Distance men shine for ‘Jackets on rainy Friday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Friday, April 21, 2017 Distance men shine for ‘Jackets on rainy Friday

Ivan Colmenero posts the eighth-best time in the GNAC this season in the 10k on Friday, with a personal-best time of 33:51.01 at the Trudnowski Open in Helena.

HELENA, Mont. – Ivan Colmenero highlighted a strong day for the Montana State University Billings track and field distance squad Friday at the Trudnowski Open hosted by Carroll College, racing to a personal-best and top-10 time in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in the 10,000-meters at Vigilante Field.

Colmenero’s time of 33:51.01 was the best of his career, and slated him eighth in the GNAC with the conference meet three weeks away. Teammate Jacob Marshall also had a PR in the 10k, cruising to a time of 35:16.11 which is good for 17th in the GNAC. “That was a really good race for Ivan to put him into the top-10 in the GNAC,” said MSUB head coach Dave Coppock. “He and Jacob ran well today, and now we have three guys in the top-20 in that event.”

Continuing the distance success, Garrett Love ran his best time of the year in the 5,000-meters, finishing in second place at 15:51.88. In the 1,500-meters, Jorey Egeland and Josh Panasuk took first and second with times of 4:07.72 and 4:16.64, respectively.

In the men’s field events, Chuck Carr and Isaiah Girard had an impressive showing going 1-2 in the high jump. Carr cleared a height of 1.90 meters, and Girard was close behind at 1.85 meters.

Beau Peaslee highlighted MSUB’s men’s throwers, taking third in the shot put with a distance of 13.42 meters.

On the women’s side, a personal-best by freshman Hailey Steinbeisser led to a second-place finish in the shot put. Steinbeisser finished the day with a toss of 11.39 meters, and close behind was Abbie Lohof with a throw of 10.53 meters.

In the discus, Taylor Stringari took first place with a mark of 35.80 meters, and Kassadee Kuoha was second at 35.58 meters.

MSUB featured a limited sprint squad Friday, but freshman Michaela Johnson got back on track with a win in the 100-meter hurdles.

Johnson was just over 0.2 seconds off the school record of 15.18, finishing with a time of 15.42 in her best mark of the season.

Sophomore Janessa Williams took second in the heat, at 16.03.

Freshman Taylor Stringari won the discus on Friday at 35.80 meters.

Johnson was also third in the 100-meters, with a time of 12.78 seconds, and Brenna Beckett took second in the 200-meters at 27.35 seconds. “It was good to work on a few things in this meet, and the big one for us will be next week at Montana,” said Coppock. “That will probably be our last chance to establish marks for the GNAC. We are looking forward to that opportunity, and to seeing if we can get a few more individuals qualified for the conference meet.”

THE BUZZ: Colmenero and Steinbeisser were named the St. Vincent Healthcare Players of the Day for their standout performances.

AHEAD: The ‘Jackets remain in Montana next week, with the University of Montana Open scheduled to run April 28-29 in Missoula. It is the first of two more meets that stand between MSUB and the 2017 GNAC Championships, hosted by Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore., May 12-13.

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