Seven University of Montana track and field athletes are in College Station, Texas, Friday and Saturday for the Midwest Regional meet. At stake in the competition at Texas A&M are berths in the NCAA championships, June 9-12 at Austin, Texas.
"It's going to pretty warm, with highs in the 90s," said Montana coach Tom Raunig. "It's going to be a factor. Some of our athletes are probably going to enjoy it more than others."
Four regionals are held around the country, and the top five finishers in each event automatically advance. In addition, a few at-large berths in each event will go to athletes who had the best season marks, but didn't qualify at regionals.
Also competing for the Griz will be sophomore Jas Gill in Friday's high jump and junior Dane Brubaker in Saturday's javelin. For the UM women, senior Mariah Guilfoyle competes in the 400 hurdles trials on Friday, hoping to make Saturday's finals, while senior Kari Wilson and junior Sarah Lenoch tackle the pole vault on Friday.
Griz junior Richie Pemberton qualified in the 3,000 steeplechase, but according to Raunig can't compete because of academic ineligibility.
McGowan also qualified for the 800, but dropped out of that event to concentrate on the 1,500, where he ranks 15th in the nation and has twice earned All-America honors. The Poplar product hopes to eclipse his personal-best of 3 minutes, 41.87 seconds in the metric mile, a UM school record and the fourth-fastest time in the history of the Big Sky Conference. That time also provisionally qualified McGowan for the U.S. Olympic trials in mid-July at Sacramento, Calif.
Raunig said McGowan will likely find himself in a tactical race.
"If that's the case, he'll want to stay near the lead and then go with a long, sustained drive in the second half of the race," Raunig said.
Should McGowan not finish in the top five, he has a good chance of landing an at-large berth. That isn't the case for UM's other competitors.
Ford, who ranks eighth in the region in the 5,000, will go up against reigning NCAA cross country champ Dathan Ritzenhein of Colorado. Brubaker, who is shooting for his second straight NCAA javelin berth, ranks eighth in the region, while Gill, a two-time Big Sky champ, is tied for 11th in the high jump.
Guilfoyle didn't meet the regional qualifying standard for the 400 hurdles, but earned a berth by winning the Big Sky title. Wilson and Lenoch, having met only the minimum standard, rank near the bottom of the regional rankings in the pole vault.
Montana State qualified 13 athletes for regionals.
Advancing for the men were Blake Jackson (shot put, hammer), Joel Walthall (javelin), Brad Sherer (hammer), Leif Arthun (javelin) and former Kalispell standouts Tanner Rauk (shot put) and Kevin Clary (steeplechase). Advancing for the women were Jen Allen (shot put, discus, hammer), Hannah Furlong (shot put), Ashley Jones (hammer), Mary Jo Kraft (hammer) and Kim Berg (javelin), along with Hamilton's Lindsey Gill (javelin) and Thompson Falls' Karen Helvey (hammer).
t Regional qualifiers
UM track athletes who will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regionals, Friday and Saturday at College Station, Texas. Regional rank in parentheses, along with best mark this season (* - school record):
MEN
1,500 - Scott McGowan, sr. (1) *3:41.87.
5,000 - Antony Ford, jr. (8) 14:01.04.
Javelin - Dane Brubaker, jr. (8) 216-4.
High jump - Jas Gill, so. (T11) 7-0fi.
WOMEN
400 hurdles - Mariah Guilfoyle, sr. (12) 61.10.
Pole vault - Kari Wilson, sr. (T26) 12-3fi.
Pole vault - Sarah Lenoch, jr. (T26) 12-3fi.
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