BUTTE -- Montana Tech's track & field teams swept the titles at the second edition of the Montana Tech Spring Series Saturday at East Middle School, winning a combined 12 events on the way to victory.
The Oredigger women edged out Carroll College for the team victory, besting the Saints by a point with 142.5. On the men's side, Montana Tech won comfortably with 203 points to second-place Rocky Mountain's 107.
Senior
Morgan McClernan again led the way for Tech's men, taking part in three event victories. He topped the field in the 110-meter hurdles, coming across at 14.38 seconds before helping out in a pair of relay victories.
McClernan teamed up with
Jaxon Allery,
Matthew Moreni, and
Zach Merrifield to set a new program record in the 4x100m. The team completed the lap in 41.22 seconds to jump to No. 20 on the NAIA's season leaderboard. He then raced with
Carter Henke,
Michael Marlow, and
Konnor Gregerson to win the 4x400m in a season-best 3:20.76, good enough for 38th in the nation.
Allery also notched an individual victory on the day, winning the 100m dash in 10.73 seconds.
Bryon Fanning (3,000m),
Tyler Crum (javelin), and
Jacob Dolezal (long jump) added event victories for the Oredigger men. Fanning's time of 8:58.70 in the 3,000m ranks ninth in the NAIA, though the outdoor 3,000m is not a national-championship event.
A few other Tech results worked onto the national men's leaderboard.
Lane Voermans took fourth in the hammer throw Friday in Great Falls; the freshman's 50.83m toss ranks 42nd nationally. And Saturday on the track, the 4x800m relay of Marlow,
Tyler Inabnit, Gregerson, and
Ben Shaules finished runner-up with the 13th-best time in the country this season at 8:05.65.
Tech's women were just as productive. Sophomore
Ava Epler turned in her own record-setting performance at the meet, throwing the hammer 47.16m Friday to beat her own Oredigger record in the event; she finished second and leapt to No. 34 on the NAIA leaderboard.
Alayna Hurd took part in a pair of wins. The freshman beat the field in the 100m dash at 12.56 seconds and teamed with
Cora Pesanti,
Montannah Piar, and
Teresa Luisi to win the 4x100m relay, coming across in 48.29.
Ayla Janzen won the 200m dash in a personal-best 26.05 seconds and was second in the 100m hurdles at 15.62, and
Rylee Armstrong leapt a season-best 5.56m to take first in the long jump. Armstrong's mark ranks 33rd in the NAIA.
More baton handoffs helped the Orediggers' final tally. The 4x400m relay of
Peyton Walker,
Sydney Schneider,
Terryn Chirrick, and
Kamryn Comba won in 4:09.47, and the 4x800m relay team (Chirrick, Walker,
Kendra Jensen, and Comba) finished third, their time of 10:00.15 ranking 10th in the NAIA.
Early on in the day, severe weather in the Butte area forced the cancellation of the men's 10,000m and delayed the meet for about an hour.
During the meet, Montana Tech's program recognized Senior Day and the seven graduating members of the program — Comba,
Alyssa Jany,
Morgan McClernan,
Justin Morgan, Pesanti,
Jadyn Vermillion, and
Ben Zerr.
The Orediggers will head all over next week in search of more top times and marks. A contingent of Tech players will head to Long Beach, Calif., for Long Beach State's Beach Invitational Friday and Saturday. The majority of the team will head to Helena for Carroll's Trudnowski Open on Saturday, and the program's combined-event specialists will go to Dickinson State's Blue Hawk Games next Sunday and Monday to compete in the Frontier Conference's multis championships.
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