By JOEL CARLSON
Montana senior Lindsey Hall capped her brilliant, record-setting career with a seventh-place finish in the heptathlon Friday afternoon at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Hall finished with a total of 5,603 points to add 53 to her own school record and post the third-best heptathlon score in Big Sky Conference history.
She becomes Montana’s first female multi-events All-American and the Grizzlies’ first women’s outdoor All-American since Shelley Smathers in the 10,000 meters in 1994.
“I don’t want to take my uniform off, because I know it will be for the last time after such a long, special journey,” Hall said.
Photo courtesy of the University of Montana.
“I still remember sitting on the high jump mat before the first indoor meet of my freshman year and the coaches projecting what they thought I could do the next five years. I didn’t have the confidence I would be able to do this, but they did, so I can’t say enough about how special that relationship is.”
Hall began the day in 10th and dropped to 12th after a disappointing mark of 18-4.25 in the long jump, her shortest effort of the entire outdoor season.
Combined with closing Thursday with a time of 26.69 in the 200 meters, it gave Hall back-to-back events that ranked near the bottom of the heptathlon field and had her going the wrong direction on the leaderboard.
“That was kind of a hard pill to swallow. I had to quit trying to be in control of everything and just let what happens happen,” Hall said.
“I had to let things play out, and that was an important moment of clarity. It gave me a lot of freedom and some competitive fire for the javelin.”
Photo courtesy of the University of Montana.
Hall had her most consistent series of javelin throws all season, posting three marks over 150 feet. Her top throw of 154-2 placed second overall and vaulted her up the standings to fourth place.
Hall ran a 2:24.89 in the 800 meters to drop three places in the final standings — nine athletes ran times faster than 2:20 — but it was good enough to improve upon her school record and earn the All-America honors that go to the top eight finishers at nationals.
“A ton of credit goes to (UM multi-events coach) Adam Bork for all he’s done with Lindsey over the last five years, but most of it goes to Lindsey. She’s the one who had to work at it every single day,” said UM coach Brian Schweyen.
“To strive for this for five years, then come here and put it all together and leave as an All-American is pretty special. Not a lot of athletes get to experience that.”
Georgia freshman Kendell Williams scored 5,854 points to add the NCAA outdoor heptathlon title to her indoor pentathlon championship.
San Diego State senior Allison Reaser was second with 5,836 points, Florida junior Brittany Harrell was third with 5,835. No other athlete scored over 5,700 points.
Photo courtesy of the University of Montana.
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