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OGDEN, Utah (February 13, 2017) - After a highly-competitive weekend in track & field, the record books took several hits as seven teams made their final tune-ups for the Big Sky Championships. One weekend of competition remains prior to the league meet.
- All 12 teams were active last weekend across various high-prestige meets ranging throughout the country. The high quality lended itself to a slashing of the Big Sky record books, as eight new top-10 conference marks were set over the weekend. Most of the damage came in the distance events, including four 5,000 top-10 times from Northern Arizona’s Paige Gilchrist, Matt Baxter, Tyler Day and Weber State’s Ellie Child. NAU also got new top-10 marks from Andy Trouard in the mile and Adam Keenan in the weight throw. Southern Utah’s Josh Collins (3,000) and Sharlie Dimick (mile) also moved into the Big Sky records books as well.
- Most teams concluded the regular season, as Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah and Weber State each had their final meets prior to the indoor championships.
- Five teams are scheduled to compete in the final weekend, though many are not expected to be at full strength as several athletes begin tapering for the conference meet. Montana State, NAU and North Dakota will each host meets while Montana joins the Bobcats in Bozeman and Northern Colorado heads to Golden. It will be UND’s first home meet in the recently-completed High Performance Center.
- The latest USTFCCCA regional rankings came out today, with 14 Big Sky programs ranked. The EWU men, Sac State women, NAU men and UM women are the highest ranked league teams in their respective regions.
- The league is in its first season without qualifying standards. Coaches will be able to fill rosters for the conference championships however they please within the roster limits of 26 indoors and 28 outdoors. The Big Sky Indoor Championships in Pocatello, Idaho, are just over a weeks away.