February 7, 2008

Yellowjacket Track and Field Heads to Mountain States Games

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men’s and women’s track teams will head to Pocatello, Idaho, for the Mountain States Games this weekend.  The meet will begin at 5 p.m. Friday and continue through Saturday afternoon at Holt Arena on the Idaho State University campus.

“This is the final weekend to set marks in order to qualify for the GNAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 18,” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said.  “We still have several athletes ranked, but need to get a few more people in position to qualify.”

The Yellowjackets had a good showing at the Dave Little Invitational last weekend at Black Hills State.  Senior distance runner Richie Pemberton set two marks in the 3,000 meters and the mile run, moving him into the GNAC rankings.  Freshman Kacie Vanderloos set a personal best in the shot put by three feet, which places her sixth in the conference.  In addition to Vanderloos, freshmen Lexi Halvorson and Kelsee Clark are ranked in the top 14 in the women’s shot put.

“We still have several athletes who are very close to moving into the rankings and we’re hoping they’ll make some improvement this weekend,” Coppock said.  “This meet will be highly competitive with most of the teams being from Division I schools.  We expect to see Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Utah, BYU, Northern Arizona, Sacramento State and host Idaho State, to name a few.”