Area athletes heading to Big Sky track meet

A handful of athletes from Flathead Valley and its surroundings are competing at the Big Sky Conference track and field championships that start Wednesday in Ogden, Utah.

The University of Montana is sending 46 athletes, including javelin thrower Evan Todd, a freshman out of Glacier High who has the second-best javelin throw in the conference this season: 218 feet, 11 inches.

In first is teammate Dylan Kipp, a senior who is the favorite in the event at 230-4.

Polson’s Beatix Frissell, a freshman distance runner for UM, heads to Ogden with the 21st best time in the women’s 5,000 meters at 17 minutes, 8.39 seconds.

Montana State is sending 60 athletes, including Columbia Falls senior jumper Carla Nicosia; Glacier High product Hunter Nicholson, a sophomore, in the pole vault; and distance runners Gillian Maness and Ben Perrin, both out of Flathead High.

Nicosia is ranked first in the triple jump, having marked 41-3 - more than a foot better than Idaho’s Tayler LyDay, who is second at 40-0.75.

Perrin, a redshirt freshman, is 12th in the Big Sky in the 5,000 (13:57.03)

Maness is ranked No. 6 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at 10:36.80 and 13th in the 5,000 meters, at 16:47.34.

Nicholson is tied for 19th in the pole vault.

The timed events and jumps will be streamed on Pluto TV channel 1054 and on watchbigsky.com. The throws are away from the stadium and will be streamed on Weber State’s track and field Facebook page.