The Montana track and field teams were expecting a much smaller stage at home this week after some athletes competed at the UCLA Invitational last week. The Montana Open meet will be even smaller now that the multi-events portion has been canceled. The men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon were initially penciled in for Thursday and Friday before coaches decided against it to give the athletes a break. Saturday’s Open will carry on as scheduled.
Griz multi-eventers are coming off performances over the weekend at Idaho State and UCLA. Multi-event athletes compete in seven or 10 events, and Montana multi-event coach Adam Bork said having only a few days to recover from a full meet leaves them well below their desired performance levels.
“Doing the decathlon back-to-back weeks is tough,” Bork said. “It’s just too draining and too hard on the body. They’re still a little banged up, and now they can get two more days of rest.”