(University of Montana Press Release)
MISSOULA -- Montana officially opened the 2020 indoor track & field season last month in Bozeman, but the schedule will really get going this weekend in Pocatello, Idaho, when the Grizzlies participate in the Stacy Dragila Open, hosted by Idaho State.
The meet will be an early barometer for the Grizzlies, with athletes from Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Weber State scheduled to participate, in addition to Carroll College, Montana Western, Providence and Westminster (Utah).
The meet will begin Friday at 3 p.m. with the men's pole vault, women's long jump and men's weight throw. Running events will start at 4:15 p.m., beginning with the women's 60-meter hurdles. With a large number of athletes registered, a handful of events will have a preliminary round. The top six runners in the 60 meters and 60-meter hurdles will advance to the finals, as well as the top eight in the horizontal jumps and throwing events.
Fans can follow along with live results [live.athletic.net] provided by Idaho State.
7 questions with veteran track coach Brian Schweyen
Beginning this weekend, your teams will compete in six of the next seven weeks, culminating with the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships (Feb. 27-29 in Pocatello, Idaho). However, your season actually got started in December with the Bobcat Preview. What stood out to you about that meet, which featured 14 event wins and 17 athletes making their collegiate debuts? That's always a good meet for us, because the kids are coming off of fall training and are in good shape. We had a lot of kids who performed where we expected them too, which is what you want to see. I thought it was one of our strongest opening meets we've had in a long time.
Since the Bobcat Preview, there's been quite a layoff. The athletes dispersed for winter break and have had just four days of training together in Missoula prior to this week's competition. How difficult is that? It's hard to say where we're at, because we really haven't been together much. You do see some people are a little rusty with technique, which makes sense. It's hard to go home, no matter where you live, and have access to hurdles and long and triple jumps. You can train, but you can't really train the way we need to.
Friday will feature a big meet with a large number of Big Sky athletes competing. When you return to Missoula on Saturday morning, what do you hope to know about your team? It will be a barometer for us, and it's a new starting point coming off of Christmas break. I think there will be some really good performances, and some sub-par ones as well. It will be hard to see progress from December to now because of the month of the inability to do things, but moving forward, we just need everyone to continue working hard and improving each week.
This year's Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships are in Pocatello. How nice will it be to compete inside Idaho State's venue prior to February's Championships? It absolutely will be a benefit. Idaho State's track is different than most others we compete on. Any banked track we run on is typically a rubberized or Mondo surface; this is running on plywood, so it's a little different. It's nice to get on this and get comfortable and know what it's like.
The preseason polls came out earlier this month, with coaches picking the Montana women to finish sixth and the men to place eighth. What was your reaction to where your teams were selected? I think, certainly on the men's side, we can perform far better than what we were placed. It comes down to health, but I think our women can be better than where we were picked as well.
Eighty percent of your athletes who scored points at last year's indoor Championships are still on roster. However, one is redshirting and a handful of other key contributors are currently injured. You even had to pull out of a multis meet earlier this month due to injury and inexperience. How would you assess where your team is at heading into its January competition schedule? We have a couple athletes sitting this one out, and across the board we're a little banged up. Drew (Babcock) is doing a good job getting them back to full health, and we're hopeful we'll get there very soon, but we're not there yet.
What is an event or two that fans might want to keep an eye on throughout the spring? We have some good 400-meter runners on the men's side who can do some really good things. We have a couple guys in the throws, Shawn Humphries in the weight throw can do really well, plus Brent Yeakey and Noah Ramirez in the shot. I think our women's and men's mid-distance can do some big things, too.
Participating for Montana:
Men's 60 meters: Aidan Diggs, Kip Krebsbach, Jason Upton
Men's 60-meter hurdles: Chase Armstrong, Aidan Diggs, Jaydon Green
Men's 200 meters: Chase Armstrong, Peterson Bohannon, Jaydon Green, Cade Johnstone, Paul Johnstone, Kip Krebsbach, Callum Macnae, Xavier Melice
Men's 400 meters: Peterson Bohannon, Cade Johnstone, Paul Johnstone, Callum Macnab, Xavier Melice
Men's 800 meters: Quincy Fast, Colton Hess, Noah Kells, Jacob Lamb
Men's 1 mile: Andrea Baratte, Will Dauenhauer, Hunter May
Men's 3,000 meters: Andrea Baratte, Will Dauenhauer, Hunter May, Kyle Peterson
Men's 4x400-meter relay: Peterson Bohannon, Paul Johnstone, Cade Johnston, Xavier Melice; Colton Hess, Quincy Fast, Callum Macnab, Jacob Lamb
Men's high jump: Alfred Peterson, Josh Riley, Jordan Stow, Jason Upton
Men's long jump: Peterson Bohannon, Aidan Diggs, Alfred Peterson, Josh Riley, Jordan Stow, Jason Upton
Men's pole vault: Aidan Diggs, Lawrence Moore
Men's shot put: Shawn Humphries, Noah Ramirez, Brent Yeakey
Men's weight throw: Shawn Humphries
Women's 60 meters: Cree Bell, Olivia Ellis, Emma Normand
Women's 60-meter hurdles: Hannah Coburn, Olivia Ellis, Ailsa Gilbert, Jaree Mane, Holly Sudol
Women's 200 meters: Cree Bell, Olivia Ellis, Abby Harmon, Mattison McAnally, Emma Normand
Women's 400 meters: Abby Harmon, Mattison McAnally
Women's 800 meters: Mijah McLeod
Women's 1 mile: Carly Dahms, June Eastwood, Samantha Engebretsen, Beatrix Frissell, Emily Pittis
Women's 3,000 meters: June Eastwood, Samantha Engebretsen, Beatrix Frissell, Emily Pittis
Women's 4x400-meter relay: Olivia Ellis, Mijah McLeod, Cree Bell, Jaree Mane
Women's high jump: Jane Booth, Abby Dodge, Ailsa Gilbert, Morgan Radtke, Holly Sudol
Women's long jump: Hannah Coburn, Ailsa Gilbert, Jaree Mane, Holly Sudol, Aly Tekippe
Women's triple jump: Abby Dodge, Rachel Lewis, Carla Nicosia
Women's pole vault: Kahsiah Benson, Chloe Seferos, Grace Slevin, Aly Tekippe
Women's shot put: Mariah Harvey, Holly Houston
Women's weight throw: Mariah Harvey
