FARMINGTON, Utah — Following their conference-leading marks at the Bobcat Challenge, Montana State's Duncan Hamilton and Colby Wilson received the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week awards, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
On Saturday at the Bobcat Challenge, Hamilton won the 3,000-meter run with a post-converted time of 7 minutes, 43.28 seconds — the second-best time in all of Division I this year and a new school record. The day before, Wilson cleared 17 feet, 4.5 inches in the pole vault, which currently leads the Big Sky and ranks 26th in Division I this year.
Coincidentally, the last time Hamilton and Wilson earned the conference’s weekly indoor awards was after last year’s Bobcat Challenge on Jan. 17, 2022. The award is Hamilton’s sixth Big Sky Track Athlete of the Week award across both indoor and outdoor track, and it's the third of Wilson’s career across both track seasons.
Making his 2023 debut last week, Hamilton led wire-to-wire in the 3,000 meters, soloing an 8:00.38 that converted all the way down to a 7:43.28. The Bozeman High graduate not only broke his own school record of 7:45.40 set at the Husky Classic last season, his latest mark trails the fastest time in Division I this season by one-hundredth of a second.
“Duncan's race was so impressive because it was a total solo effort with no pacer from start to finish,” said MSU head track coach Lyle Weese. “Putting down a mark like that — which should get him into the NCAA Championships — in his first race of 2023 is a clear indication of what he and the team can accomplish this indoor and outdoor season. ”
Wilson continued his undefeated streak in the pole vault with his season-best mark of 17-4.5. The junior from Olympia, Washington, now owns the indoor pole vault record at MSU, and that mark was 3.25 inches off of tying his indoor school record set last year.
“Colby’s passion for the sport and unrelenting work ethic shined this weekend (and) built towards his ultimate goal of making the NCAA Championships,” Montana State pole vault coach Craig Hunter said. “The Big Sky field athlete of the week award was well-earned — he’s making huge progress in consistency and hopes to be performing at this level or higher for the rest of the season.”
This week's other Big Sky Indoor Track Athlete of the Week award winners were Northern Colorado distance runner Regina Mpigachai and Idaho State thrower Destinee Rose-Haas.
Montana State will send a handful of individuals, including Wilson, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the UNM Team Open on Friday and Saturday.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
Post a comment as anonymous
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.