3 first-place finishes highlight Dave Little Alumni Mile for Yellowjackets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu January 23, 2016 3 first-place finishes highlight Dave Little Alumni Mile for Yellowjackets MSUB Track and Field on Facebook Complete Results TFRRS Performance Lists

Black Hills State’s Alec Baldwin and MSUB’s Robert Peterson raced against each other in the men’s mile.

Three first-place finishes from the MSUB track and field are the highlight after a tough road trip to Spearfish.

SPEARFISH, S.D. – Josey Smiedala, Landon Polkow, and Nels Flanagan earned titles at the Dave Little Alumni Mile event hosted by Black Hills State Saturday.

Smiedala, a freshman from Helena, Mont., raced to a first-place finish in the 400 meter dash, finishing in a time of 1:01.90. Polkow, a sophomore from Billings, Mont., won the men’s 400 meter hurdles in 56.35. After breaking the MSUB record in the weight throw last week, Flanagan continued his success in the event with a win on a throw of 48-01.25.

MSUB senior Robert Peterson placed second in 4:21.20 behind Alec Baldwin (4:11.71) of Black Hills State in the men’s mile and senior Josh Panasuk ran a personal-best and placed fourth with a time of 4:25.92.

Freshman Janessa Williams had two second-place finishes on the day for the Yellowjackets. She was the runner-up in the women’s 60 meter hurdles in 9.77 and came in second in the triple jump in 35-05.25.

“We had trouble with the bus and were stranded outside of Sheridan early this morning,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said. “Luckily some of the parents came by and picked-up some of the student-athletes, but only about half the team was able to actually compete at the meet.”

“Josey had a good win in the 400 meters,” Coppock continued. “Janessa placed second in the hurdles and she also got second in the triple jump. She is an inch or two off the school record, so is really improving in that event. Also, Shaniah, Brady and Nels had good events. Robert and Josh both ran well in the men’s mile.”

Also in the field events, freshman Shaniah Schwend placed third in the women’s long jump at 15’03.25. Brady Ostermiller was third in the men’s shot put with a throw of 44’04.25”.

UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets have next week off from competition, returning on Feb. 5, with a meet hosted by Idaho State.

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