Track team competes in second half of Pelluer Invitational

The University of Montana track and field teams begin the second portion of the Pelluer Invitational Friday at Woodward Field in Cheney, Wash. 

The two-day meet began Thursday with the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon.

Competing for the Grizzlies in the decathlon were sophomore Chris Hicks and freshmen Clark Cranford and Christian Segota. Senior Baily Cox, junior Amber Aikins and sophomore Megan Betz competed in the women’s heptathlon.

After the first day of competition, Segota was first overall in the decathlon. On the women’s side Cox was third, Betz was fifth and Aikins was sixth.

“I ran my first 400, and I ended up getting first place,” Cox said. “I also was first in the 100, overall it was a pretty solid day.”

Betz said it was exciting to see her and her teammates so close together in the standings. 

“We really pushed ourselves today,” Betz said. “We are on track to qualify, plus tomorrow should be an even stronger day for Baily.”

The decathlon and heptathlon wrap up this morning at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

The regular portion of the meet starts at 1 p.m. The running events begin at 5 p.m.

Head coach Tom Raunig said the team is looking to build on its impressive showing at last weekend’s Al Manuel Invitational, where Montana posted 20 Big Sky conference qualifiers and 16 individual winners.

“We would like to get some more conference meet qualifiers,” Raunig said. “There will be some individuals from Washington State and Idaho that will push us. Certain events there will be as good as competition as you can find while some other events are a little thin.”

Five Division I schools are competing at the invitational: Montana, Eastern Washington, Washington State and Gonzaga, plus Seattle University, Lewis-Clark State and Whitworth.  Dual-meet scoring will be kept between Montana, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga.

Senior distance runner Duncan Hendrick said this weekend provides another opportunity to get out and compete against some formidable opponents.

“It is a chance for us to improve, compete with some other teams and build confidence,” he said. “A lot of these schools, even those smaller schools, have people that will push us.”

Freshman distance runner Kesslee Payne said the individual competition will force Montana to compete at its highest.

“(This meet) is more based on the competition than the schools,” Payne said. “When you can compete against individuals at higher levels it will help to develop you further.”

Payne also said this weekend is a great opportunity to come together as a team.

“I think we did fairly well (last week). Obviously, improvements can be made as individuals, but if we can bring our times down even more and take more places off the board it will make us stronger as a team,” she said.

Raunig said although his team is doing well, it is still too early to gauge just how good they could be.

“The team looks strong, but we are still resting some people,” he said. “We can do better as an overall team if we can just get everybody out there doing all their events.”