On a night of spectacular individual performances, Montana State
continued its team dominance over the University of Montana in
track and field. The Bobcats beat Montana's men 90-57, and topped
the Grizzly women 78-73. It was MSU's 13th consecutive women's
win in the series.
MSU head coach Dale Kennedy said the team's performance in the
annual Cat-Griz dual was the night's highlight. "That's always a
priority for us, to win the dual meets," he said. "I thought we
had a lot of kids step up and turn in great performances
tonight."
Highlighting MSU's outstanding individual performances was pole
vaulter Shannon Agee, who posted a Big Sky record mark of
13-feet, one-quarter inch. "She's been going 13-feet in practice
the last couple of weeks," said MSU vault coach Tom Eitel. "She
had a nice jump at 13-6 in practice tonight. I thought 13-feet
would get her into the national meet. She's just starting to get
pretty fit and get a lot of confidence. If you have any doubts at
all it's not going to work."
With the Big Sky Conference Championships looming next weekend,
Agee said her current success is a big lift. "Confidence is the
biggest factor," she said, adding that her goal is to stay
motivated. "I don't want to let (the success) drain any of my
desire to do better."
Montana State also had big performances in the throws. Jen Allen
set a school record of 48-7.5 in the shot put, and Blake Jackson
took over the Big Sky lead with a toss of 56-0.5 in the men's
shot. Chris Hutton was also outstanding, setting season's bests
of 60-1.75 in the weight throw and 53-5 in the shot put.
"We've been getting ready for the conference meet, cutting back
on the strength training," Jackson said of his outstanding
nights. He threw the shot 56-0 and the 35# weight 56-1. "I'm
feeling better physically. It's great to start to peak at the
right time of year. You want your best throws to come in the
conference meet."
"I thought Mike Carignan's throwers really had a great night,"
Kennedy said. "For Blake Jackson to go to the Big Sky lead in the
shot put, that's huge. Every one of those guys either had a
personal best or a season's best mark."
Lacy Hinzpeter also took over the Big Sky lead with a mark of
24.50 in the 200 m, and Casey Jermyn's 8:29 in the 3,000 m moves
him near the top of the Big Sky list in that event.
Utah State, who also competed in the dual meets, and Weber State,
who had several individual athletes entered, posted some
outstanding performances. Weber's Joel Atwater ran the mile at
4:02.99, which altitude adjusts to below four minutes and is
believed to be the second-best mile in the nation this year.
Allison Adams (2:06.77) and Stephanie Hansen (2:06.83) of Weber
also provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet.
MEN'S DUAL SCORES/WOMEN'S DUAL SCORES
MSU 90, Montana 57/MSU 78, Montana 73
Utah State 77, MSU 67/MSU 83, Utah State 64
Utah State 90, Montana 56 /Montana 74, Utah State 68
