehl said. “We will see a depth of competition that will only be matched at nationals. It is a really big stage and it is an experience we want our athletes to have in preparation for conference and hopefully beyond.”
The ‘Jackets will travel Jorey Egeland, Sam Zook, Lamont Frisby, Mason Schram, Kaelen Shay and Beau Ackerman to the meet as they look to qualify for nationals.
Egeland will be the first Yellowjacket to compete at the meet as he runs the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Thursday night. The senior will take to the track at 7:22 p.m. Central Time and the event will be run as a final. Egeland ranks fifth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for the event with a time of 9:19.96.
In the javelin, Ackerman will look to continue his impressive season, which has him ranking 11th in Division II with a distance of 209’7” (63.88m). The junior has throws greater than 200-feet in each of his attempts this season and is third in the GNAC with his provisional mark.
Zook will take on the most work as he participates in the 100 and 200-meter dash and runs with the 4×100 relay team. He currently leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in both events and has set provisional qualifying marks with times of 10.41 in the 100 and 21.08 in the 200.
In his first event, Zook will run in the 4×100 relay on Friday at 8:33 a.m. (CST). The relay will be led off by Frisby followed by Schram and Shay with Zook completing the anchor leg. It will be a preliminary heat with the 4×100 final scheduled for 3:18 p.m. (CST) on Saturday. The quartet has set the MSUB-record in the event twice this season and currently holds the best time in the GNAC at 41.37.
Zook will participate in the 100-meter preliminaries Friday at 2:49 p.m. (CST) and the 200-dash will be run as a final at 5:21 p.m. (CST). Should he qualify for the final, Zook will run the 100 on Saturday at 2:11 p.m. (CST).
This will be the 109th edition of the Drake Relays. The meet will have a live webcast hosted by USATF.tv. Complete information can be found at GoDrakeBulldogs.com.
