The Weber State University indoor track and field teams competed in the Bozeman Running Company invitational held at Montana State University on Friday.
In the dual matchup of the meet, the WSU men’s team lost to MSU, then defeated the University of Montana. On the women’s side, WSU lost both dual matchups.
Men’s head coach Dan Walker said he was happy with the team’s performance and is looking forward to the conference meet at the end of the season. He said he feels the team can have a successful championship.
“This meet is another good steppingstone toward the Big Sky meet,” Walker said, “especially since it will be in Bozeman. The conference is very deep this year, so we are looking forward to . . . the opportunity to get better.”
Two Wildcats also competed in the Flotrack Husky Classic at the University of Washington. There, Sarah Callister qualified for the conference championship and set a school record in the 5,000-meter run. She finished with a time of 16 minutes, nine milliseconds.
In Montana, the men’s team first fell to host MSU 75-63. Then the team was able to bounce back for a win against the Grizzlies, taking that dual 73-66.
The team saw a strong performance in the 400-meter dash. Josh Peterson and Dustin Durfee finished in first and second place, respectively. Peterson finished four-10ths of a second ahead of Durfee in the finals. In the 400-meter, WSU’s Isaac Akers finished in fifth.
Zach Schweinsberg claimed another first-place finish for WSU in the 800-meter run. He finished with a time of 1:55.05.
The men’s team also won the 4-by-400-meter relay, with the team of Peterson, Cylor Morgan, Durfee and Matt White finishing with a time of 3:15.49.
White also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.18 seconds. He finished one-10th of a second ahead of MSU’s Michael Tobin.
Morgan also claimed a win in the long jump with a distance of 23.78 feet. Morgan won by three-10ths of a foot over second-place finisher Austin Emry from UM.
In the 55-meter dash, WSU’s Tony Osheku Jr. came in second place with a time of 6.5 seconds.
On the women’s side, Jamie Stokes won the mile run for WSU with a time of 4:55.19. Alice Keller came in third for the Wildcats, finishing with a time of 5:04.98.
Stokes turned in another strong performance in the 800-meter run, which saw WSU sweep the top four positions. Ashley Kealamakia finished first at 2:14.71. Stokes came in second, followed by Keller and Lindsey McFarland.
Laken Hintze claimed first in the 3,000-meter run, finishing six seconds in front of Keli Dennehy from UM.
The Big Sky Conference meet will be held at MSU in two weeks. Walker said he is looking forward to the conference championship and that the team usually performs well at MSU.
“It’s a great track to run on, and we’ve always had some good marks up there,” said women’s head coach Jim Blaisdell. “We are looking forward to it.”
