The Montana State women’s 4×400-meter relay team set new school and Big Sky Conference records at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team, made up of Tilde Bjerager, Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, and Caroline Hawkes, ran a converted time of 3:32.58 to finish third at the event. This performance broke their previous school record by 4.33 seconds and surpassed the conference record set by Northern Arizona last year by 2.90 seconds.
Dale Kennedy Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Lyle Weese commented on the team’s achievements: “Some great results from meets in Seattle and Albuquerque,” Weese said. “The women’s 4×400 at Albuquerque really put an exclamation point on the weekend, running 3:32.58. Our teams are gaining momentum and getting excited about the Big Sky Conference Championships in two weeks. We have our last home indoor meet on Thursday to finish up a great first year hosting in the Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center and to get in one more competition before the conference championships.”
Earlier this season at the Bobcat Challenge in January, Bjerager, Garrison, Gandolfi, and Hawkes had already set a school record with a time of 3:36.91 before improving it further at this latest meet.
In other events over the weekend, Sydney Brewster nearly matched her own shot put school record with a throw of 16.80 meters (55-1.50) to win her event in Seattle by over two meters. Brewster has now won all five shot put competitions she has entered this season.
At the Husky Classic in Seattle, Kalei Moravitz moved to second place all-time for Montana State in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:07.93—just .25 seconds short of tying the program record—while Annie Kaul improved her No. 6 mark with a time of 2:08.92.
Tatum Richards achieved Montana State’s second-best pole vault mark ever by clearing 4.25 meters (13-11.25) to finish thirteenth in section A at Albuquerque.
In track events, Tilde Bjerager posted an indoor converted time of 8.41 seconds in the prelims for the women’s 60-meter hurdles at Albuquerque—moving ahead of teammate Millie Hubbell for second place all-time indoors for Montana State.
Eva Koos and Hannah Perrin both improved their positions on Montana State’s all-time top-10 list for women’s mile times during competition in Seattle; Koos finished with a time of 4:45.75 while Perrin recorded a time of 4:48.53.
On the men’s side, Noah Barbery, Peyton Nelson, Nash Coley, and Ethan Anderson ran a ninth-place time of 3:15.53 at Albuquerque—the ninth-fastest men’s relay mark ever recorded by Montana State.
Montana State will wrap up its regular season with its final home indoor meet on Thursday, February 19th at Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center before heading into conference championships.
For full results from recent meets:
Full results from the Don Kirby Elite Invitational are available here.
Results from the Husky Classic are available here.
