Track preview: ‘Jackets prep for Trudnowski Open in Helena

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, April 20, 2017 Track preview: ‘Jackets prep for Trudnowski Open in Helena

MSUB’s track and field squad heads to Carroll College on Friday for the Trudnowski Open in Helena, Mont., while a handful of individuals will compete in Fort Collins, Colo. at the Jack Christiansen Invitational Saturday.

BILLINGS, Mont. – A short trip awaits the Montana State University Billings men’s and women’s track and field teams this weekend, as the Yellowjackets head to Carroll College for the Trudnowski Open set for Friday afternoon.

Set to bring a full squad to Helena, Mont., for Friday’s competition, MSUB will look to continue pursuit of personal bests with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships looming in three weeks. “This weekend at Carroll will help us stay sharp, and it will be a good chance to work on some things,” said MSUB head coach Dave Coppock. “Our distance runners are going to have a good opportunity to run another 10,000 meters, and that’s not fielded at a lot of meets.

Every week we have done something out there that has been noteworthy, so we are just looking for another good week.”

Among MSUB’s men’s competitors will be a throws crew headed by junior Brady Ostermiller. He will enter the meet with team bests in both the shot put (14.98 meters) and discus (44.92 meters), marks that rank eighth-best and sixth-best in the GNAC, respectively. Forrest Cross will also throw the shot and discus, along with the javelin, and Beau Peaslee is entered in both the shot and javelin this weekend.

“We are excited as a team for this meet, and it should be good for us in both shot and disc,” said Ostermiller. “For me the spring season has gone pretty well, but I’m still not quite where I want to be. I’m just excited to see how it is going to progress over these last few meets going into conference.”

In other field action, Chuck Carr and Isaiah Girard will take on the high jump and long jump, the duo ranking third and sixth respectively in the GNAC in the high jump. Both freshmen will also run in the 4x400meter relay for the ‘Jackets, which enters the meet with a time of 3:24.38.

MSUB freshman Hailey Steinbeisser is entered in the shot, disc, and javelin this weekend.

After a week off from the 10k last week, MSUB’s distance crew will be back to full throttle with Ivan Colmenero and Jacob Marshall representing the team in the longest race of the day. Josh Panasuk, Jorey Egeland, and Jacob Gibbs are each entered in the 1,500-meters, and senior Garrett Love enters the 5,000-meters with a mark of 15:40.25.

The men’s sprinters will be split between a pair of meets this weekend, with Kaelen Shay set to run both the 100-meters and 200-meters in Helena. On Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo., junior Sam Zook and freshman Braden Rykal will head to Colorado State University in an attempt to lower their times in the 100 and 200, and senior Austin Lindquist will also attend the mile-high meet coming off a school-record 14.58 run in the 110-meter high hurdles.

Similar to the men’s side, MSUB’s women’s team will bring a full throws squad to Carroll College with freshman Hailey Steinbeisser set to throw the shot, discus, and javelin. Taylor Stringari and Abbie Lohof will look to better their marks in the shot and discus, and Kassadee Kuoha will take her team-best distance of 35.78 meters in the discus into the meet.

“I’m hoping to get a PR in javelin this weekend, so I can try to make it to conference,” said Steinbeisser. “After this weekend, I’m going to start narrowing down which events I’m going to start practicing more (before conference). Right now, my focus is on javelin and shot put for the most part.”

MSUB will send a heftier slate of sprinters to this week’s meet, with four set to run in the 100-meters. Michaela Johnson will be making her outdoor debut in both the 100 and 100-meter hurdles, and Baylie Bullington and Katelyn Eastburn will each be back on the track for the first time since the Bobcat Invitational a month ago.

Nikki Aiken, Kelby Wegner, and Rio Frame are set to go in the 1,500-meters, while Ella McKenzie and Catrina Schuchard will each run in the 800-meters and the women’s 4x400-meter relay. Janessa Williams will join Johnson in the 100-meter hurdles, while also entering the triple jump at 11.14 meters and running the second leg of the 4x4 relay race.

A quartet of freshman jumpers includes Brenna Beckett, Shelby Browning, Jamie Orme, and Halie Warren. Beckett, Browning, and Warren will each compete in the long jump and triple jump, with Orme and Warren also taking on the high jump.

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