BIG SKY INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN’S PREVIEW
Kaylee Schmitz will be the first to tell you she hopes she is nervous when she settles into the starting blocks on Friday evening and, qualification willing, Saturday afternoon.
The Montana State junior set an MSU school record at the Last Chance Qualifier meet in Bozeman last weekend. Before running 2:08.44 in the 800 meters, Schmitz could feel the tension coursing through her veins.
“That was the second week I had been going for the record,” the O’Fallon, Illinois native said on Tuesday. “This is my last year, my last chance before conference to ever set this record before I leave MSU. That was a big motivator. I think the best thing about it was it made me nervous before the race. The beginning of the season, I was too relaxed before all my races. I think the nerves really help a lot.
“It’s like the prey and the predator: if you think you are getting hunted, you can feel it and you are going to run for your life.”
MSU middle distance runner Kaylee Schmitz
On Friday evening, Schmitz will pace a competitive field in the women’s 800 qualifying heats as Montana State prepares to host the 2016 Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships. Schmitz has the top qualifying time, 2.29 seconds better than Sacramento State senior Chloe Beriloux.
“These past two weeks have definitely given me a confidence boost but it’s good to kind of be scared,” Schmitz said. “The 800, there is the prelims and the final so you have to race strategically for two days in a row. I’m hoping to be nervous at the start line and go out and race smart, not getting boxed in and just stayed focused the entire time because I think there is going to be a fight for the finals.”
MSU junior Christie Schiel, the reigning outdoor champion in the 800, and MSU sophomore Taylor Buschy have each run 2:13 and change, both top 10 marks entering the championships. Montana State long-time head coach Dale Kennedy said the middle distances will be the best chance for the Bobcat women to score points this weekend.
“We have such a great crew,” Schmitz said. “Workouts wouldn’t be the same without them. That’s been a real blessing the last few years being able to train with those gals every single day. The great thing too is they are all uplifting. We are always trying to push each other to be better rather than trying to beat our teammates.”
Kennedy said he fully expected Schmitz to break Christine Ott’s school record of 2:08.50, a mark that has stood since 1998. He just didn’t expect her to do it before the conference championships.
“She is a great finisher,” Kennedy said. “She puts the pedal down that last lap. She owns what I call the critical moment in middle distance racing and that’s the last 30 seconds.
“She really is running well. I think with a little better judgment strategically, if she can just back off a little bit at the start of the race, she will run even faster.”
MSU pole vaulter Casey Teska
Last year, Montana State’s women nearly took home team titles during both the indoor and the outdoor seasons. The Bobcats lost the 4×400 meter relay in a photo finish to Sac State, losing to the Hornets in the team competition by less than a point in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Bobcats fell just short to the Hornets at the outdoor championships in Cheney, Washington in May.
“That’s probably not going to leave my mind for a long time,” said Kennedy, a pivotal part of MSU track since 1980. “That was tough to leave Northern Arizona getting beat by less than a point. That was pretty tough. I was proud of how our kids competed. That’s probably not the scenario this year. We are looking like both teams are teams that will finish somewhere in the middle. However, we’ve never settled for what it looks like the pre-meet scoring is. Our kids will battle hard.”
Senior pole vaulter Casey Teska — the top seed in the event by two inches over Sac’s Danielle Brandon with a top jump of 13 feet, 1.25 inches — is MSU’s only other favorite besides Schmitz, although do-everything junior Jessica Chrisp could score points in the 60-meter hurdles, the high jump, the long jump and the pentathlon.
Teska, a native of Stow, Massachusetts, placed second in the indoor and outdoor championships as a sophomore. She finished sixth at the indoor meet and second at the outdoor meet last spring, vaulting a career-best 13-05.25 at the Cat-Griz Dual meet to qualify for the West Regional meet. She took 37th overall.
“There’s way more mental stuff than people really realize,” Kennedy said. “The physical does not happen if it does not happen in the head first. Casey does need to take her mind to the movies, get straightened mentally. She’s a kid who can push the 14-foot mark really. She’s changing poles and that always takes transition to move to a stiffer, heavier pole but she’s in the process of doing that. I think she will do very well and come out there with the Big Sky title.”
Chrisp has the fourth-best qualifying time in the hurdles (8.82), sixth-best in the high jump (5-05.75) and ninth in the long jump (18-03.25.)
MSU middle distance runner Kaylee Schmitz
The pre-meet projections indicates a fierce battle between Sacramento State and Weber State for the team women’s title. The battle for third between a slew of other teams should be “very competitive”, Kennedy said.
Montana sophomore Erika McLeod is Montana’s best chance to score points and push for positioning. The Grizzly enters the meet with the top score in the pentathlon along with top-three marks in the long jump (18-07.25) and the 400 meters (56.05 seconds). The Griz should also score in the shot put; Samantha Hodgson’s throw of 50-07.50 is the top in the league this winter.
Beriloux will push Schmitz in the 800 and is also the favorite in the 3,000 meters. Her qualifying time of 9:28.27 is more than five seconds better than Weber State senior Jamie Stokes. Stokes is favored in the mile; her personal-best time of 4:35.83 is the sixth-fastest in the NCAA this season.
MSU freshman Alyssa Snyder’s mile time of 4:05.71 would’ve been fourth in the field but she will not run the race, instead deciding to run the 3,000 and a leg on MSU’s distance medley relay team.
Weber should also expect scoring from junior Tawnie Moore, the favorite in the 60-meter hurdles. Sac should pile up points in the jumps with sophomore Candice Dominguez the favorite in the high jump, her best jump of 5-08.75 an inch and a half better than teammate Elizabeth Venzon.
North Dakota sophomore Natasha Brown has the top qualifying times in the 60 (7.53) and the 200 (24.39). Northern Colorado junior Moriah Zachary and Eastern Washington sophomore Rebecca Tarbert each ran 7.53 in the 60 earlier this winter as well. UND should also pick up points in the long relay; the Fighting Hawks ran 3:45.91 earlier this spring, best in the Big Sky. UNC (11:56.08) and EWU have the fastest DMR times among the women’s competition.
UM multi-athlete Erika McCleod
In the jumps, UNC senior Alisha Allen is the only woman to surpass 19 feet in the long jump. She will be chased by Sac freshman Abby Taylor and McLeod. Portland State freshman Chaquin Cook is the favorite in the triple jump with a PR of 39-07, a foot and a half more than EWU’s Dominique Butler.
EWU’s Kaytlyn Coleman enters the meet with the top weight throw with a mark of 67-03.5.
While Montana State is not a front-runner like it has been the last few years, the Bobcats are still optimistic about their chances.
“It will be really interesting this year because we have a lot of really good returners but we have such a young team coming in,” Schmitz said. “Our focus mainly when we have our team meetings is emphasizing that we can go out there and compete our best and that’s what you have to do every single meet. We have to give everything we have. The scoring has put the women third or fourth. I’m really hoping we can pull out a pleasant surprise this weekend and have some really outstanding performances.”
Photos courtesy of Montana State Athletics. All Right Reserved.
