SPOKANE, Wash. — Alex Mustard was a double winner and Jacob Leininger a two-event Big Sky Conference qualifier Saturday at the Community Colleges of Spokane’s WAR IX meet as the Montana track and field teams wrapped up their two-meet trip to Washington.
The Grizzlies, who competed Friday at Eastern Washington’s Pelluer Invitational in Cheney, had eight wins overall and four new Big Sky qualifications. Butte High graduate Erika McLeod won the 400-meter hurdles.
Leininger, already positioned well on the Big Sky performance lists, made it official in both hurdles races. He finished second in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.51 that was just three-hundredths off his PR. He ran a career-best 54.34 to place sixth in the 400-meter hurdles.
Also qualifying Saturday was Carrie Jacka in the pole vault. She was one of four athletes to clear the meet’s top bar of 12-1.5, a collegiate best for Jacka.
The fourth qualification came from Mustard as part of his wins in the sprints. His winning time of 10.73 in the 100 meters was a career best and met the qualifying standard of 10.75. Mustard also won the 200 meters in a 39-athlete field with a time of 21.90, his first time going sub-22 seconds on an outdoor track.
Montana also got wins from Adam Wollant, who led a 1-2-3 finish for the Grizzlies in the 10,000 meters with a time of 31:51.84, and both men’s relays.
Dionee Marrero, Sterling Reneau, Andrew Monaco and Mustard ran a season-best 41.47 to win the 4×100 meters. Joe Lesar, Callum Macnab, Reneau and Dylan Reynolds teamed up to run a 3:15.28 in the 4×400 meters, also a season best.
Lindsey Dahl highlighted the winners from the women’s team when she threw the javelin a career-best 151-8. McLeod won the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:01.48, Sammy Evans won the triple jump at 39-8.
Jensen Lillquist placed second in the javelin at 207-10, his fourth time in four meets this season throwing over 200 feet, something he did just three times as a regional-qualifying freshman last spring.
Dillon May broke 10 minutes in the steeplechase for the first time, clocking a 9:58.41 to finish fourth, and Nick Jackson finished in the top three in the throws: second in the hammer (177-8) and third in both the shot put (49-3.75) and discus (150-3).
Emily Cheroske continued her descent down the time ladder in the 800 meters. She ran a career-best 2:13.34 last Saturday. One week later she crossed the line in 2:12.52 to finish fourth.
Olivia Ellis, competing in her hometown of Spokane, ran a season-best 1:03.83 in the 400-meter hurdles to finish second behind McLeod. Emily Pittis finished second in the 5,000 meters in a career-best time of 17:43.84.
In the women’s throws, Kayla Holmes finished second in the discus at 146-4, Hana Feilzer third at a career-best 142-2. Anna Pershouse placed second in the hammer at 161-0, Lakyn Connors, a heptathlete, upped her PR in the javelin from 112-9 to 118-7.
Montana will compete on Friday and Saturday at the Oregon Relays in Eugene.
— Montana Sports Information
