MSUB Men's track and field at GNAC Indoor Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu February 17, 2016 Men’s track and field heads to indoor conference championships MSUB Track and Field on Facebook GNAC Track and Field Weekly Reports GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships TFRRS Performance Lists

Josh Panasuk (front) will compete on the relay team and in the 3,000 meters for MSUB at the conference championships.

This week, the Yellowjackets are heading to the indoor conference championships being hosted by Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.

BILLINGS, Mont. – This week the MSUB men’s track and field team is headed for Nampa, Idaho, and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, Feb. 19-20, hosted by Northwest Nazarene.

The men’s team has five members with marks in the top-10 in the conference this year. Also, at the Mountain State Games two weeks ago, the MSUB men’s distance medley relay team of Josh Panasuk, Landon Polkow, Liam McKay, and

Robert Peterson surpassed the NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the national meet. The time of 10:01.98 is the fourth fastest in the conference this season.

“The men’s Distance Medley has a good chance for a top-3 finish,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said. “With Josh leading off and Robert anchoring, we’ve got a good chance of taking one of the top spots. The team has also posted an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and it would be a real bonus if we could drop that time by 5 seconds or so, which would really improve their chances of making Nationals.”

Also, entering the conference championships with a top-5 mark is Peterson in the mile. He has the fifth fastest time in the conference this season (4:21.20) while teammate Panasuk holds the 12th best time (4:25.92). Both are listed in the event with a top-10 entry at the championships.

“Robert also has a good chance of hitting an NCAA qualifying mark either in the mile or 3,000 meters,” Coppock said.

“His mile time going in is far from his best - he only had the opportunity to run it once this season. Josh has been running well lately and could pick up a spot in either the mile or 3,000 meters.”

In the 3,000 meters, Panasuk also holds the 12th fastest time in the conference this season (8:51.44). Competing with Peterson and Panasuk in the 3,000 meters for MSUB will be Garrett Love, Jorey Egeland, Ivan Colmenero, and Tyus Mendoza.

In the sprints, freshman Kaelen Shay is entered in the 60 and 200 meters. Cameron Stanek will also be competing in the 200 meters while Polkow is entered in the 400 meters.

Freshman Quincy Wittman is set for the 60 meter hurdles and the pole vault. Cole Campbell will compete with Wittman in the pole vault. Campbell holds the seventh best mark in the conference this season at 4.40 meters.

For MSUB, Brady Ostermiller at ninth (14.43 meters) in the shot put and Nels Flanagan at eighth (15.92 meters) in the weight throw will compete in the throws.

“Nels Flanagan has a good chance to score in the weight throw and Cole Campbell should be able to come up with some points in the pole vault,” Coppock said. “Both have been doing well this season.”

“Our biggest focus will be to get enough top-8 finishes to be in the scoring,” Coppock continued. “We have a lot of people ranked in that 9-16th place going in, but we usually perform better at the championships and move a few folks into a scoring spot.”

The 2016 GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships opens on Feb. 19, with the men’s 60 meter hurdle trials at 2:30 p.m. The field events open at 3:30 p.m. with the men’s weight throw.

For a listing of all the events, their start and performance list, as well as results, please visit the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships page here.

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