HELENA, Mont. -- The snow may yet be lightly falling in Montana, but nevertheless, the Carroll College outdoor track season is set to begin.
"We get to see freshmen run for the first time," Saints coach
Harry Clark said. "That's a big weekend for us."
The Fighting Saints are taking a small squad to Laurel, Montana, to compete in the Yellowjacket/Battlin Bears Open hosted by Montana State University Billings and Rocky Mountain College.
The field is expected to be made up of South Dakota Mines, Rocky Mountain College, Minot State, Dickinson State, Jamestown University, University of Mary, University of Providence, Dawson County Community College and Central Wyoming College.
The Saints are itching for competition after limited time on the track this winter and early spring has not allowed for normal workouts. Though the Saints have maximized their time on the track when the weather has held up.
Carroll will take full relay teams down to Laurel and see how their sprinters stack up in the early season.
The men's 4x100 team will be made up of
Alex Olmes, Kuda Nyahuma,
Micah Ans and
Chad Hemsley, while the 4x400 team will be Olmes,
Wade Luly, Ans and Hemsley.
On the women's side, the 4x100 team will be
Brooke Endy,
Shae Helterbran,
Keely Ehmann and
Monica White. The 4x400 will feature Endy,
Anne Hockett, Ehmann and White.
Nyuhuma and Endy will also compete as individuals in the 100, though Clark said he wanted to hold most of his sprinters out of individual races to focus on good relay times this weekend.
"They better run fast because it's a long walk home," Clark joked.
Carroll will have a large contingent of hurdlers this weekend, with Clark going as far to call the 400-meter hurdle crew the "key" to the meet.
Hemsley,
Bryce Green and
Daniel Pendergast will compete in the 400-meter hurdles, while
Keven Kailey and
Bryan Brensdal will run the 110-meter hurdles.
In the middle distances, the Saints plan to have indoor All-American
Noah Majerus run the 800, while
Kendyl Pierson will run on the women's side.
Spencer Swaim and
John Cooney are expected to run the 5K.
Four throwers are expected to compete in the discus. On the men's side
Garrett Kocab,
Nathan Raffatto and
Dakota Dunlap will throw, while
Nikki Krueger will throw in her first competition since wrapping up a NAIA national tournament run with the women's basketball team.
Four pole vaulters will also be in action. 2018 outdoor All-American
Keaton Brady,
Evan Childears, Mikayla Boyder and
Mika Robinson will all be getting their first outdoor competition of the season.
Carroll finished with four All-Americans during the indoor season: Majerus in the 800-meter,
Hannah Porch in the long jump,
Josh Malone in the heptathlon and
Kelsey Bassett in the pole vault.
Last spring, the Saints saw eight of their athletes become All-Americans, four of which return this season: Brady, White, Ehmann and Endy.
The meet begins on Saturday with throws set to start at 9 a.m. at the MSUB campus, while track events are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Laurel High School.
