CARROLL DUALS
 
HELENA, Mont. – The Montana Tech track & field teams ran at the Carroll Duals Friday. The team competed against Carroll College and Montana Western hosted at the Vigilante Stadium only competing in a select number of running events.
"Weather this spring has kept us on our toes, but we were able to figure out the logistics to get all of our athletes a chance to compete this weekend," said head coach Zach Kughn.

The Oredigger men and women finished first and second in the 800 meters.

Ian Barville and Konnor Gregerson went one-two with Ian Breaking the two-minute mark with a time of 1:59.45 seconds. Gregerson finished in a time of 2:00.86 seconds.

Kamryn Comba won the 800 on the women's side with a time of 2:24.35 breaking her PR by more than 11 seconds with a time of 2:24.35. Madison Kelly finished second in 2:30.47 seconds.

Tech had the top four spots in the 5000 meters with Edwin Kipainoi winning by nearly 30 seconds in a time of 15:32.89.

Carlin Manning won the 5000 meter race with a time of 19:28.44, over 30 seconds in front of the second place finisher.

Emily Ratz took second in the 400 meters with a time of 1:01.44 seconds and Hadassah Wilson finished third in 1:01.84.

"Our long sprinters and distance runners went to Helena on Friday where Carroll's distance athletes had worked extremely hard to clear their track. We ended up with great weather for distance running and our athletes competed really well. Taking the top places in both 800's and easy wins for Edwin and Carlin were really exciting. Kami's 800 was a massive breakthrough, she looked like a different athlete out there and I can't wait to see what she does next." 
 

YELLOWJACKET/BATTLIN' BEARS OPEN
 
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana Tech track & field teams competed at the Yellowjacket/Battlin' Bears Open hosted by MSU Billings and Rocky Mountain at Lockwood High School. The field consisted of ten teams including NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA junior colleges.

"On Saturday, we took the short sprinters, hurdlers, and field event athletes to Billings for what ended up being a pretty large meet with multiple divisions represented," said head coach Zach Kughn.

"Many schools have been scrambling to find meets this year due to weather. Teams as far away as Minnesota drove over and it made for some fun competition though wind was a factor the entire day." 
 
The major highlights came early for the Orediggers.

"The first two events of the day were women's javelin and men's shot put and we ended up with national qualifiers in both. Jenna improved her B standard from last weekend to an A, securing her return trip to the national meet."

Jenna Jordan qualified for the national championships hitting the NAIA A standard this week after getting the B standard last week. Jordan took second throwing a 41.38 meters in the javelin.

Freshman Jesse Mecham hit the NAIA B standard in the shot put with a throw of 15.52 meters.

"Jesse launched one over a meter further than his lifetime best to hit the B standard. It was certainly an unexpected performance but huge for our men's throws group. His throw makes him the first shot put athlete and first men's thrower of any event in school history to qualify for a national championship. It was a great throws day overall with numerous PR's, can't wait to see what the throwers keep doing."

Cade VanVleet took second in the discus with throwing 46.25 meters missing the NAIA B standard by a little over a meter. Cooper Hofer took seventh with a mark of 39.84 meters.

Freshman Colter Ball finished in seventh in the javelin throwing 51.19 meters.

Dickinson State men's team won the meet with a team score of 136 points. The Orediggers finished in third place with a team score of 105 points just behind MSU Billings with 109.5 points. 

Payton Cates won the high jump tying his best mark of the outdoor season with a 1.97 meter jump.

Bauer Seewald won the triple jump with a winning jump of 13.31 meters.

Drake Schlachter finished second in the long jump with a mark of 6.78 meters. Schlachter also took seventh in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.53 seconds.

Dom Maricelli took sixth in the 200 meters running 23.48 seconds.

Morgan McClernan and Holt Downey finished in the top two places in the 110 meter hurdles. McClernan finished with a time of 16.04 seconds and Holt ran a 16.34. McClernan took fourth in the 400 meter hurdles finishing in 59.06 seconds and Holt took
eighth in 1:04.

Montana Tech's 4x100 relay took second with a time of 44.08 seconds. The 4x400 relay finished fourth with a time of 3:33.45 seconds.

The Orediggers finished in fifth place in the women's field with a team score of 55 points. NCAA Division II University of Mary won the meet with a final score of 168 points.

Jadyn Vermillion just missed the NAIA B standard in the long jump. Vermillion took third place with a jump of 5.50 meters. Vermillion finished sixth in the 200 meters with a time of 27.65 seconds.

Abby Clark finished fourth in the high jump with a jump of 1.52 meters. Haydon Pride tied for seventh with a 1.47 meter mark.

Naiya Beaudin scored in both the triple and long jump. Beaudin took second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.08 meters. She finished in sixth place in the long jump with a jump of 5.29 meters.

The Orediggers scored three places in the 100 meter hurdles. Clark finished fourth with a time of 16.09 seconds. Beaudin took seventh with a time of 16.68 seconds and Olleca Severson finished in eighth place in 16.94 seconds. Severson finished in fourth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:08.94 seconds.

"Overall I'm glad we were able to make the most of the weekend and I think we are another step closer to where we want to be with just 24 days until the conference championship."