Montana track teams open competition in Southern California

By GoGriz.com

The Montana track and field teams opened competition on Wednesday at the Mt. SAC Relays in Southern California with day one of the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon.

Erika McLeod scored 2,984 points in four events and is sitting in 13th place out of 17 starters in the Mt. SAC Relays section of the heptathlon, which is being held at Azusa Pacific.

Competing at the same venue but in the California Invitational section, Nicole Stroot is in 23rd place out of 55 athletes who started. She scored 2,897 points.

Brendan Thurber-Blaser is in 15th place out of 20 athletes through five events in the California Invitational A section of the decathlon with 3,485 points.

McLeod opened with a time of 14.88 in the 100-meter hurdles, then went 5-1.75 in the high jump, 35-11.25 in the shot put and 25.60 in the 200 meters.

She is more than 200 points off the day-one score she had in Greeley, Colo., last May when she would go on to win the heptathlon at the Big Sky Conference championships.

Stroot had a time of 14.51 in the hurdles that was just four-hundredths off her PR and ranked fifth out of more than 50 competitors in the California Invitational.

She went 4-11.5 in the high jump, 34-4.25 in the shot put and a career-best 25.99 in the 200 meters.

Competing in his first collegiate decathlon and as one of just four freshmen in the A section, Thurber-Blaser went 11.54 in the 100 meters, 21-7.75 in the long jump, 42-11.75 in the shot put, 6-0.5 in the high jump and 52.87 in the 400 meters.

He was the top-scoring freshman on day one in the A section, his shot put ranked third out of 20 athletes.

The heptathlon and decathlon conclude on Thursday. Hana Feilzer throws the hammer at El Camino College in Torrance on Thursday as part of the Mt. SAC Relays, and a handful of Montana distance athletes will be in action on the track as the Bryan Clay Invitational gets underway at Azusa Pacific.