Motley Ties Record at Big Sky Meet

Freshman Clinte Motley of Cal State Northridge tied a Big Sky Conference record when he totaled 28 points in the conference indoor championships at Montana State on Friday and Saturday.

Motley won the high jump with a school indoor record of 7 feet 1 inch, took the triple jump with another school mark of 50-5 1/4 and placed fifth in the 55-meter high hurdles in 7.81 seconds and fifth in the long jump at 23-1 3/4 in the meet that awarded points to the top eight finishers on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

His 28-point total tied the mark set by Dan O’Brien of Idaho in 1989 and tied by David Morris of Montana in 1993. O’Brien is a three-time world champion, 1996 Olympic champion and world record-holder in the decathlon.

“He is definitely a gamer,” Cal State Northridge Coach Don Strametz said of Motley. “It’s like someone put something out there for him to try to get and he has the mind-set to do it.”

Lane violation: Northridge junior Joe Criner was a heavy favorite in the men’s 200 meters in the Big Sky Conference championships, but was disqualified because he ran out of his lane in a qualifying heat.

“He took three steps out of his lane,” Strametz said. “He tried not to, but it was a real tight four-lane track.”

One for the book: The Big Sky Conference meet concluded a short, but very productive indoor season for all but a few Northridge athletes such as Criner, who will compete in the NCAA Indoor championships in Indianapolis on Mar. 13-14.

The Matador men’s and women’s teams have set 24 school indoor records this season, which began Jan. 31.

Motley set or tied school records in the high jump and triple jump, and sophomore Christina Tolson set three women’s school marks in the shotput.