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OGDEN, Utah (May 1, 2017) - Championship month is here, and before the conference meet kicks off, one more tuneup is in order for some Big Sky teams.
- Last weekend, 11 Big Sky teams were active, with a couple appearing in their final meet before the league championships. Making their final tuneups for the meet were Idaho State at the BYU Robision Invitational and Portland State at the Oregon State High Performance Meet. One Big Sky all-time mark was set over the weekend, as Northern Colorado’s 4x100 relay ran the third-fastest time in league history.
- Nine teams are active over the final weekend, but none are expected to be at full strength as several athletes have begun tapering for the conference meet on May 10-13 in Sacramento, Calif. Northern Arizona was idle last weekend and will do so again along with ISU and PSU this weekend.
- Three teams will host meets in the final week of the regular season. Big Sky host Sac State will have an open meet, while Montana State and Weber State will additionally host meets in Bozeman and Ogden.
- Heading to California to try and get in one more high-quality outing for regional consideration will be MSU, Southern Utah and WSU, who are each currently scheduled to attend Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational on Friday.
- In the latest USTFCCCA regional rankings, 11 Big Sky teams sit in the top 15 of their respective region. Montana jumped NAU on the women’s side this week in the mountain region, sitting seventh now while the Lumberjacks are eighth. The NAU men continue to rank seventh in the mountain, while the Sac State men are the lone ranked team in the west region.
- 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 Outdoor Championships, presented by Red Lion Hotels Corporation, will be held in just over a week in Sacramento, Calif.
| Date |
Meet |
Location |
Teams Competing |
| May 3-4 |
Weber State Twilight Meet |
Ogden, Utah |
WSU |
| May 5 |
CWU Final Qualifier |
Ellensburg, Wash. |
EWU, UI |
| May 5 |
Tom Gage Classic |
Bozeman, Mont. |
UM, MSU |
| May 5 |
Payton Jordan Invitational |
Stanford, Calif. |
MSU, SUU, WSU |
| May 5 |
NDSU Tuneup |
Fargo, N.D. |
UND |
| May 5 |
Air Force Twilight Open |
Colorado Springs, Colo. |
UNC |
| May 6 |
Sacramento State Open |
Sacramento, Calif. |
SAC |