By JOEL CARLSON
Montana senior Lindsey Hall scored 3,317 points Thursday on the opening day of the heptathlon at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Eugene, Ore., and is sitting 10th in the 24-athlete field.
Hall’s day-one point total is 87 more than she scored in April at the Mt. SAC Relays, when she set a new school record and posted the fifth-highest point total in Big Sky Conference history.
“You couldn’t have scripted it any better,” UM coach Brian Schweyen said. “The last two weeks have been the best practices she’s had all year, so she came in ready to compete.”
Hall finished in the top eight in the heptathlon’s first three events, the 100-meter hurdles, high jump and shot put, and had moved up to third, just 11 points out of second, but a cautious effort in the 200 caused her to slide all the way down to 10th in the tight field.
Her hurdles time of 13.61 ranked fourth overall, her season-best effort of 5-7.75 in the high jump tied for sixth, and her 39-7.25 mark in the shot put ranked eighth.
At that point Hall trailed only Georgia freshman Kendell Williams, the heavy favorite to win the heptathlon title, and Kansas junior Lindsay Vollmer, the 2013 NCAA heptathlon champion.
But Hall, who’s been competing on shaky hamstrings the last two years, ran a 26.69 in the 200 meters, a time that ranked 22nd, and that dropped her in the standings.
“I think Lindsey guarded against her hamstrings in the 200. Because of her injury history, that event scares her a little bit, and that makes it tough for her to go all out,” said Schweyen.
“But she’s smart enough and mature enough to let it go. She knows she still has plenty of opportunities tomorrow.”
Friday will open with the long jump, then continue on to the javelin and 800 meters. Hall will be one of the top javelin throwers, but she’ll need to start her day with a strong mark in the long jump if she wants to be a threat going into the 800.
“She is still in a good position to have a really solid second day,” Schweyen said. “She’ll need a lifetime best in the long jump and a 160-foot throw in the javelin. If she does that she’ll be sitting right where she needs to be going into the 800 meters.”
Williams, the only heptathlete in the field who has reached 6,000 points this season, leads with 3,685. Nobody else has reached 3,500. Vollmer, in second, has 3,493, Penn State senior Brittney Howell 3,474.
*****